California’s high speed rail project, which is at the center of President Obama’s vision for American transportation, has hit another delay as the program failed to secure land for 29 miles of track in the Central Valley.
The California High Speed Rail Authority announced a resolution Tuesday to acquire four parcels of agricultural land in Fresno and Madera counties. The California Public Works Board also sanctioned the acquisition of an additional 10 parcels of land between Fresno and Madera in a ruling on Nov. 15.
Despite these purchases, the CHSRA has only a fraction of the land it needs to build the Valley section of the rail line, which is the first section of the line. The CHSRA needs an estimated 525 parcels of land between Fresno and Madera counties, but according to the Fresno Bee, “the agency has delivered fewer than 75 parcels to its contractor.”
Overall, only 6 percent of the land needed to build the “backbone” of the high speed rail network has been provided to developers including 120 miles of land in the San Joaquin Valley.
Constant delays and ever increasing prices are nothing new to California’s high speed rail program. When California originally voted on the high speed rail bond in 2008, the estimated cost was $43 billion. The price of the so-called “train to nowhere” has fluctuated since then and the latest estimate from the CHSRA comes in at $67.6 billion, although previous projections have been as high as $98.5 billion.
The mismanagement surrounding high speed rail has caused Californians to show signs of buyer’s remorse. Several cities including Palo Alto and Fresno have rejected plans from the CHSRA to build high speed rail stations in their communities. Public opinion has also turned against high speed rail — an LA Times poll found that 52 percent of respondents wanted to stop the $67 billion project.
