jamisonwieser:

I woke up this morning to a news report that the 15% of Californians would likely vote against the water bond based on the $11.1 billion price tag, though a majority would be willing to vote for a cheaper bond.

Likewise the study found a majority of Californians now oppose the $58 billion California High-Speed Rail project.

Both the water project and the High-speed rail line don’t seem that expensive to me given the importance of safe, clean drinking water and the alternative to high-speed rail is three times as much on roads that still couldn’t carry the capacity.

And that’s the thing that gets a lot of the opposition is about big numbers and not the actual merits, relative costs and the scale of these mega-projects.

High-speed rail service to Disneyland will be the end result of hundreds of interconnected projects. Many are already underway and will start paying off in other ways long before the last spike is driven.

Along the Peninsula, HSR will share the Caltrain corridor and this week the CA High-Speed Rail Authority approved its share of electrification funding.

The old diesel trains could be ditched by 2019 in favor of all-electric propulsion according to Caltrain’s Jayme Ackemann. …

Caltrain modernization, which boasts a cleaner approach to travel, will arrive a decade before high-speed rail service to Los Angeles becomes a reality.

Maybe we just need to reframe the costs for statewide projects. $0.058 trillion looks a lot smaller than $58 billion.

The 141-mile section from Bakersfield to L.A. will travel over two mountain ranges and more than half a dozen earthquake faults. Experts see it as the project of the century.

The plan calls for bullet trains to shoot east from Bakersfield at 220 mph, climbing one of the steepest sustained high-speed rail inclines in the world. It would soar over canyons on viaducts as high as a 33-story skyscraper. The line would duck in and out of tunnels up to 500 feet below the rugged surface. It would cross more than half a dozen earthquake faults heading toward L.A.

latimes, 12.11.12

This 高铁 (gaotie), or high speed train, travels at 350km/h. 06.2010.

When will Americans realize we’re losing the infrastructure race to China?

Right now, there is zero prospect of significantly raising infrastructure spending. As part of the 2009 stimulus package, Congress authorized $10.1 billion for the U.S. High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program, which would provide grants to states seeking to enhance existing passenger rail service and build new dedicated high-speed railways. Very few states succeeded in securing grants to develop high-speed trains before Congress eliminated funding for the program in 2011. And that was under President Barack Obama. The long-term budget proposed by Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s running mate, would halve discretionary spending as a fraction of GDP over the next decade. The document, know as “The Path To Prosperity,” was endorsed by the House of Representatives—and it does not mention the word “infrastructure.” Ryan appears to believe that the private market will supply public transportation, sewer systems and power grids, and repairs bridges and roadways.

Perhaps even more dangerous than the Republican idée fixe over government spending is the chest-thumping braggadocio that insists the United States is the greatest nation the world has ever seen, and has nothing to learn from anyone. When will we wake up? Only, I imagine, when it too late to do much about our plight.

foreignpolicy, 24.08.12.

atlanticcities, 09.07.12.

OF COURSE!!!

gyahh “boondoggle” idiots

did you think the state was gonna build a pretty high speed train just to look at??!

In light of recent news, thought I should post this. The final from my special topics course on California HSR. The assignment was to write as if to a legislator persuading him or her to approve or disapprove of issuing the Prop. 1a funds to build HSR. not so complete and detailed (max. 10pgs—i wrote 4) as I wrote it just a few hours before it was due, after writing a bs 17pg paper for another class.. But yeah, my view on it.

Dear Mr. Legislator Boss,

The decision whether to approve issuance of the first $3 billion worth of Proposition 1a High Speed Rail bonds is coming up. I urge you to vote YES to issue the bonds and begin construction of the HSR project.

California high speed rail has been in planning stages for more than a decade, and it is time to bring it to fruition. The state’s budget problem is a major issue, so it is vital to claim all the funding we can for the project. There are many benefits of high speed rail that outweigh its costs, and even if now if not the right time to build the complete high speed rail network all at once, it should be built nevertheless.

Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers gave the green light to start building the nation’s first dedicated high-speed rail line, a multibillion dollar project that will eventually link Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The move marked major political victories for Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown and the Obama administration. Both have promoted bullet trains as job generators and clean transportation alternatives.

In a narrow 21-16 party-line vote that involved intense lobbying by the governor, legislative leaders and labor groups, the state Senate approved the measure marking the launch of California’s ambitious bullet train, which has spent years in the planning stages…

ap, 07.07.12.

thank god. or else would have lost the money match from the federal government.

California’s population expected to grow from 38 million to 60 million by 2050.

equivalent capacity to Phase 1 Blended:

• 4,300 new highway lane miles
• 115 additional airport gates
• 4 new airport runways

estimated $158 billion for road and airport extensions

Caltrans estimates $132.8 billion operating and maintanance costs over 50 years for the additional highway infrastructure.

from a presentation in my CA HSR class yesterday.

California high speed rail is estimated to cost $68 billion.

Phase 1 Blended: San Francisco to LA, with electrified Caltrain and MetroLink rail. by year 2029.

San Diego doesn’t get connected until Phase 2, a few years later.

An artist’s rendering of a high-speed train traveling along the California coast. California will need to build its high-speed train line in record time if it doesn’t want to risk losing federal funds — it will have to be the fastest piece of transportation construction in U.S. history, experts said.

related news: Jeffrey Morales to head Calif. high-speed rail. sfgate, 30.05.12.

my mom just called me confirming that my aunt and uncle and 3 little cousins wanna come down to watch me receive a fake diploma in june. 

but there won’t be room in the car for me to join on the ride back up to the Bay.

the eldest cousin suggested taking the train.

she clearly hasn’t learned much about Amtrak yet.

• SAN — OAK $91 one way on Southwest airlines, 1.5hrs
• driving — however much gas costs, 8h
• taking the oh, so efficient Amtrak — $83 one way, 12+ hours

yeah, I immediately replied that our state’s high speed rail system has not been built yet, and therefore NO WAY is anyone taking the train from the Bay to San Diego.

via Amtrak:

yup, no freaking way.
and that’s 12 hours not counting traffic (bus segment) and inevitable delays due to tracks and other late trains. 

California high speed rail, will you only remain a dream? 
Will some political person put it on the ballot for a new vote, since the revised plan is so drastically different from what voters agreed on in 2008? Will it get shot down?
Someone drop cash on our state, please. 

btw, today in my class on CA HSR, we had a guest speaker from SANDAG. She talked about HSR as well as regional and local transportation plans. I don’t feel good about not remembering most of it and not being able to share it here. I should’ve napped before class.