The high-speed rail project was first introduced to Californians in 2008 and was subsequently approved by voters. Construction began in 2015 and ever since then the estimated budget has risen from $40 billion to $98.1 billion and the expected finish date is too far to even consider.
Cleaner air, less congested freeways and airports, and the idea you could get to San Francisco from Union Station in two and a half hours sold the idea to many. Yet those same voters who approved Proposition 1A are rethinking their choices after years and years of mismanagement and delays.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday he would be halting the broader construction of the route but had plans to finish the legs connecting Bakersfield and Merced.
In response to Newsom's statement, President Trump tweeted Wednesday declaring the bullet train project a "green' disaster" and demanded California return $3.5 billion in federal funds.
Newsom immediately tweeted back, signaling the money will never be returned.
A state audit in November blamed flawed decision-making, organizational faults and poor contract management by the California High-Speed Rail Authority as the reason for the failed budget and 13 year delay.
Even experts are starting to state they do not believe the train would even make the trip from LA to San Francisco in the two hours and 40 minutes listed in the bond measure.
The original build plans have strayed and the planners are now calling for the trains to share commuter tracks which keeps the train moving at much slower speeds and possible delays could present themselves.
"Somebody at high-speed rail drew a line for a route on Google Earth and had no idea of what was on the ground or how they are affecting it," Lawyer Michael Dias told the LA Times last year.
It is clear leaders do not know what they are doing with the planning of the train and should just quit before more money gets thrown in a blender.
Read more at the Los Angeles Times.
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