Posted on 03/04/2013 2:59:36 PM PST by MeganC
Whether a high-speed rail system ever gets built in the United States is still up in the air, but if it is, artist and activist Alfred Twu has figured out exactly where those speedy rail lines should go.
Twu started working on this map in 2009, when President Obama's plan to build high-speed rail was unveiled. "There were many such maps being made by various designers," says Twu, but since then he's updated the map with labels and put it on Facebook, and it struck a chord. It's gone viral.
"With the huge response it's generated, I created a petition to the White House to fund such a system," he told Mashable. After just a week, that White House petition already has 27,528 signatures.
Twu's not just guessing where those routes should be, either. "The routes are based on various studies by government agencies and advocacy groups," he explains.
We like the map's colors and its overall design, into which Twu put a lot of thought. "Some artistic license was applied to make it more elegant and have it be a series of distinct lines like a subway map," he says. "Colors were selected to convey the idea of the U.S. being made up of several interwoven regional cultures that come together at major cities — like an internal melting pot."
Trains zipping across the continent at 220mph might sound like a far-fetched futuristic concept, but Twu thinks this project could be built out much like the Interstate Highway System was built in the 50s, he says. "I've seen 2030 and 2050 as potential dates from various advocacy groups," Twu added.
As you look at the map, you'll see that Twu included unshaded routes, which he says were "purposely left open to interpretation." He says the general idea of adding those routes would be that they would handle "lower-speed trains, as well as potential future high-speed routes."
But certainly there's not enough money to do something like this, given the economic situation in the United States at the moment, right? Tsu says cost estimates for a high-speed rail system like this range from $1-$2 trillion. Geez, that's a lot of money. He responded, "Sounds like a lot, but divided over four decades, that is around $25-$50 billion a year or 80-160 dollars a year per person. That's one tank's worth of gas money."
To get a closer look at the map, view or download this .PDF file.
What do you think, readers? Will this speedy rail system be going near your house? Should the United States catch up with the rest of the developed world and build the system, or should budget constraints keep us from spending money on this futuristic conveyance?
The idea of building the system as a kind of Interstate System for the 21st Century is idealistic at best. As is being seen in California the best that can be hoped for is limited HSR service in congested urban areas like Los Angeles. In the San Francisco Bay Area the HSR plan is doomed to die a death by a thousand cuts via lawsuits and other forms of NIMBY-ism.
Oddly, a bad economy is going to be the best thing to prevent this from ever being built.
Moronic! Pure libtard lunacy!
You may laugh at this but hybrid airplane and lighter than air ships are more practical and likely.
I don’t want a high speed rail, though. I want an 1800s kind of train with buffalo hunting from the windows encouraged.
Yes that makes him uniquely qualified in this venture...
Lol.
It’s bad form to post an article about a picture then not post the picture. How hard is it?
Directly into union coffers for laundering then return to dem pol's.
We saw this fantasy map already, I think.
There were efforts by the private railroads to increase the speeds of intercity trains back in the 50s and early 60s, all of which were crushed by increasing governmental regulation imposed by liberal politicians in DC—who now claim to be champions of high-speed passenger rail, at ten to twenty times the price.
These are the same artist conceptions that, when created in 1967, showed how we all would be vacationing on the moon right now.
Of course these will be operated by thousands of highly compensated Amtrak employed Teamster represented Democrat supporting employees.
19th Century Technology. Next they will suggest horse-drawn carriages.
Just think if we had NOT gotten into all the wars AFTER
WW2, “Korea, Vietnam, Iraq 1, Iraq 2, Afghanistan, Pakistan”
how many hi-speed trains we would have AND ZERO killed
from the armed services. Another point. Increase the gauge
of the HS rail 12 to 188 inches.
Let’s see: LA to NY by air $200 and 6 hours. by “high speed” train (not including the $2 trillion subsidy) $800 and 2 days. Including subsidy and something like current riders (30 million), that would be $68,800 and 2 days. Looks like a trillion dollars STILL is a huge amount of money.
12 to 188 inches===NOT QUITE. That is one foot to almost
17 feet.. that should read 12 to 18 inches
So would you also like to endorse the concept of Buffalo Commons, an idea proposed by Rutgers geographer Frank Popper for depopulating most of the Great Plains to let it go back to nature? LOL!!! I know your post was in jest about HSR in general but the buffalo reference reminded me about Popper’s idea.
Modern Freight Trains also remains a very economical solution to moving very large volumes of goods.
However "light rail" or whatever the hell they keep pushing on us is nothing but a government slush fund program.
If the Free Market Demands them, they will be built.
Otherwise, we will always have our train sets.
I think I figured it out. The reason these insane LIBs’ brains don’t explode is that they don’t have any brains. This Twu subhuman is obviously mentally disturbed. His ideas aren’t ideas...they are disjointed ramblings of a pathetically unstable moron.
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