{"id":18394,"date":"2011-02-10T10:00:44","date_gmt":"2011-02-10T15:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecolocalizer.com\/?p=18394"},"modified":"2011-02-10T10:00:44","modified_gmt":"2011-02-10T15:00:44","slug":"obama-administration-proposes-53-billion-more-for-high-speed-rail-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/obama-administration-proposes-53-billion-more-for-high-speed-rail-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama Administration Proposes $53 Billion More for High-Speed Rail [VIDEO]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Obama administration announced a proposal to dedicate $53 billion more towards high-speed rail in the next 6 years this week. That would significantly increase federal funding on high-speed rail. The administration awarded $8 billion to a national high-speed rail network<\/a> early last year and another $2.5 billion later in the year, but a lot more than that is needed to get our national high-speed rail network up and running.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposal will place high-speed rail on equal footing with other surface transportation programs and revitalize America\u2019s domestic rail manufacturing industry,\u201d the White House noted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While there have been a few who have criticized plans for high-speed rail in the U.S., the clean, efficient transportation system has a ton more fans than haters. And for good reason. The INFRASTRUCTURIST recently wrote a post in response to the Republican Study Committee’s proposal to cut rail spending that lays out pretty well why cutting rail spending<\/a>, and not increasing it, would hurt the U.S.<\/p>\n

It has another piece out now, since the announcement, giving a good history of how the federal highway system was built and all the opposition it faced, drawing parallels to Obama’s new high-speed rail plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I also recently covered a story on how high-speed rail could perhaps save the American Dream<\/a>. Maybe its benefits are not so dramatic,.. but maybe they are. Especially in light of the most recent oil news from WikiLeaks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

U.S. high-speed rail is in its infancy<\/a>, no doubt, but we have to start somewhere. It is good to see the Obama administration pushing so hard for this.<\/p>\n

Here’s a little more on the announcement just made, plus a video of it from the White House:<\/p>\n

In order to achieve a truly national system, these investments will focus on developing or improving three types of interconnected corridors:<\/p>\n