The Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday that it "received more than 90 applications from 24 states, the District of Columbia, and Amtrak" requesting the opportunity to put to good use the $2.4 billion for high-speed passenger rail that Florida rejected. Taken altogether, the requests total nearly $10 billion, over four times the amount available.
The response is an strong endorsement for the high-speed rail's future in the United States. The funds were put up for grabs by the Gov. Rick Scott's shortsighted rejection of federal funds for a high-speed rail project in Florida. Scott was the third newly-elected Republican governor, joining Ohio's Gov. John Kasich and Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker, in rejecting federal funding for high-speed rail projects in their states. The money that was marked for Ohio and Wisconsin, was rerouted to Florida to help build the rail project that would have connected Tampa and Orlando.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in the statement:
Governors and members of Congress have been clamoring for the opportunity to participate. That's because they know that high-speed rail will deliver tens of thousands of jobs, spur economic development across their communities and create additional options for their citizens as the country's population grows… We are extremely pleased to see the bipartisan enthusiasm behind all of the requests to get into the high-speed rail business.
The benefits of high-speed rail draw a crowd, according to the DOT.
They've seen these jobs in Maine--where the Downeaster extension to Brunswick is under construction--and they've seen them in Illinois--where 96 miles of track are now being laid for the Chicago-St. Louis high-speed corridor.
Demand is high because these leaders--Democrats and Republicans--have also seen the expanded manufacturing activity in Indiana, where the workers of Steel Dynamics are forging track.
Here's a sampling of the projects being proposed:
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Amtrak requested for $1.3 billion to modernize the Northeast Corridor.
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California requested for $2.4 billion to help build Central Valley high-speed rail.
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Missouri requested $1 billion to upgrade service between St. Louis and Kansas City.
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North Carolina requested $624 million to improve service between Raleigh and Charlotte.
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New York requested $517 million for projects including upgrades to the Empire Corridor.
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Maryland requested $415 million to upgraded rail bridges and redevelop the station at Baltimore/Washington International Airport.
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Pennsylvania requested $248 million to improve the Keystone Corridor between Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
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Connecticut requested $227 million to improve the rail link between New Haven and Springfield, MA.
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Michigan requested more than $200 million with the majority of funds slated to improve the route between Kalamazoo and Dearborn.
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Illinois requested $186 million to upgrade the route between Chicago and St. Louis.
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Washington requested $120 million to improve the rail system between Seattle and Portland, OR.
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Rhode Island requested $31 million in part to bypass Kingston Station near the University of RI.
The District of Columbia and 13 other states, Georgia, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin, also submitted application proposals.
Yes, even Wisconsin requested $150 to improve the Hiawatha line between Chicago and Milwaukee. Gov. Scott Walker's application came less than four months after he turned down an $810 million grant largely to build high-speed rail between Madison and Milwaukee.
"This is not inconsistent with the position I took in the past," Walker said last month. Walker previously described Wisconsin high-speed rail as a "boondoggle".
"President Obama's vision is to connect 80 percent of Americans to high-speed rail within the next 25 years." The Obama administration has proposed a six-year, $53 billion plan to sent Americans on their high-speed journey. The administration describes high-speed rail as "the kind of investment we owe the next generation of Americans. That's the kind of investment that will help this nation win the future."