Four years after a historic down payment was made on Pres. Obama's plan to connect 80 percent of Americans to fast trains, "the prospects for a national high-speed rail system seem bleak." Politics and funding challenges have derailed the plan.
For high-speed rail proponents, it's been four long years since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a historic $8 billion down payment on the development of a nationwide network of high-speed rail. "Today," notes Yonah Freemakr, "while Amtrak ridership continues to increase, improvements to the rail system thus far have been too minor for most people to notice."
Freemark explains how the failure to find a dedicated funding source and the use of the topic as a wedge issue by Republicans have conspired to put the future of the federal high-speed rail program in doubt.
"Though the president mentioned high-speed rail in his State of the Union address this year, the transportation mode is absent from his new focus on urgent repairs of the nation’s infrastructure. Nationwide, the political winds suggest that there will likely be little significant progress over the next four years."
"Unless there is some unforeseen progress in convincing Republicans of the value of rail investments, federal spending on this transportation mode will be constrained for years," he concludes. "The Obama administration’s plan for a U.S. high-speed rail system, then, remains little more than a vision."
FULL STORY: Will They or Won’t They? The Romance Between Obama and High-Speed Rail
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Richmond-to-Raleigh High-Speed Rail Gets Big Funding Win
Federal grant funding awarded recently takes a critical step toward making high-speed intercity rail service a reality between North Carolina and Virginia.
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Plan to Potentially Remove Downtown Milwaukee’s Interstate Faces Public Scrutiny
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Can New York City Go Green Without Renewable Rikers?
New York City’s bold proposal to close the jail on Rikers Island and replace it with green infrastructure is in jeopardy. Will this compromise the city’s ambitious climate goals?
700-Acre Master-Planned Community Planned in Utah
A massive development plan is taking shape for lakefront property in Vineyard, Utah—on the site of a former U.S. Steel Geneva Works facility.
More Cities Ponder the End of Drive-Thrus
Drive-thru fast food restaurants might be a staple of American life, but several U.S. cities are actively considering prohibiting the development of new drive-thrus for the benefit of traffic safety, air quality, and congestion.
Air Pollution World’s Worst Public Health Threat, Report Says
Air pollution is more likely to take years life off the lifespan of the average human than any other external factor, according to a recent report out of the University of Chicago.
Placer County
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HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Dongguan Binhaiwan Bay Area Management Committee
City of Waukesha, WI
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
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