Proposition 1A Primes the Economic Pump

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Dear editor, I was genuinely disappointed to read the expression of your short-sighted opposition to Proposition 1A, the California High Speed Rail Project bond measure on the Nov. 4 statewide ballot.

You rightly declare that the project “would reduce pollution and dependence on oil, take pressure off our roads and airports and move us a giant step toward a more sustainable, transit-oriented future.” The project will indeed reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 12,000,000,000 tons annually in California and the need to import annually 22,000,000 barrels of oil; it would, on the other hand, cost $82,000,000,000 to build 3,000 lane miles of freeways, five new airport runways, and 90 new gates to accommodate the transportation load high speed rail removes from California’s highways and airports, two to three times the cost of high-speed rail from Sacramento to San Diego, and San Francisco to LA, the latter in two and a half hours at speeds up to 200 mph.

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