Govt. and Money

[RidgeRunner]

BHO came to Florida to announce that the Feds are giving $1.7 billion to cover some of the cost of installing a ---- wait for it --- Bullet Train between Tampa and Orlando. Florida would be the first state to have a bullet train blah blah blah. Jobs would be the bonus for some here in the Sunshine State. The total projected cost is just north of $10 billion. The State of Florida is operating with a budget deficit in the millions for the turd straight year despite the fact that the Republican controlled state legislature raised fees for damn near everything and added a $1.00/pack tax on cigs.
Where will the balance of the money come from?
Reminds me of a little project in Boston started what over 10 years ago. Did they ever finish the Big Dig? How did they fund it?
I could have Googled it because work is slow, but I figure there are enough v-20'ers in the greater Boston area that someone would know.

[nipper]

Not from the Boston area, but my Mother lives about 20 miles south of Boston. Big Dig was finally finished, but there were some major problems with it a few years ago, including a fatality due to a large chunk of the tunnel falling on a car. Lots of leaks too. Even though it ran millions, if not billions, over budget, from my limited experience driving through it to get to the airport, it is a successful project. Sure helped the Boston skyline too eliminating the highway running right through town.

[RidgeRunner]

I hear you, traffic up there is hell, it really isn't any better from Orlando to Tampa. The main issue for me is , how much is it gonna cost me? I am all for progress but I can't see ever using the train and if it cost $10billion to build what is the upkeep for a train I will never ride on. If it cost me a dollar that is too much. There is no study showing how it will improve the flow of traffic or if anyone will even use it. It will shorten the ride from Orlando to Tampa to 45 minutes. After you find a parking spot, buy your tickets, luggage?, wait on the next outbound train etc. You could have made the drive and people will still need to have transportation on the other end to their destination. It just don't make sense, besides Americans are not going to park their car/independence to ride the train unless some drastic changes are made.

[joe7670]

Side tracking this conversation, but i'd use the Miami-Orlando proposed leg of this proposition.

Will stay out of the $ issue as it doesn't make sense. Will most likely go over budget anyway as with all else down here.

[spareparts]

they need to build a bullet train that runs from Miami/Ft Lauderdale stright up to New Jersey/New York, preferably with no stops between. Sure would make I95 alot nicer. next thing you know, they'll have one running from here(Charleston) to Cleveland. Maybee they'll only be one way:sly: headed North

[bradford]

I agree with Spare. Doesn't the goobermint already have rail service called Amtrak? Oh yeah, that little project is real profitable.

[charlie_the_tuna]

do they really need a high speed train to travel within the state? i'm not sure how long the trip is but it would seem to me a waste of money. yes, there will be jobs but once the project is finished the jobs will be minimal. especially if there's only one leg.

[phatdaddy]

this is a boondoggle from the get go, if it would be profitable to have this service, private enterprise should do it. i live in fl and they have been trying to get theis done for years and athe voters keep voting no..

[THEFERMANATOR]

ORLANDO to TAMPA in the morning is HELL! There is no other way to put it, but the problem is neither of these cities are a dense metropolitian city like you guys have up north. Tampa and Orlando are both big cities, but they are spread out over LARGE areas by comparison to cities like Boston, New York, or Detroit even. We only have a few skyscrapers due to our soil composition as it just cannot support them. The other problem is the proposed TAMPA depo will be ion Channelside which is nothing more than a tourist trap that the city of Tampa funds as it has been a COMPLETE BUST! And the Orlando depo has been rumored to be to Disney which is still a good ways outside of downtown Orlando. It will be nothing more than a bust that will cost tax payers millions if not billions just to keep it running for a short time. If Tampa or Orlando were trightly densely populated and close by to the business didtricts then maybe, but we are not that way so this is nothing more than a government program to psend taxpayers dollars. Like has been stated already, most all of our registrations have doubled or even tripled in just the last few years due to budget shortfalls. How is this going to help anybody except the tourists?

[willy]

The breakdown on the national news is this is another pork barrel type project as the market does not exist to make it profitable even if they came in anywhere near the proposed price tag.
What a shame.

[phatdaddy]

that's the problem with "creating Jobs", the only thing that creates a job is a need. if there is no need, there is no job..

[chumbucket]

We were talking about this at work the other night. I believe that Disney is the major driving force behind this project. The Orlando to Miami and/or Orlando to Ft Lauderdale leg is to aid Disney with their cruise line operations. This high speed rail project will be used mostly by tourists and will be bankrupt in no time. The Amtrak rail that we already have to serve the east coast already costs way to much. So much so that they are hurting as well. Sorry Mr Obama, but the economy certainly is not on the rebound. Not by a long shot.

[THEFERMANATOR]

The city of TAMPA is dumping HUGE amounts of money into the channelside district of Tampa. This is the only reason I can see why they are pushing so hard for it to come into Tampa. The other thing is that Channelside is pretty much in the center of Tampa a few miles from the business district, but it is MILES away from most any sizeable housing places with the exception of the upscale homes where they would take the cars anyways. That whole area of Tampa used to be the ship yards, but the Tampa city council has decided to build it up into a big tourist area at the cost of millions of dollars a year of tax dollars that could be paying teachers, fireman, and police salaries rather than laying them off.

[RidgeRunner]

Did anyone down here notice how they soft played the news of the sinkholes on I-4 and around Polk county last month calling them "depressions" in the roadway? Ferm nailed it, the geology here does not lend itself to the type of roads and high rise buildings found in most other major metropolitan cities. So when you get off the train you still may have to ride a bus or taxi to get to where you are going miles away.
Hop off a cruise ship in Tampa and get on the bullet train to see Mickey, may be the primary driver of this project but I did see where the proposed route will connect to the Church Street area in downtown Orlando a few miles farther east than the Rats Castle, with one stop in Lakeland (midpoint) and the other end terminating at Channelside in Tampa. No timeframe on the Orlando-Miami train yet.
If they could build the Bullet on a budget and connect all the major metros in every state that would be impressive. But I still wouldn't use it. When I travel out of town I typically have a boat in tow or some other freight. I avoid the I-4 corridor at all costs.
In light of what Road King Cole has been going through, all this is pretty damn trivial. I'll get off my soap box now..

[randlemanboater]

When a government project is proposed that doesn't make sence or address a real need, you can bet that some senator or congressman, on the state or federal level, is getting paid by big business to make it happen.

Man, I have got to get in on that gravy train.

[LESTERUS]

What about a bullet train from washington to hell ? You can figure it out who would use it