As many of you know, I love the idea of trains. I love how versatile, and efficient they are as an economic development engine as well as a mode for public transit. So you can imagine how happy I was to hear of the announcement today and the commitment by the President to funding the expansion of high speed rail by budgeting an additional $1 billion dollars every year for the next five years.
So what 31 States get a portion of the $8 billion dollar pie dolled out today? CNN said the approved projects are
- San Diego-Los Angeles-San Luis Obispo in California
- Oakland-Sacramento in California
- Portland-Eugene in Oregon
- Seattle-Portland in Washington and Oregon
- Chicago-St. Louis in Illinois and Missouri
- St. Louis-Kansas City in Missouri
- Minneapolis/St. Paul-Madison in Minnesota and Wisconsin
- Madison-Milwaukee in Wisconsin
- Milwaukee-Chicago in Wisconsin and Illinois
- Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati in Ohio
- Detroit/Pontiac-Chicago in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois
- Tampa-Orlando in Florida
- Raleigh-Charlotte in North Carolina
- Washington-Richmond in the District of Columbia and Virginia
- Raleigh-Richmond in North Carolina and Virginia
- New York City-Albany-Buffalo in New York
- New York City-Montreal in New York and Quebec, Canada
- Boston-New York-Washington in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia
- Brunswick-Portland in Maine
- Philadelphia-Harrisburg-Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania
- Springfield-East Northfield in Massachusetts
- New Haven-Springfield in Connecticut and Massachusetts
Noticeably absent from the list are any rail projects in South Carolina, although North Carolina has two projects funded as does.... CANADA??!?!?!??
But what about South Carolina? The Charlanta mega region is one of the largest growing economic geographies in the nation, and it includes the upstate of South Carolina! Two years ago I blogged about a little noticed article in The Spartanburg Herald Journal about an effort by SC Public Railways and the Department of Commerce to re evaluate the rail systems in South Carolina, so what was determined?
Well much like the little noticed article in the Herald Journal the produced report, by Wilbur Smith and Associates, received just as little fanfare... actually none, though it contains some golden nuggets for rail enthusiasts and those interested in -- you know economic development, and, oh, job creation.
The report itself is available online in seven parts here (filed under "R") I'll link to the Executive Summary at the bottom of the post. One of the more interesting points from the report on my first glance was
12.1.2 Southeast High Speed Rail CorridorRoute costs for the Upstate line are estimated in a report from U.S. DOT’s Volpe Center at $1.2 to $1.4 billion. Based on 80 percent federal funding and half of the route lying in South Carolina, the state’s share would be approximately $140 million.12.1.3 Commuter RailCharleston has applied to the State Infrastructure Bank for $206 million for capital costs. An active investigation of service between Columbia and Camden is ongoing. Capital costs were estimated at $80 million in a prior study.
I threw the Commuter Rail bit in as a tease, the meat and potatoes is that estimate for the High Speed Rail Corridor. If Obama is budgeting $1 billion every year over the next 5 years, which of the SC Congressional Delegation is going to stand up for our economic interest and push for funding of this vital corridor. And even if they do - will anyone in the General Assembly respond in kind? Rail. Economic Development. Jobs.
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