A high-speed train through California? Not so fast...
Heard about the California high-speed rail project?
There's a $9.9-billion bond proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot, so if you're registered to vote in the state, you'll get to say yea or nay to 220-mph trains. Our own Steve Hymon has the details:
The Los Angeles-to-San Francisco leg is expected to cost at least $30 billion, meaning the bond really only gets engineering work started and perhaps a few segments of the line built. What it really does is it allows the California High-Speed Rail Authority to go out and seek federal funds and, more importantly, private dollars to invest in the line.
Among some of the controversies with the line is the route. Earlier this summer, the Authority certified its final environmental report on the route between the San Joaquin Valley and the Bay Area. There were two ways to get the train to the San Francisco Peninsula -- either from the south, through San Jose, or from the east, via Altamont Pass.
The Authority chose the southern route, saying it's more direct and practical. The trip between L.A. and S.F. would be faster, they argued, and improved commuter train service could serve the S.F. to Sacramento corridor.
Keep reading at The Bottleneck Blog.
