4 ms·
It's a great idea and I can't wait to see more high speed rail built all across the country. We've already criss-crossed uncountable acres of historic, sentime
by Frondo 9y ago
It's a great idea and I can't wait to see more high speed rail built all across the country.
We've already criss-crossed uncountable acres of historic, sentimental (what?? really??) land with roads, both local the state/federal highway system. HSR would be so much better use of land than roads, for moving a lot of people quickly and comfortably. Not at all redundant with Amtrak.
Happily, the California project is funded and is already underway, and I think there's one or two others being talked about/planned.
- dkersten 9y agoOn top of that, my experience of (southern) Californian roads is that they are muuuuuch wider and take up much more space than the coaster/amtrak train tracks take up, so roads have been much more damaging to historic sentimental land than rail is or would be.
- Frondo 9y agoWhat really irks me with that particular sentiment (the land is historic/already in use) is how the federal highway system absolutely decimated communities of color in a lot of major cities. They'd put a highway right through where the black folk live, and who cares? Well, all the people in that neighborhood care, but they're poor minorities--they have no political power, no ability to push back. If you want to start talking about land being taken from people, don't fucking start with farmers in rural California and HSR, start with the inner city neighborhoods the highway system destroyed.
- microcolonel 9y agoWho says I agree with either?