California Governor Gavin Newsom dropped a bombshell earlier this week by announcing that California's ambitious high-speed rail project would be pared down. He envisions the Central Valley segment as the spine of a resurgent urban region.
"With the self-consciously blunt, nearly Trumpian preface of 'let’s be real,' Newsom proclaimed that 'the project, as currently planned, would cost too much and take too long….there simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A.' Instead of building the statewide system, he lent his enthusiastic support to the completion of the 119-mile initial operating segment between Bakersfield and Madera, plus a little more to Merced."
"Without connections to Los Angeles and the Bay Area, the economic impacts may be limited, but planners can still hope for the psychological impacts to justify and motivate the type of redevelopment they envision. Newsom outlined a strategy for rail-based revitalization: 'We can align our economic and workforce development strategies, anchored by High-Speed Rail, and pair them with tools like opportunity zones, to form the backbone of a reinvigorated Central Valley economy.'"
FULL STORY: High Speed Rail is Dead, Long Live High Speed Rail
Gov. Gavin Newsom to Dramatically Downsize High-Speed Rail Project
The San Francisco-to-Los Angeles bullet train may have to be renamed the Central Valley High-Speed Train according to the announcement by the new governor in his first state-of-the-state address.
California's $100 Billion High-Speed Gamble
The state has less than one-third the funds necessary to build the 800-mile line connecting Northern and Southern California, depending on the cost estimate. The immediate goal is to build a 119-mile section in the Central Valley.
California High-Speed Rail Recommits to Bakersfield-to-Merced Segment
The California High-Speed Rail Authority also certified the Final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement for the San Francisco to San Jose section of the route in August.
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