Charlotte Observer: How will $8 billion shape rail corridors?

[marmar]

How will $8 billion shape rail corridors?

By Steve Harrison
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Posted: Sunday, Mar. 08, 2009


There isn't enough money in President Obama's stimulus to transform our highways or mass transit.

But there is one area of transportation where stimulus money can change how we get around: high-speed rail.

The stimulus has $8 billion for faster trains – a dramatic increase over existing funding, which, in the past, has dripped out, like water from a leaky faucet.

Now advocates and skeptics of investing in passenger rail are wondering how the federal government will divvy up the bounty. Will two or three projects get the money? Or will it be spread around the country?

It would arguably be more stimulative to spread the money around. More contractors get work, in more parts of the country.

But some rail advocates say they think the federal government should channel the money into only two or three projects. They argue that a model high-speed corridor should be built, capture market share from airlines and then be used as a shining example for the rest of the country.

“If at the end of the day, all we have done is make it five minutes faster to go from Chicago to Springfield – big deal,” said David Carol, a project manager for the Charlotte Area Transit System who supports high-speed rail and doesn't want the money to be frittered away.

So who is eligible for the $8billion? And who should get the cash?

The federal government has designated 10 high-speed rail corridors nationwide, and some are better candidates for fast trains than others.

Some experts are pushing for a massive investment in the New York-Washington, D.C., route, Amtrak's most successful. Chicago is also considered a good candidate, with routes to St. Louis, Minneapolis, Louisville, Detroit and Cleveland. (Handicappers believe Chicago is a good bet for funding, in part because Obama and his transportation secretary Ray LaHood both hail from Illinois.) ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/583608.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. The priorities should be towards those projects that are shovel ready

As they said in the article, there have already been improvements made or started in NC--so adding the new federal money would finish the projects sooner--and the more completed projects, the sooner it becomes apparent that high speed rail is the way to go. (And this is someone who would love to have the DFW-Little Rock run become a reality!)