Posted on 04/15/2021 9:13:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
He loves trains and wants to spend $80 billion for rail projects in his $2.2 trillion infrastructure goal, but today, a top GOP lawmaker is flashing a yellow warning light at President Joe Biden’s plan, citing the example of a massive boondoggle and decades-delayed “shovel ready” project.
In the latest uncovering of federal pork for her "Make 'em Squeal" award, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst pointed to a long-delayed and over-budget 20-mile rail project in Hawaii to caution a rush to spend federal tax dollars freely in infrastructure projects touted as ready to go by local governments.
“This rail service began as one of those ‘shovel ready’ projects funded by the Obama-Biden stimulus program a decade ago. While never completed, it’s still digging deeper money pit for taxpayer dollars,” she said.
Initially set to be completed in January 2020 for $5.1 billion, the 20-mile rail line now might not be ready until 2033 and cost at least $21 billion. And, Ernst said, to dig into the Biden spending plan, Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation plans to spend $1 million on lobbyists.
With promises of infrastructure riches, lobbyists are working with state and local governments to rush their proposals to Washington for the Biden plan, which sets aside a small percentage of the $2.2 trillion for traditional projects, such as rail lines, roads, and bridges.
Just as former President Barack Obama did in 2009, so-called “shovel ready” projects are expected to be prioritized. Biden also wants them to be “shovel-worthy,” according to officials.
But Ernst is eager for the administration and lawmakers to look deeper at the projects before signing contracts.
Her concerns are rooted in other boondoggles she’s uncovered, notably California’s estimated $100 billion high-speed rail project that the administration has cited as an example of projects it wants to support.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Once they put the trestle in place from the “bay area” a toll could be put in place for transiting from San Fran to the big island.
I’ve posted about the quite a few times, but it’s sheer insanity to ever think high speed rail will ever work on any great scale in the USA......
Having seen the overhead rail system in Honolulu over the last few years I doubt it will ever be finished. If the construction went any slower, it would be going backwards.
This has been a debacle from the start and everyone expected it. Hawaii politics is corrupt and it shows. PERHAPS this mad sense from the airport to Waikiki. But the locals hate tourists and don’t want your money anyway. What really gets them is the line from Pearl west. There is a lot of open space out there that this rail will encourage development. And locals especially hate that.
What tickles me is the locals expectation that the contractor is on the hook for delays and mistakes.
When in doubt, read the contract. No way ANYONE does this unless it Cost Plus.
Passenger rail is completely regulated and controlled by Fed.gov, with increasing control from the first anti-trust and rail-pricing acts of the 1880s. Its been a one-way train of greater control and regulation until today.
I’m all for passenger rail, but doing it through Amtrak and Fed.gov will be a complete disaster.
Why does no one look at deregulation which would allow existing rail carriers, or completely new entrants, to enter the passenger rail space??
More than 1000 millions for each mile. Does that include platinum rails and stations lined with gold and diamonds?
Which is sad as Hawaii is one place that could seriously benefit from a functional, island-wide rail system. I’ve spent too many hours in visits getting to/from the base and around the island, stuck in parked cars on their so-called highway.
I was forced to ride Amtrak cross country the week of 9/11. Thanks. I’ll walk.
I assume that you mean the island of O'ahu - not the island of Hawai'i.
Regards,
Orlando/Tampa would be a good one too but who, in their suit and tie, is going to get off the rail and jump on a city bus full of stinky people to get that last 10 miles from the rail to their office? Drunks, drug addicts, people with mental issues, welfare mamas with their 4 unruly kids.
Most of the money goes to donors and politicians.
Infrastructure Goal = Freezer Money
All is happy in Bribe Land
Warning? From Biden’s point of view it’s a model to follow! Politicians and unions get rich, no railway gets built. Sounds perfect from the perspective of a lifelong crook like Biden.
Inter island train would be awesome. Maybe Musk can come up with some ingenious floating track scheme...
It was never meant to be engineering project. It was political project. They all are. By pretext of doing something public wants, they embezzle tax payers dollars to enrich themselves
“...locals especially hate that...”
They need to think harder before they vote
“I’ve posted about the quite a few times, but it’s sheer insanity to ever think high speed rail will ever work on any great scale in the USA......”
You guys have to get past thinking that they’re idiots. They are not, they’re very, very, clever. What they are doing is buying time, as taking out personal travel without offering an alternative can’t sell, so they do this crap. Same thing for power plants - they can’t just shut down fossil fuels, so they put up windmills and solar, knowing that they can never work, but that the media won’t call them out.
It’s actually quite INGENIOUS of them, as a way of destroying the country right under our noses.
Those rapid transits are absolutely necessary in order to bring those deplorable rural areas into the communist fold...
No price too high for the advance of marxism in all it’s forms...
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