My two cents to the California transportation "problem"...

1. You can start by electing reps and Senators who will allow for oil and gas drilling within 0 to 50 miles off your coastal OCS, wherein lies at least 10 billion barrels of oil reserves. Get rid of Pelosi and Boxer and their sham "drilling" bill that bans drilling within 50 miles of the coast...

2. On that same energy note, getting rid of the extreme leftist congresspeople and replacing them with pragmatic mainstream politicos will also allow an in-state revival of nuclear and coal-to-liquids/coal gasification energy solutions - the former for your electric sector, the latter to supplement new oil and gas production. Who knows, you might actually get businesses coming back into the state instead of fleeing it........

3. Leave the short haul passenger transportation business to the private airlines, who can provide said service for lower costs, less capital outlay per capita, and less travel time than even the most ambitious passenger-only HSR schemes.

4. Your Interstate system does not facilitate ease of travel because it is incomplete. You need to start thinking about adding to the Interstate system with a series of highways to aid in congestion avoidance - one to completely bypass the LA basin between the Central and Imperial valleys, one to connect I-5 to San Jose, maybe even a new I-5 straight shot between Vacaville south to Tracy. Whatever those three projects would cost, I'm betting it would still be less than the HSR proposals, and would provide greater return on investment. Keep in mind that these Interstates can be built with a median that would allow for HSR rails to be laid therein should the cost/benefit ratio of HSR become more favorable in the future.


HSR needs to be taken away fromt the urban/transit mindset (e.g. The Simpsons "Monorail" episode), and then forwarded to the more comprehensive regional and interstate transportation plans that are inclusive of both freight and passenger travel needs. HSR can fill a valuable niche of transporting time sensitive freight in bulk quantities unattainable by air freight, and at speeds unattainable by highways. That's where HSR needs to be implemented. HSR for passenger service, while a legit use of the HSR concept, should be secondary to high speed freight service.