WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and House Transportation Committee chairman John Mica traded jabs over the funding of California’s high-speed rail project Wednesday, the latest public display of the rift between House Republicans and the Obama administration over the future of American transportation.
The two leaders landed on opposite sides of the fence over the most visible high-speed rail project in the nation, which saw its estimated costs balloon to nearly $100 billion from the initial projection of $45 billion.
The project, which aims to connect the San Francisco Bay area with the Los Angeles area within two decades, received more than $2 billion in stimulus funds from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. In addition, California voters approved a $9 billion bond issue to support the project in 2008.
Speaking at a conference hosted by the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, LaHood steadfastly supported the project as part of what he hopes will eventually be a national network connecting the largest U.S. cities.
“California is well on its way,” LaHood said. “California will have true high-speed rail.”
Although the project has yet to break ground and state legislators have yet to approve a bond sale, LaHood said California Gov. Jerry Brown is “fully committed” to seeing the project through.
The federal government has invested some $10 billion in high-speed rail funds around the country over the past three years, and the U. S. Department of Transportation is making up to $100 million available for fast rail in the latest round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER grant funding. LaHood said the U.S. is well behind the national train systems of many European and Asian nations because of a slowness to embrace the concept.
“We never really made the investment,” LaHood said. “It’s a good investment.”
Mica, a Florida Republican, was critical of the California plan, the first leg of which connects the more sparsely populated area between Bakersfield and Fresno. “I’m not as optimistic as the secretary,” he said. “I’ve been to California, too. Maybe the long trip skews people’s memory.”
Instead of continuing to look to the West Coast, Mica said high-speed rail efforts should focus on the Northeast Corridor. The private sector should be involved to bring in capital and work with the federally subsidized Amtrak to develop a fast link between Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., he said.
As long as costs are reasonable and private-sector dollars are leveraged, Mica added, he would support efforts to develop high-speed rail.
“You couldn’t have a stronger advocate, he said.
