February 26, 2019--Express to Nowhere

Remember the "bridge to nowhere?" It was to connect nowhere with nowhere.

It was a nearly $500 million boondoggle project in Alaska paid for by earmarks, pork-barrel legislation, in which a project is funded by a stroke of a senior member's pen rather than having to go through the normal legislative authorization process. Powerful Alaskan Senator Ted (Uncle Ted) Stevens was the force behind the infamous bridge since it meant jobs for his constituents. It was never completed as the plug for it was pulled in 2005 when earmarks in general were under attack by "good government" forces.

Now, in California, we have the train to nowhere. 

With the help of billions in federal taxpayer dollars there was a plan to build a high-speed rail line that was to connect the state's Central Valley to Silicone Valley. As originally budgeted a decade ago it was projected to cost $45 billion. But it swelled to $98 billion, more than doubling, and so the newly elected governor, Gavin Newsom, recently cancelled it. 

To tweak dark blue state California, Trump moved swiftly to criticize it as an example of governmental incompetence and corruption and is attempting to claw back $3.5 billion of federal dollars, presumably planning to use the liberated money to help build his Wall.

The California plan called for 171 miles of high-speed rail. About half of that is in various forms of completion. In contrast, during the decade since the California High-Speed Rail Authority was established, China has built 16,000 miles of high-speed rail.

I am reminded of another rail project that is way over budget and taking forever to complete--the Second Avenue subway in New York City.

It was first proposed in 1919, but work on phase one did not begin until 1972. It was halted just three years later and wasn't resumed until 2007. The initial phase, two miles of tunnel and three stations, was completed ten years later, in 1917. It cost $4.45 billion and was more than $500 million over budget. 

There are three more phases planned. The second is projected to be completed by 2029 and when all four phases are finished it will be 8.5 miles long and include 16 stations.

New York City has a total of 236 miles of subway track and 472 stations. It was built in about 50 years. At the rate the Second Avenue Subway is being worked on, to construct that many miles of tunnel, track, and stations would take 1,180 years and cost about $600 billion. Of course, plus billions over budget.