Posted on 02/28/2010 6:18:27 AM PST by Willie Green
Surprisingly, after Obama’s announcement to give $8 billion to High Speed Rail (HSR) projects across the country, popular support for HSR has dropped, but it is still 88%. Not bad.
Of course, more money is needed to make HSR the reality people dream of.
A new survey shows that 83% of people think HSR and mass transit should be getting more money.
A survey in March of last year by HNTB called “America THINKS” found that 94% of Americans were “open to high-speed rail travel for long-distance travel within the United States” and this year’s version of it (conducted last month and just out) finds that support is down to 88%.
Clearly, though, this is still very high.
“The time has come for high-speed rail,” says Peter Gertler, HNTB high-speed rail services chair. “Stimulus money is seeding initial projects. It’ll be up to those of us in the industry – working in partnership with transportation agencies and elected officials – to keep up the momentum.”
The bottom line is, we have issues concerning pollution and the price of fuel that don’t seem to be going away anytime soon. And even beyond fuel, driving is very “expensive” in time costs in many places — it is not an efficient way to travel around a very populated place. The definition of a populated place is a lot of people in a relatively small area. Giving everyone a large vehicle of their own to move around in is not going to be the best solution.
And going from one populated place to another in the same region is better served by fast, mass transit in many instances as well.
Of course, we need a lot of funding to go towards high-quality HSR and mass transit if we are going to ever have a more efficient transportation system. But the public seems to be in support of this. 83% (more than 4 out of 5) people support a larger share of federal funding going towards mass transit and HSR infrastructure — they agree that this shift needs to occur. So, hopefully we will see it happen.
“While our interstate highways empowered economic growth and development during the last 50 years, we can no longer simply build our way out of congestion and conservation problems,” Gertler says. “Establishing a long-term multi-modal transportation vision that includes rail is crucial.”
Obama is helping to transform our out-dated transportation system, but a lot is needed from Congress — specifically, a new transportation funding bill to replace the previous one that expired about a year ago — to make this transformation happen in full.
Americans want everything until they see the price tag.
The poll was taken at the Union Metro Station!
If there is money to be made in HSR, private enterprise will do it. Otherwise, the govt is, as always, pissing our money away down a rathole.
Then they will refuse to use the trains.
LOL what a load.
Here’s Engineer Willie again, banging the gong for ass-raping the taxpayers to pay for high-speed trains to nowhere...
8 billion might as well be 8 bucks.
By the time the money gets distributed, accounted, folded, spindled, mutilated, project plans submitted, RFPs issued, bids analyzed, management teams assembled, contractors arranged, subcontractors hired, logistics finalized, EEO compliance verified, etc. you will be lucky to get 14” of track per project.
This is just another FOO (think FOB) taxpayer money grab.
I live so far back in the hills , they have to pump in sunshine. Will the high speed train have a station in Cumberland County, Tn ?
Or will i have to travel to Pall Mall where my Congress Critter boards the high speed to Washington , or to Bob Corker`s neighborhood to catch a ride , or to wherever Lamar lives ?
Let’s see now, a for-profit group takes a public opinion poll indicating that 83 percent of Americans believe more public money should go to projects from which this group would profit, and for which it advocates. Willie, how stupid do you think we are here?
Remember the monorail salesman on the Simsons?
(I saw it on YouTube the other day. Still funny considering the current state of affairs.)
Great idea!
Spend lots of money on intercity high-speed travel.
You know, so all those UNEMPLOYED Americans can get to their non-job faster.
Where was this poll taken, Seattle?
No thanks, I’ll take my Tahoe. I took high speed rail in Europe and I didn’t like it. You couldn’t see the scenery because it ran in a ditch and it was too slow.
Did they actually ask “Will you pay higher taxes starting this year for high speed rail in.....years......”
I think not.
I don’t believe that 88% of Americans agree on anything.
Make the riders pay the ACTUAL COST to build and operate such trains, and I’m all for it.
Just efficient rail service would be a plus.HSR is only for people between key cities. Long distances are out of the question. Cost benefit analysis might say improved highways would be more efficient.
It’s the Big Rail Special Interest.
So now ? have to ask who will make money off of this?
We know about Gore, Soros and RAT Party f(r)iends making boatloads of money on the global warming scam. Who is all set up to win on this given it is being pushed hard and in a coordinated fashion now?
Boy, it is so obvious how much these guys telegraph their pitches thanks in large part to Gore’s invention, the internet.
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