California High-Speed Rail Goes Under The Microscope

The following article, California High-Speed Rail Goes Under The Microscope, was first published on The Black Sphere. Image: KTLA-TV Hold My Sam Adams Boston had the infamous Central Artery/Tunnel Project (aka “The Big Dig”), which construction work began 1991 and was finally completed in December 2007. The Big Dig, was at the time, the most expensive highway project in American history. Originally planned for a 1988 completion, the project was inundated with cost overruns, delays, leaks from nearby bay, design flaws, use of substandard materials, criminal charges, arrests of building contractors and politicians, and the death of one motorist. The final cost of the Big Dig was $8.08 billion in 1982 dollars, or $21.5 billion adjusted for inflation, a cost overrun of about 190% in 2007. Now comes a project that dwarfs the Big Dig in sheer scope in audacity, as well as in graft and overruns: California High Speed Rail (HSR). This two-phase project began construction in 2015 on the “Central Valley Segment” of Phase 1, or a 171-mile-long portion that is a just little over one-third of the total distance between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Central Valley Segment is currently costing $28-$35 billion, and may not...