Feds Award $3B for CA High-Speed Rail, and $3B for Vegas-to-LA HSR
"This show of support from the Biden-Harris Administration is a vote of confidence in today’s vision and comes at a critical turning point, providing the project new momentum.”
This is great, historic big news for sustainable transportation connecting western states. But don't lose sight of the arguably even better news that the California High-Speed Rail Authority also got its own, equally substantial chunk of federal funding.
The U.S. Department of Transportation will award CAHSRA nearly $3.1 billion, putting the project on schedule to open its Central Valley "initial operating segment" within the next decade.
In Governor Newsom's words, "This show of support from the Biden-Harris Administration is a vote of confidence in today’s vision and comes at a critical turning point, providing the project new momentum.”
The federal funding will advance work in the Central Valley, including designing and constructing the Fresno station, Central Valley construction including completing design and right-of-way acquisition between Merced and Bakersfield (~180 miles), and procuring trainsets to begin testing.
The $3 billion announced on Tuesday is in addition to other smaller federal funding received this year, including $202 million for safety and grade separation work and $25 million for the Fresno Depot.
Progress on this megaproject continues to move forward, despite skepticism from those who falsely claim that the project was dead because it hasn't already lined up all funding needed. In the last year, CAHSRA has continued to work on grade separations and environmental clearance, design of tracks and train systems, and has begun lining up operators.
The federal Infrastructure and Jobs Act includes about $40 billion for high-speed rail programs throughout the country. More funding announcements are expected this week.
Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry has been thinking about transportation, and how to improve conditions for bicyclists, ever since commuting to school by bike long before bike lanes were a thing. She was Managing Editor at the East Bay Express, editor of Access Magazine for the University of California Transportation Center, and earned her Masters in City Planning from UC Berkeley.
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