Why today’s high-speed rail launch is miraculous

http://www.salon.com/2015/01/06/americas_most_ambitious_infrastructure_project_of_the_century_why_todays_high_speed_rail_launch_is_miraculous/


California High-Speed Rail (Credit: CAHSR Authority)


The most important kickoff in America today will not happen in Washington, where the 114th Congress begins its work. No, a far more consequential beginning takes place on the other side of the country, in modest Fresno, California, at an invitation-only ceremony on the corner of Tulare and G Streets. There, officials will break ground on America’s biggest and most ambitious infrastructure project of the century, a high-speed rail line linking San Francisco and Los Angeles that, when completed, will run at speeds of 220 miles an hour and move people between those metropolises in around two and a half hours, half the time it takes by car.

The bullet train won’t begin serving Californians until the next decade, and only if the remaining funds needed for completion can be located. But it’s kind of a miracle that shovels ever hit the ground at all. The estimated $68 billion project defeated legal challenges, conservative grousers and even a short-sighted attack by the environmental lobby to make it this far. And if it succeeds, a nation with few recent, tangible examples of what government can actually do to improve people’s lives will finally have a cutting-edge piece of infrastructure to point to.

High-speed rail in California got started in 2008, when voters approved Proposition 1A, a $9.95 billion bond measure to begin construction. Shortly thereafter, President Obama made high-speed rail a priority in the 2009 stimulus, with $8 billion earmarked for projects throughout the country. California eventually scooped up $3.5 billion of that, after conservative governors in Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida returned their funds in 2010. Officials expected to start laying steel in September 2012 on the first segment, a 29-mile stretch from Fresno to Madera. The idea was that building in the Central Valley first would be cheaper than securing land in the pricey Bay Area or Los Angeles basin.

But lawsuits and cost overruns nearly disabled the project. Not-In-My-Backyard farm owners disputed route planning, forcing more expensive alternatives. Environmental challenges piled up. The GOP House blocked new federal dollars for the project. Conservative groups then sued the California High-Speed Rail Authority, saying their business plan did not have the required funding blueprint to cover the ballooning cost, making it illegal under the statute. A judge agreed and blocked the sale of bonds.