You may not have given much thought to California’s plan to build a high-speed rail line connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco since they voted yes (or no) in 2008 on the nearly $10 billion in bonds needed to get the project going.
Maybe you didn’t live in California at the time or were too young to understand the instinctive attraction of an electrified transportation system that would replace gas-guzzling tedious Interstate 5 rides with bullet train rides that would carry passengers between cities at over 200 miles. at one o’clock.
If any of this is true for you, it’s no surprise that turning this grand vision into reality has been monumentally difficult. The cost of the effort skyrocketed and the itinerary changed due to political disputes and legal issues. The future of the project has become uncertain, even as construction continues in the Central Valley.
But now, as I reported this week, the urgency of that effort has heightened as the United States struggles to seriously address climate change and overhaul collapsing roads, bridges, tunnels and railroads.
President Biden, in his State of the Union address this month, told Americans that the country is entering a “Decade of Infrastructure” designed to “put us on the path to winning the economic competition of the 21st century.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom, in his State of the Union address shortly afterward, said that California “had no equal” when it came to climate policy, but that the state still had to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and thus free itself from “power oil dictators.” According to him, none of this can happen overnight.
“We realized that we can’t solve big problems like climate change situationally, with short-term thinking,” he said.
Experts and proponents of high-speed rail have told me that the technology being used in countries around the world is up to the mark for such a sweeping change. The ambivalence about building high-speed rail, they say, tells us a lot about what seems to be a disturbing failure to take on transformative projects in the United States, no matter how badly they are needed.
Yona Freemark, a researcher at the Urban Institute who has been following the California high-speed rail project, put it this way: “The fact that California is the only place in the United States where high-speed rail is being built is not an indictment. California, but also the United States.”
At first glance, this is a money problem. The entire line is currently estimated to cost $105 billion, and the state’s think tank said in a recent report that it’s unclear where much of that amount came from.
But people who have been following the California Bullet Train plan for a long time say that when it comes to big government projects, it’s ultimately a matter of political will.
This view was shared by two of California’s top statesmen, Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who both championed the project as governor.
Brown, a Democrat who served twice as governor, recalled riding a bullet train in Japan in the early 1960s, shortly after it was built. As someone with fond childhood memories of riding the Southern Pacific Railroad’s Coast Daylight and Lark trains, he was intrigued.
Brown recalled that during his first term as governor, officials in the administration of his predecessor Ronald Reagan suggested that placing powerful weapons on new rail lines would make it harder for enemies to target. But Brown said he had another idea: use high-speed rail for passengers.
“It was 1979,” he said. Brown asked lawmakers to look into the matter.
By the time he became governor for the second time in 2011, after the Schwarzenegger-led bond measure was passed, other countries, including France, Spain and China, had built thousands of miles of electrified high-speed rail lines.
Today, according to Brown, another factor is at work.
“We are in an increasingly competitive relationship with China,” he said.
But Schwarzenegger said the project is mired in political provincialism that undermines a much-needed public good.
“Cheerleader wanted,” he said. “You need someone who really overlooks all this.”
He added that it is unpleasant to hear how the opponents of the project reject it, because it will not bring money.
“You look at the world and very rarely does any system turn out to be very profitable,” Schwarzenegger said. “When we build schools, we don’t think, ‘How can we make big money out of all this?’
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The Sleepy Senate has approved daylight savings time permanently. If the bill had been passed by the House of Representatives and signed into law by President Biden, there would be no more leaps forward or retreat.
Where are we going
Today’s advice comes from M. Ronald G. Kirkham:
“The most beautiful place in California is Big Sur – it has more beauty per square mile than any other place on earth, and I’ve traveled pretty much everywhere.”
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Send your suggestions to [email protected]. We will report more in future editions of the newsletter.
And before you leave, good news
As you all know, California has some of the most beautiful and diverse natural environments in the world, from giant rocks and Joshua trees in the desert to the (occasionally) snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada and the colorful tide pools of Monterey. Bay.
Many of these areas are part of national parks or monuments. But there are also 279 California state parks, and this year, for the first time, Californians can celebrate them with a series of events and programs modeled after National Park Week, including Land Recognition Day and Children’s Career Day.
You can learn more about California State Parks Week, June 14-18.
Thanks for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow.
PS Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and a hint: In shape (3 letters).
Soumya Carlamangla, Briana Scalia and Marielle Wamsley contributed to California Today. You can contact the team at [email protected].
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