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[quote user="schlimm"] Did anyone read the article?  1. It is a study.  2. It is looking far out into the future.  3.  Illinois is preparing a 110 mph corridor currently.  4.  The blind opposition to higher speeds appears cause people to overlook the realities.  5.  Where has anyone concluded that HSR service would be only 1X per day vs. 5X day with slower service?  Higher speeds mean more runs for a trainset, just as with jet vs. prop airplanes, hence greater utilization and greater efficiency.  6. Last I looked, Gov. Scott's "wise" decision on FL HSR has contributed to his abysmal approval rating of 28%.  7.  If these attitudes (new RoW's cost too much) had been operative in the 50's when the Interstate system was proposed, we'd still be driving on old US 30, 66, etc. [/quote] Yes, I read the article.   Governor Scott's low standing in the polls is mostly of function of his removal of the punch bowl from the Florida party goers.  Friends and family members in Florida never mentioned the decision to drop the Tampa to Orlando high speed rail project.     The vision for the Interstate Highway System was backed by a realistic plan to fund it.  The act authorizing the building of the system also set-up the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), which is the vehicle for funding all federal highways.  The federal government jump started the fund with an infusion of monies from the general fund.  By 2000 federal fees and fuel taxes had not only paid for the system but had run up a surplus of more than $10 billion, even after the Congress opted to divert a portion of the federal fuel taxes to mass transit and deficit reduction.  However, by 2007, because the Congress had refused to raise the federal fuel tax, the HTF surplus was gone.  Beginning that year the fund has required an infusion of monies from the general fund of $7.5 to $14 billion.   Visions of a better passenger rail system(s) are important.  But they should be backed by a realistic plan to fund them. And this is what is missing in the high speed rail projects that I have reviewed.  This is even more important today when the federal debt stands at $14.3 trillion and nearly 50 per cent of the public portion of it is held by overseas investors, with China leading the list at more than $1.2 trillion.
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