Intermountain West: Off the Map for HSR Plans

Posted by: Alek Miller

9 October 2009 - 12:00pm

Planners from Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno met this week to discuss plans for high-speed rail between their cities, since they've been left off the map of potential corridors to be funded by the stimulus package.

"'If you don't have a line on the map, you're nowhere,' said [Dennis] Smith, executive director of the Maricopa Association of Governments. 'This is about: How does the fastest-growing region get politically aligned?'"

"Under their charter, the Western regions each contributes $60,000 a year to the effort. The money will pay for studies and plans in an effort to 'promote the expansion of the high-speed rail system throughout the intermountain West regions with the connections to the Pacific Coast.'"

Full Story: Phoenix, not on bullet-train map, wants onboard

Source: The Arizona Republic, October 8, 2009