In this N&R letter to the editor, Environment North Carolina “field associate” Kasadee Fisher praises the Obama administration for bestowing upon North Carolina $500-or-so million for “high speed rail’:
In 2006, the average North Carolinian drove nearly 2,000 more miles than in 1990. When it comes to transit ridership, Charlotte has proved the adage, “If you build it, they will come.” A report by Environment North Carolina found that transit ridership in the Tar Heel State increased 16 percent from 2007-2008.
We applaud the administration for its dedication to improve North Carolina’s transportation infrastructure and look forward to working with it, North Carolina’s congressional delegation and others to make 21st century transportation a reality in North Carolina.
With everything going on with the downtown hotel mess here in Greensboro, I’m a little slow catching onto exactly what a boondoggle this deal is. Anyone who thinks North Carolina is really getting high-speed rail needs to think again, as Wendell Cox points out in the Wall Street Journal:
In the other corridors where the administration plans to spend money—such as Charlotte to Raleigh and Chicago to St. Louis—projected train speeds won’t be much faster than what the fastest trains in the 1930s were able to do. Some trains then topped 80 mph. As a result, car trips will normally be as fast door to door, and they will be far less costly than taking the train and then renting a car.
So we’re getting half a billion dollars to kinda-sorta make the trains run faster so more people will ride them. Wonder how that will work out.
