High-speed Rail and Calls for Budget Cuts

The Wall Street Journal reports on Republican calls to open mass transit to budget cuts, and the Infrastructurist provides an argument for high-speed rail in America. Find out more in this installment of Infrastructure in the News.

National News

Wall Street Journal: Battle Lines Form Over Government's Role
House Republican leaders said Tuesday highway and mass-transit programs should no longer be shielded from budget cuts, and immediately drew fire from states, the construction industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The Hill: Rule could endanger transportation budget, building trade jobs sector
Democratic Reps. Joe Courtney (Conn.), Peter Welch (Vt.) and Laura Richardson (Calif.) sent a letter Tuesday to Republican leaders urging them to adopt an amendment to their rules package that would ensure funding for the Highway Trust Fund and protect building trades jobs.

Infrastructurist: A Powerful Argument for U.S. High-Speed Rail
Avent’s strongest point is that high-speed rail investments are held to a different standard than other transportation projects. The first response to a proposed rail project these days is that it’s too expensive and won’t pay for itself. But if economic efficiency is the ultimate goal, then all types of transportation should have to pay for their infrastructure. That means drivers should cover the cost of road maintenance and construction (which they don't), and that means raising the gas tax (which we won't).

Sunshine State News: The Uncertain Future of the High-Speed Rail Program
The Illinois Department of Transportation has reached a cooperative agreement with Union Pacific and Amtrak that permits the release of a $1.1 billion federal high-speed rail grant to the state of Illinois to fund passenger rail improvements between Chicago and St. Louis.

Finance and Commerce: Permanent funding needed for transportation economic development
As noted in a Dec. 30 Finance & Commerce article, the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development have collaborated to help fund a number of highway and infrastructure improvements that will support economic development while creating jobs in both the short term and long term.

State News

San Jose Mercury News: Hear that whistle blowing?
Now urban planners and some political leaders have totaled up the costs and the alternatives and rail travel seems to have found a new life. Any reckoning with the assumption that over the next 50 years California's population may well double means that fresh ideas are called for. Trains aren't exactly fresh but anyone who has been to western Europe, China, Japan and other Asian countries realizes that a significant rail option is the answer.

New York Times: California's High-Speed Rail Project Stirs Concern
Under a plan approved in early December, the inaugural stretch of the multispurred 800-mile system will eventually connect San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento and other major California cities and will run through the state’s farm-rich Central Valley.

San Francisco Chronicle: High-speed rail: Do it right - or don't do it
If California wants a high-speed train system, then the Legislature and the governor must place management of the project in qualified hands. The California High-Speed Rail Authority is not qualified to manage the project successfully.

Detroit Lakes: $33 million for highways, infrastructure
Eleven highway improvement and infrastructure projects in Minnesota have received preliminary approval for nearly $33 million in funding under a joint pilot program launched by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT).