Posted on 02/29/2012 8:58:36 PM PST by SmithL
With a long-standing federal deadline breathing down their necks, California's polarizing $100 billion bullet train suddenly got a much-needed reprieve Wednesday after the Obama administration eased the target for starting construction.
For years, state high-speed rail leaders aimed for a September 2012 groundbreaking to meet the assumed deadline for the federal stimulus program, which funded about one-third of the $6 billion first leg of track.
But in a statement Wednesday, federal rail officials said the train "is making continual progress" and for the first time revealed that the law does not specifically require a deadline to start construction. Technically, it mandates the funds be "obligated" by September, and for the project to be finished by September 2017.
State rail officials still hope to start building by the end of this year but could begin in early 2013, giving them extra time to work on an unprecedented project that some state and local leaders fear was being rushed to meet the federal deadlines.
"If this is the first step down a $100 billion path, it better be the right first step," said state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, one of the lawmakers who has called for the project to slow down. "I think it's important for all of us to resist being hurried into a decision we might later regret, given the multi-billion dollar consequences."
At its Thursday board meeting, the California High-Speed Rail Authority will detail the latest construction schedule for the first stretch of track in the Central Valley. A skeptical Legislature still must approve the funding, however.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
$100 billion? Wasn’t it originally supposed to cost $30 billion?
Obama needs to get some bigger toilets designed to flush the taxpayer’s money down.
Cool.. Let’s delay it for a while....
Then, cancel it altogether.
Something tells me various environmental agencies and groups were a little less stringent on any impact studies and reports, compared to say a new power plant, commercial building, mall, factory, etc/
It was originally estimated to cost somewhere between $30 and $40 million (not sure of the exact figure). A few years in, the cost estimates were raised (almost tripled), completion dates were significantly extended, and ridership estimates greatly reduced. God only knows how many more changes will occur to those "estimates" over the course of the project.
Tijuana to LA?
How much would it cost for a High Speed Stagecoach?
Pray for America
Have these clowns ever heard of a gantt chart??
If you can’t tell on any given day if your project is on target or not, you’ve got a CF on your hands.
“Tijuana to LA?”
Sadly, NO, that would be a paying route.The “initial section” will be between Fresno and Bakersfield ( or something close to that). That’s all farmland, no people ( except farm workers) but it’s the easiest part of the build,
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