The Nitty-Gritty on Obama's HSR Plan

From the Executive Summary:

"Proposed Funding Approach: In order to meet the goals of the Recovery Act while initiating a transformational new program, we propose to advance three funding “tracks”:

* Projects: Provide grants to complete individual projects that are “ready to go” with preliminary engineering and environmental work completed.

* Corridor programs: Enter into cooperative agreements to develop entire phases or geographic sections of corridor programs that have completed corridor plans and environmental documentation, and have a prioritized list of projects to meet the corridor objectives; this approach would involve additional Federal oversight and support.

* Planning: Enter into cooperative agreements for planning activities using non-ARRA appropriations funds, in order to create the corridor program and project pipeline needed to fully develop a high-speed rail network.

This Strategic Plan is just the first of several steps intended to further refine and elaborate on this high-speed rail corridor vision – including the program guidance (due June 17), the President’s detailed fiscal year 2010 budget request, the National Rail Plan called for by Congress, and discussions over upcoming surface transportation legislation."