The state's high-speed rail project won't be rolling through Elk Grove or the Sacramento area yet, but area residents will be paying for it along with everyone else (along with SMART, but we don't need to get into that here).
Think the statewide system is something you'll use when it's completed?
Let's back up ... Do you think it really will be completed?
On Friday, the state Senate voted 21-16 to spend billions of funding into beginning work on California’s high-speed rail project that will connect Northern California with Southern California tracks through the Central Valley. The project received $7.9 billion in state and federal money, which will be used for the first 130-miles of track and to upgrade a handful of transit programs, including Caltrain.
The state Senate vote follows a 51-27 Assembly vote that authorized the spending. In Friday’s vote, most Democrats voted in favor of the project, while Republicans opposed it, according to NBC Bay Area.
Gov. Jerry Brown, who pushed lawmakers to approve the project, will now receive the funding measure.
“In 2008, California voters decided to create jobs and modernize our state’s rail transportation system with a major investment in high-speed rail and key local projects in Northern and Southern California," Brown said in a statement after the vote. "The Legislature took bold action today that gets Californians back to work and puts California out in front once again.”
State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, who sat on the Senate's unofficial bullet train oversight group, voted against the funding.
The high-speed rail will initially run from San Francisco to Los Angeles via the Central Valley, but later extend to Sacramento and San Diego, according to the California High-Speed Rail Authority website.
This all begs the question for Elk Grove and other Sacramento-area residents: Are you all aboard?
