Photo Credit: California High Speed Rail Authority
When the Obama Administration was in office, $2.5 billion in stimulus money was delegated to the construction of California’s high-speed rail project. One of the conditions of the deal was that the funds would be spent and that the rail would be completed by September 30th, 2017.
Now with that date around the corner, the project is still nowhere near completion.
All of the stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been spent and construction is in process in Earnest, Fresno and Madera counties. But still, the Valley route in Kings, Tulare and Kern counties have yet to break ground on the project.
According to The Fresno Bee, these counties are considered the “backbone” of the system that will one day link San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Several delays are to blame for the slowdown, including “lengthy environmental reviews to protracted lawsuits” and even the “excruciatingly slow pace of buying land for the railroad right of way”.
Photo Credit: California High Speed Rail Authority
“People don’t realize … how many handcuffs and constraints were put on this project that has been a challenge to deal with,” said Dan Richard, chairman of the rail authority’s nine-member board. “Every day when we wake up, there are pressures on cost, schedule, and scope. Our job is to try to manage those.”
The original starting date to use the rail system was projected for 2022, but it’s now looking closer to 2025.
“Admittedly, it’s not on the schedule we originally believed we could accomplish,” Tom Richards, a Fresno developer said. “But we’ve tried to be forthright in our business plans to indicate what we thought was achievable and where we are going.”