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Construction begins on Fresno River viaduct for California high speed rail line
Well, Now no matter what happens at least we will have a bridge!
They can always consider using it for a hiking and biking and nature trail.
If you don’t like clean air, just keep planes flying between LA and SF. They use about 1000 gallons of fuel per leg on the trip. HSR will us electricity and need to invest in alternate fuels for power generation. Such as wind , hydro, natural gas , solar and other methods then oil or coal. The political people keep talking to getting people out of their cars and into public transportation. To do this need to provide better public transportation for everone.
I’m disappointed in you Doug. Who, in their right mind doesn’t like clean air ?
The " political people " are one of the main problems. We should be able to choose which mode of transportation is used to get from point A to B, not some bureaucrat in any level of government.
Do you have any other facts concerning how much pollution is spewed into the air by these planes flying between LA & SF ? Do you realize the huge amount of electricity it will take to power this HSR ?
Well,better not count on hydro, as Calif. is starving for water already. Wind and solar aren’t capable of that huge volume of output alone, so there you go, it’s natural gas, oil or coal, all of which can be utilized with modern technology, so it doesn’t “dirty-up” the air.
The major problem with this HSR is the simple fact that we don’t have the hundreds of billions of dollars it will take to build and maintain it. The FACT is, we’re broke !!!
Nor do we have the multi-billions it will take to build the highways and runways to meet the population influx by 2035 if we forego HSR Mr. Klippel. May I remind you that HSR is a less costly option and a better choice for economic development to meet the demands of tomorrow than the continuous status quo of pavement-centric projects.
In short, stay on the status quo and we fall even further behind the EU who is, I’m sorry to say, far more advanced in transportation and infrastructure enhancement.
Mr Fetters, You make a good point about spending multi-billions for highways and runways over the next twenty years or so, but I didn’t intend to imply that we should forgo HSR entirely, for the continuous status quo.
I am inclined to challenge your statement that we’re “behind the EU” whom you claim are “far more advanced in transportation and infrastructure enhancement”. What basis in facts do you have to support this statement ?I assume you have traveled extensively throughout Europe.
I’m not anti HSR by any means. I’m just really concerned about burdening our children and grandchildren with more national debt because our government keeps printing and handing out more money for people in this country that haven’t earned it. $18 trillion dollars and climbing is in fact true!
In closing, I want to say i’m pleased that HSR is being constructed incrementally, cause that is the sensible way. Lets force our government to get our “fiscal house” in order, so we can build our HSR much faster!
Mr. Klippel, I am concern as you about burdening the children of our future with massive debt. In the same breath, I also want this great country to be no.1 in every realm. To be at that level takes investment in our infrastructure.
Google world rankings on infrastructure will provide my basis of facts. Business Insider did a review on 24 countries with better infrastructure than the USA. Majority of those countries were from the EU. Statista put the USA at 16. We fare much stronger in economic development coming in at #3 according to the World Forum. But can we continue to hold that ranking if our infrastructure still stands at a grading of D+ given by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Our infrastructure ranking has been declining since 2008. At one time, we were the world leader in this category.
I’ll be doing my first trip to Europe two winters from now with a skiing odyssey through Switzerland. I’ll be utilizing the Swiss rail network for connecting to the 3 resorts I’ll be venturing.
In closing, it reassuring to know you’re not against sector. The technical aspects of this transport system, unfortunately, makes it highly costly with a long term ROI time that private sector isn’t willing to take, making public investment the only option. The first TGV project, Paris to Lyon, had a ROI of 15%, 3% more than the requirement.
Mr. Fetters, Thank you for your clarifications on this subject. One important thing, it appears we’re in agreement on is that the current Administration and the previous Congress were not the capable ones to lead “this great country to be no. 1 in every realm”. Apparently, all that stimulus money was an inadequate, symbolic, wasted “bandaid”.
God Bless ! Have a wonderful time on your skiing odyssey through Switzerland !