Back in January 2010, I wrote a diary offering the political explanation for why Florida was granted $1.25 billion for a High Speed Rail line between Tampa and Orlando, as people understandably questioned what at face value seemed like such an obscure route.
As part of the ARRA, $8 billion was allocated for rail projects. Amongst legitimate objection, the Administration decided to spread the money across several projects around the country, with no one project receiving all it needed to begin construction. Critics, even on the left, derided this strategy as doomed to fail from resources spread to thin. As will be covered in this diary, the Obama Administration strategy of project seeding was ultimately vindicated, and then some.
On Monday, October 25, 2010, the Federal Government allocated another $800 million for the Florida HSR Project as part of ongoing, additional annual billion-dollar disbursements, bringing the Florida total to $2.05 billion. Florida required only $300 million more to begin construction.
Well, good News for Florida High speed Rail: It looks like almost all of the remaining funds have now become available. Construction will begin on the first dedicated, true(1) high speed rail line constructed in the United States.
From the Siemens High Speed Rail Exhibit at the Tampa Museum of Science:
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When President Obama came to Florida to announce the original award, Gov. Charlie Crist (R I D I R X-Gov) was waiting at the airport to receive him and the portion of those stimulus funds he was carrying. Remember Charlie Crist? Remember a time when serious politicians were actually embracing the President, or at least the satchel of stimulus money he was carrying? A lot has changed in the world of politics in the past year, and none for the better. The fate of expanded rail travel in this country, once a dream of the Obama Administration, was put in jeopardy.
That was then:
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The onslaught against rail travel came fast and furious following the fallout from November's elections. Why rail travel has been a historical target of the right is a subject for a series of diaries. But the biography of Robert Moses is a decent place to start. In short, mass reliance on visible, complex public infrastructure has a liberalizing effect on a population.
As diaried by Kossack "Zwoof" back on Thursday, November 4, 2010, Governor-elect Kasich took only 12 hours to kill the 3C rail project and the 8,000 jobs that went with it.
Governor-Elect Scott Walker vowed to kill the Madison Milwauke high speed rail line less than 48 hours after the election, as noted by diarist "railfan" on November 11, 2010, and by others. This cretin even started a web site against it during his campaign.
What could have been, along the Madison to Milwaukee right of way:
That fat fuck of a Governor in New Jersey officially killed the Access to the Region's Core back on October 28, 2010(2). $650 million had already been spent on the project. And here's something for all the John Galt's in New Jersey to think about: In addition to condemning NJTransit's 275,000 daily (weekday) riders to stew in more hour-long delays, New Jersey taxpayers owe Uncle Sam $350 million back for the work completed. Just add that to the $400 million Governor Christie passed up in Race to the Top. Dear New Jersey, you can recall Chris Christie. But don't worry, New Jersey, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand moved in on the $3 billion you left on the table. Those of us (now) living in New York appreciate it. By refusing to build a new pair of rail tunnels, the existing North River Hudson Tunnels are the only rail connection between New Jersey and Penn Station. At 100 years old this year, the time to start digging was yesterday.
Elections have consequences.
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Indeed they do, and so does sanctimonious purity(3).
There was a brilliance behind the stimulus rail funding. As Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said: Rail funds are for rail projects. In other words, you use it or lose it, pitting Galtian purity against populist job creation in a weak economy. Political check and mate. As Kossack "jer45" noted just yesterday, Governor Elect Scott Walker of Wisconsin resorted to the two tried and true GOP tactics when finding himself over a political barrel: crying and lying. Walker now blames the train manufacturing plant for closing up shop. The voters of Wisconsin may have been dumb enough to vote for you in the Great Tantrum of 2010, but you now have the burden of governing explaining to your constituents why you sent jobs to other states to protect purist ideals.
And that was the beauty of the original plan. Despite what many believed, we were never in the sudden dawning of a permanent democratic majority. Continuing the pattern of years before, politics would cycle back and forth, especially on the local level. The Obama Administration and politicians in Washington knew this. Sadly, the demand for rail stimulus funds was greater than the supply, meaning only one or two projects could be fully funded. Rail is expensive, so that's not a great deal of political impact for your dollar. Moreover, the cancellation of any one fully funded project would be a catastrophe if local politics shifted between 2008 and 2010. By not putting all their eggs in one basket and limiting rail funding to rail projects only, the Obama Administration presented potentially hostile Class of 2010 governors with a Sophie's choice: accept liberal rail projects and betray your Tea Party credentials or explain to your constituents why you sent jobs and money to another state in a recession.
And you know where the $300 million came from to complete the funding of Florida's High Speed Rail Line? Governors Ayn and Rand of Ohio and Wisconsin. By canceling their projects, their stimulus finds return to federal government to be disbursed to other projects.
DOT 208-10
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Contact: Olivia Alair
Tel: (202) 366-4570
U.S. Department of Transportation Redirects $1.195 Billion in High-Speed Rail Funds
WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced that $1.195 billion in high-speed rail funds originally designated for Wisconsin and Ohio will be redirected to other states eager to develop high-speed rail corridors across the United States. Wisconsin has suspended work under its existing high-speed rail agreement and the incoming Governors in Wisconsin and Ohio have both indicated that they will not move forward to use high-speed rail money received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). As a result, $1.195 billion will be redirected to high-speed rail projects already underway in other states.
After a small amount of vacillating on the part of Lakeland Republican John Mica, there is no realistic scenario in which Republican Scott Walker intervenes to stop the project. Foreign investors from around the world are even lining up now (Noted here, here, and here).
So a Tea Party Governor will now be building a multi-billion dollar liberal rail project right in the heart of Florida swing country, while swing states Ohio and Wisconsin face a visible loss of jobs from Republican policies. LOL.
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To summarize, the initial Florida High Speed rail line will stretch 84 miles from right within the Orlando Airport to Downtown Tampa. Trains will reach a top speed of 168mph, or 270km/h.
Critics may claim that the route is short, and speeds of 270km/h are nowhere near the speeds of lines being constructed in China, reaching 350km/h. Because the line is short, higher speeds are simply not justified at this time. And speeds in excess of even 270km/h are still rare around the world. Examine the map of European high speed rail lines, below, and you will see how many countries do not have lines close to this speed.
But opponents should fear Florida HSR as a gateway. The system is expected to be operational before the end of 2015, and if successful, it will certainly spur on additional projects, as did the Eisenhower Interstate System, which was originally small in scope compared to the finished project.
And where did the rest of those Ohio and Wisconsin rail funds go? To California. At 1100km total length, the California HSR project alone(4) would place the United States 6th in the World of High Speed Rail, behind only China, Spain, Japan, France, and Germany. But California's larger, and more troubled project is a diary for later...
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(1) I am not counting the Acela link between Boston and Washington D.C., even though the Acela trainset is capable of 300km/h (168mph) speeds, like the Florida High Speed Rail Line, it is artificially restricted to 150mph between Boston and Providence by FRA regulations, and 135mph between New York and Washington, D.C. due to an outdate caternary system.
(2) Rail funds, but not specifically part of high speed rail.
(3) General use of the term, taken from President Obama without endorsing or indicting the context in which he said it.
(4) If built.