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High-speed rail for Colo.?Grants allow state to further study how to connect towns, cities with railPeter Marcus, DDN Staff WriterFriday, January 29, 2010 | |
Colorado has been awarded $1.4 million in stimulus money to study high-speed inter-city rail as it might relate to FasTracks, Obama administration officials announced yesterday.
The two grants come as part of $8 billion from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which is being awarded to states across the country to develop America’s first nationwide program of high-speed inter-city passenger rail service.
The money awarded to Colorado will be used to create a “sophisticated” plan for connecting rail transit systems in Colorado.
“High-speed rail is an important component of building Colorado’s transportation infrastructure to provide more sustainable and affordable options for Coloradans,” Gov. Bill Ritter said yesterday in a statement following the president’s announcement.
Colorado was awarded a $1 million grant to conduct a connectivity study. The Colorado Department of Transportation will match the grant to conduct a $2 million study that will examine how high-speed rail systems outside the Denver metro area might mesh with the Regional Transportation District’s FasTracks system.
The study will look at where passenger rail stations would need to connect with RTD lines to maximize ridership. It will also examine whether the connections are even feasible.
A second grant of $400,000 was awarded to Colorado to develop a state rail plan. CDOT will match the grant for an $800,000 study that is necessary to qualify for national designation of a high speed rail corridor. The designation would allow for future federal funding.
The two studies are expected to begin this summer.
President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden yesterday praised the funding as an investment that will create jobs and transform travel in America. The goal is 13 new high-speed rail corridors across the country.
Key projects are one in Florida that would connect Tampa and Orlando with trains running up to 168 miles per hour, and in California where a high-speed rail line would connect Los Angeles to San Francisco with trains running up to 220 miles per hour.
“By investing in high speed rail, we’re doing so many good things for our country at the same time,” said Biden. “We’re creating good construction and manufacturing jobs in the near-term; we’re spurring economic development in the future; we’re making our communities move livable Ń and we’re doing it all while decreasing America’s environmental impact and increasing America’s ability to compete in the world.”
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