SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California High Speed Rail Authority has approved the final environmental document for the 38-mile Palmdale-Burbank segment of the project, providing the last environmental clearance needed on the route between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Authority CEO Brian Kelly called the approval, at a meeting of the authority board of directors on June 27, “a major milestone for connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles in less than three hours. It’s also transformational for Los Angeles County, connecting Palmdale to Burbank in a way that’s never been possible before.”
The 38-mile segment will partially follow State Route 14 and will include about 30 miles of tunnels [see “California high speed project seeks $450 million …,” Trains News Wire, May 30, 2024]. Trains traveling up to 220 mph will cover the segment in 17 minutes.
The only segment of Phase I of the project still awaiting environmental clearance is the Los Angeles-Anaheim segment, which is expected to be finalized next year.
And this is a government enterprise, funded by everybody’s (fungible) tax dollars, right?
The California high speed rail service would be in its second decade of operation if built in China. But California is not part of China where there are less bureaucracy, less environmental concerns, and no politics and legal challenges.
“But California is not part of China”
Not unless Xi Jinping comes and visits San Francisco.
When he did, the homeless were carted off, the dealers were pushed out, the trash was finally picked up and the scrubbers and cleaners came in to remove the filth.
But reasons unknown, when Nancy Pelosi would meet President Biden in the city…..nothing changed.
My thoughts on CalHSR are well known to regular readers, so I won’t repeat. But I’m going to add another issue. Very ofter environmental documents are held up for extended periods of time, over minor or even trivial issues. People opposed to the project will misuse the environmental review to in effect stop it. I have to wonder if CalHSR in its immense geographic range and scope will get the same level of interference.
If a threat of environmental review can hold up a two-mile freeway project in Milwaukee (until for example some money being pledged to nearby community groups hastens the project along along), how would CalHSR feel about the same level of scrutiny, multiplied by its length.
I have to disagree about an I-5 route being better. One of the main selling points of this project is that it will connect valley cities with the two coastal metropolises. That is of course part of the beauty of a train as opposed to a plane. It can easily serve intermediate stops. If an I-5 alignment had been proposed I would have voted no. Of course if I’d known they were going to screw so much up, I would also have voted no.
All that being said, a long, long tunnel under the I-5 route from Sylmar to the San Joaquin Valley would have been better than the dogleg though Palmdale. But it is what it is.
The California High Speed Rail Authority loves to issues statements about major milestones. The only major milestone that counts is the completion of the route between the Bay Area and the LA Basin. It’s highly unlikely, given the way CaHSR has been managing this project, that will ever happen.
And that unfortunately is such a missed opportunity; a simpler more direct route down the I-5 corridor would have had a much better chance at success.
30 miles of tunnels? Bet the completion date on this project is at least 15 years, with several of these tunnels facing unexpected problems and much higher costs. By the time this endeavor is complete and operational, we will probably have cars that can fly the route in under 2 hours.