Despite cost issues, HSR is still the future
by Brian Leubitz
Robert has written abundantly about the recent HSR controversy. And while there are still some serious issues to be dealt with before construction, HSR is still a good idea. Sure the HSR Authority could have done a better job at the initial planning and outreach. Former chairman Quentin Kopp, also known as “San Francisco’s Favorite Crank,” and his shall we say less than convivial tactics didn’t really suit the situation all that well. Fortunately for HSR, Kopp is now removed from the situation and doing what he does best, acting cranky from the sidelines.
That all being said there is still much to like in the in the new HSR plan, and really it lies at the heart of the New California Dream. From a letter from Jim Earp, Chair of 2008’s Prop 1A and also the executive director of California Alliance for Jobs:
As we all have witnessed, the debate over the details of the business plan has been spirited. There have been questions about cost, funding, whether starting construction in the Central Valley makes sense and whether the High Speed Rail Authority is being responsive to local concerns.
But there is a more fundamental issue that must be addressed first: Does California really need high-speed rail?
As the one who oversaw the high-speed rail bond measure campaign in 2008, I firmly believe that high-speed rail isn’t a luxury, but a necessity for California. It isn’t a pipe dream that should be shelved until such time in the distant future when California hopefully finds itself with loads of discretionary cash. Plain and simple, high-speed rail is the most cost effective, environmentally responsible way to help transport the additional 20 million people that will be living in California three decades from now.
You can find the full letter here or over the flip. But to me, the main issue is how we are going to move Californians north and south for the next century. We can either continue to rely on the highway system, and just hope that oil doesn’t run out, and that we don’t need to be concerned about greenhouse emissions or actually look at reality. There will be a lot more people in California over the next few decades.
We’ll hit 50 million at some point in the next few decades and moving those people around is not cost-free even if we don’t build HSR. Highways are far from free, and our airport system cannot really sustain substantially higher traffic. We’ll have to invest in our infrastructure in one of two-ways, either try to prop up the old way of doing things, highways and such, or think big. As Governor Brown said:
While the nation is in a “period of massive retrenchment,” Brown told The Fresno Bee’s editorial board, “I would like to be part of the group that gets America to think big again.”
*** **** ***
“The numbers look big,” Brown said, but he added that the investment is small when compared to the state’s economic productivity over the life of the system. That, he suggested, is why the state needs to “look to the future instead of the past.”
Gov. Brown recently appointed Michael Rossi, his so-called “Jobs Czar” to the Authority, and is paying attention to the program. It is time to think Eisenhower-ian in California once again. We can afford to build big projects, the alternative is that we just coast off what we built in the last century. That is really as far away from the American ideal that I grew up with as is really possible.
I must admit HSR looked like a good idea when it was broached
I voted against the proposition, but both my daughters voted for HSR
The problem with HSR is funding
We need the Feds to fund a majhority of the cost
That just will not happen, the national economy has tanked
Look at all our other priorities, Elementary and college Education, (existing) infrastructure, prisons and courts, health care…..
There just ISN’T ANY MONEY for these basic priorities
We can’t afford HSR rail, now
Continue planning, but don’t spend massive amounts on something that won’t get done
It’s jsut common sense
Figure out how to get HSR down the SF Peninsula
Current plans are not acceptable to the affected communities
I completely agree with your post. I have been pretty tough on HSR, but we must still build it. And Rod Diridon? Are you listening? Those who are upset with HSR are NOT just looking for right wing talking points (as you indicated in a recent radio interview). There are legitimate issues. We must and should work through those issues and get the damn thing built. It might take more time and money than we like to finish everything, but failure is not an option.
Why does California need high speed rail? To create construction jobs for a system that will ultimately be ignored like most of the mass transportation in southern California?
There is still a huge problem with HSR that no one seems to address (at least that I’ve heard). Not so much a problem with HSR in general, but with this specific plan, because it really only addresses how Californians would get around the state on a regional level, mainly between northern and southern California. It does nothing to address the problems of getting around within those regions, just how to get from one region to another. Also, since it does not connect to any other system outside California, it does nothing to help the problems of people getting in or out of the state. So if I want to go from L.A. to San Francisco, great. But it’s not going to help me get to work. (Unless I move to Bakersfield and work in L.A., which just increases sprawl.)
So essentially, we would be creating a $100 billion rail system that does not fix the transportation problems that we actually have. And while the population expands, there will still be the same increased demands on highways and airports and everything else. Only a fraction of the increased demand on airports, for example, will be relieved by this HSR, because only a fraction of that increased demand is related to intrastate travel. It does not help interstate travel. And again, there is very little local benefit. So the airports and highways will still need to be expanded, with HSR reducing that cost very little.
I’m all for thinking big. But there’s also thinking smart, and this plan isn’t.
The HSR Authority needs to get off the dime and get moving. One thing they should do is put some real transportation people in charge, rather than politicians, to run the thing. The political appointees have been fiddling and diddling for too long on this. The time to act is NOW!
Let’s pick a route and start building the darn thing already. Not everyone will be happy with the result, but that’s reality. If they keep wasting time the opportunity will go away and then nobody will be happy.