SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Dori: Politicians still push for high-speed rail, despite voters’ clear message
Nov 14, 2019, 11:18 PM | Updated: Nov 15, 2019, 6:59 am
A high-speed train running between Munich and Berlin on December 8, 2017 in Berlin. (Photo by Steffens - Pool/Getty Images)
(Photo by Steffens - Pool/Getty Images)
We just overwhelmingly voted for $30 car tabs. Unless Dow Constantine and Jenny Durkan and the Association of Washington Cities, which was announced Thursday as a plaintiff, are successful in their lawsuit against the voters, the lower car tab price will go into effect.
They know what the will of the people is, and yet they want to overturn a statewide vote. The hardworking people of Snohomish County and Pierce County, who are getting taxed through the nose for no immediate benefit, paying hundreds of dollars a year for a train that may not even happen while they are still alive, have stated clearly through this vote that they have had enough.
So you are not going to believe this.
Microsoft, along with government officials, is still pulling for a high-speed rail line between Vancouver, B.C., Seattle, and Portland. Jay Inslee is also still supportive of the train line, which would cost $50 billion. It was all discussed at the Cascadia Rail Summit, hosted last week by Microsoft.
Dori: Even liberal California has abandoned high-speed rail
High-speed rail is slower to take to Portland than flying. It’s also, I’m sure, far more expensive to buy a high-speed rail ticket than a flight between Seattle and Portland.
As CBC News reported, Washington State Department of Transportation Secretary Roger Millar said that it would cost over $100 billion to add another freeway lane in each direction from the Oregon border to the Canadian border. In comparison, he said, high-speed rail is half the price.
There is one gigantic problem with that argument — you do not need extra freeway capacity all the way from the Oregon border to the Canadian border. You need it from Marysville through Joint Base Lewis-McChord, nowhere else. So he is tossing out this unreal number to justify spending $50 billion of our money on this Vancouver-Seattle-Portland train. What a red herring.
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