Northwest High-Speed Rail Cluelessness

A couple of days ago, the Antiplanner noted that cities fail to learn from each other’s experience with rail transit disasters. It turns out that states don’t learn either, as the state of Washington is considering creating a high-speed rail authority and giving it millions of dollars to study a high-speed rail line from Eugene to Vancouver, BC.

Of course, such an authority worked so well in California, where costs have more than doubled, the project has been delayed for years verging on decades, and proponents’ claims that fares would cover operating costs are so unlikely as to be laughable. If it doesn’t work in California, which has the densest urban areas in the United States, how can it possibly make sense in the Pacific Northwest, where populations and densities are much lower?

The article is accompanied by a photo of a Siemens prototype high-speed rail car. My 66-year-old eyes can’t read all of the writing on the side, but if Siemens were honest it would read, “Connecting cities at half the speed and ten times the cost of flying.”
How beneficial is Forzest for men? Forzest aids and improves the blood supply in the penile organ and permits purchase levitra online hop over to here blood to fill the spongy erectile tissues to cause an erection. Like tadalafil buy in usa Our store the cerebellum, there is a set of neurological exercises to rehabilitate the cerebellum. It is also a method to show your partner how much you care about them. viagra cialis generico These embrace: o testosterone spare therapy o anabolic steroid exert o chemotherapy o various antibiotics o certain ulcer medicine Undescended Testicles This disorder takes place when one or both testicles fails incline from the stomach during fetal expansion. cialis 5mg http://respitecaresa.org/get-involved/leave-a-legacy/hand-print/
The proponents of a Washington or Northwest high-speed rail agency are clearly clueless about what has happened in California. But remember, in the same election in which Los Angeles voted to spend $120 billion on light rail, Seattle voted to spend $54 billion on the same long-obsolete technology.

Interestingly, the article saying that the state wants to spend millions on high-speed rail has a link to an article about how a Seattle light-rail line is millions over budget. Apparently, states can’t even learn from the experience of cities within those states.

Tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

About The Antiplanner

The Antiplanner is a forester and economist with more than fifty years of experience critiquing government land-use and transportation plans.

7 Responses to Northwest High-Speed Rail Cluelessness

  1. metrosucks says:

    Tell me about it. They’re thieving from both property taxes and car tabs to pay for this worthless piece of trolley trash. Almost $400 on my tabs for a 2017 Tacoma for what…a 10mph stupid, worthless trolley and 30 years of make work for corrupt contractors who funded the initiative battle? Some of the big names in worthless toy train projects even opened local offices here to feed off this scam for the next couple decades.

  2. Henry Porter says:

    Behind every rail fiasco is an FTA official who thought it was a good idea. FTA is the common denominator in failed transit boondoggles.

    https://www.constructiondive.com/news/fta-executes-12b-grant-for-seattle-light-rail-extension/545050/

  3. JOHN1000 says:

    The feds could save the states a lot of $$ and time if they made decisions right up front to announce no federal funds for useless expensive projects.

    Then the proponents won’t be able to lie about how it won’t cost anyone $$$ as it will all come from the feds.

    If people know up front they have to pay for the projects, at least there will be a chance to stop them.

  4. Frank says:

    “They’re thieving from both property taxes and car tabs”

    I’ve never been able to figure out why Washington state calls them “tabs” especially when they are “tags” in every other state.

  5. the highwayman says:

    With that kind of logic, then I-5 wouldn’t exist :$

  6. snipelee says:

    Keep in mind that a major funding mechanism budgeted for CA HSR is to condemn cheap farmland for the ROW and then re-zone it as commercial and sell it off. I’m sure this will stand-up in court…

  7. prk166 says:

    Maybe if they think looking to Sweden is important they’d see that the 1 hour flight from Stockholm to Gotenburg is a 3hr trip via Sweden’s high speed rail?

Leave a Reply