Reconnecting America Applauds Obama Effort To Jumpstart High-Speed Rail
Today, in Philadelphia, Vice President Joe Biden, accompanied by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, announced a $53 billion, six-year program to accelerate construction of the nation’s high-speed rail network. The plan calls for $8 billion in fiscal year 2012 to jumpstart the program.
Reconnecting America President and CEO John Robert Smith, who attended the announcement, remarked that our nation is at a precipice, and the economic and environmental challenges we now face require a new way of thinking about how we create connections between cities and regions and how we can support the economic health of communities of all shapes and sizes.
“A National High-Speed Rail System is not only an opportunity to redefine how we travel and how our regional economies grow,” Smith said, “it represents the type of innovation and progress that can secure a better future for our grandchildren.”
Over the last 50 years, the federal government has spent more than $400 billion building our interstate highway system. The interstate system opened new territory for economic development and created the interconnected regional economies that drive our growth today. However, with an additional 100 million citizens expected by 2050, the nation needs new infrastructure that has the ability to move more people in more places and at a higher speed.
New investments are already showing measurable results. Since prior funding raised speeds between Harrisburg, PA, and Philadelphia to 110 mph, the corridor has seen rail ridership rise by 57 percent. In fact, more passengers now travel from Harrisburg to Philadelphia – and from Philadelphia to New York City and Washington D.C. – by rail than by plane.
What this means is less demand for foreign oil, lowering our trade deficit; less carbon emissions, yielding significant environmental benefits; and an expanded job pool for every community connected to the system.
”We applaud the administration’s vision of connecting higher-speed rail to 80% of American households within 25 years, and today’s announcement will move us closer to realizing this bold American ideal,” Smith said.
The Vice President referred to John Robert Smith in his former role as Mayor of Meridian, MS, and the development of Meridian’s Union Station.
Every year we found support from some of the most unlikely sources. We found support from mayors and governors in states and small towns far from the coasts that Amtrak connected together, the economic hubs and the population centers; people like a major named John Smith, who was mayor of Meridian, Mississippi, which built a new transportation hub because a stop on Amtrak line was in his city, revitalized his entire downtown neighborhood, channeling 350,000 passengers through his small town of 40,000 people.
Below is the White House video of the speech. The mention comes at around the 10-minute mark in this 30-minute speech.
