Amtrak to Fla.: We'd like to help, but we can't

BLAME RICK SCOTT!

Amtrak to Fla.: We'd like to help, but we can't
By Keith Laing - 03/18/11 11:44 AM ET


Amtrak says there is not enough time for it to partner with Florida cities to apply for high-speed rail money rejected by Florida GOP Gov. Rick Scott, according to the office of Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) Friday.

That effectively means a proposed railway connecting Tampa and Orlando has really reached the end of the line.

Amtrak President Joseph Boardman wrote a letter to Nelson and Democratic Reps. Corrine Brown and Kathy Castor of Florida to tell them an Amtrak-Florida city partnership would have to wait for another time.

Boardman said he would have liked to save the project, but the window to get together an application before April 4 was too short.

“Like you, we share your desire for the development of high-speed rail in Florida and were dismayed when the state decided to relinquish their federal funding for this project,” Boardman wrote to the Florida lawmakers.

more...

http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/railroads/150703-amtrak-to-fla-wed-like-to-help-but-we-cant-

Unless of course there is some asshole Republican governor standing in the way.

Hence, give it to Colorado, Missouri, New Hampshire and North Carolina.

I guess some other states can benefit this time around.

:)

At least not in a presidential race.

I'm not talking about Patty Murray of course.

One from the Airport into the mountains (the I-70 route). The traffic mountains has become unbearable. What used to take 90 mins...at the right time now takes about 2 hours. At the wrong time it can literally take 4 hours to get from the Divide back into Denver.

Then another one along the Front Range. From Ft Collins...down through Denver...down through Colorado Springs...down through Pueblo.

Both are routes you could extend on across the country over subsequent years. One of those paths is, like I said, the I-70 route, the other is the I-25 route. A big plus sign smack dab in the middle of our state.

Man, how awesome would that be?

Am I reading this correctly? If not for the April 4 deadline, Florida would have the go ahead for their high-speed rail project? What changed? What about Scott? I thought it had been settled - that he'd nixed the whole thing.

...that partnership could apply for the federal funds. Thus bypassing the state of FL and the governor's office. It would also mean no possible way to get state funds for it, but that probably wouldn't have been a problem.

If it did, they would have gotten the governor's ass squared away on this. Instead, the governor made a stupid decision, and the state's other elected officials let it stand. The state doesn't want high speed rail. Let's spend the money where they do want high speed rail.