700-mile high-speed rail plan zipping along

700-mile high-speed rail plan zipping along
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Tuesday, April 10, 2007.


PALMDALE - Despite declining support from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a questionable financial future, plans for a high-speed rail line connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco are continuing.

Area residents may have their say on issues they would like to see studied in the environmental impact report for the rail line between Los Angeles and Palmdale during a public scoping meeting on the project Thursday.

Twin meetings will run from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Palmdale City Council Chambers, 38300 Sierra Highway, in the Palmdale Civic Center.

Studies on the Los Angeles-to-Palmdale segment and on other segments of the 700-mile-long route will include preliminary engineering designs and assessments of the environmental effects of construction, maintenance and operation of the proposed rail line.

An environmental impact report and study were completed for the entire route in 2005 as the first phase of environmental review for the project. The route between Los Angeles and Bakersfield, with a stop in Palmdale, was selected during this process after much debate.

Project-level environmental studies of the individual rail line segments are the second phase of the review process.

The proposed Antelope Valley alignment roughly would follow Highway 58 from Bakersfield to Mojave, then would run south along the Union Pacific railroad tracks through Lancaster, Palmdale and Soledad Canyon. A map released by high-speed rail officials indicted they are studying the area around Soledad Canyon for alternate routes. Copies of the notices of preparation and notices of intent regarding the state high-speed rail's Palmdale-Los Angeles route environmental study may be viewed online at www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov.

For those unable to attend the scoping meeting in person, comments may be sent to Dan Leavitt, deputy director of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, Los Angeles-Palmdale Segment, 925 L St., Suite 1425, Sacramento, CA 95814.

Comments also may be sent via e-mail to comments@hsr.ca.gov, with the subject line of "Palmdale-Los Angeles."

Public comment will be accepted until April 27.

For more details, call (877) 724-5422.

This preliminary process continues as funding support for the ambitious statewide project dwindles.

The California High Speed Rail Authority was created in 1996 to direct efforts to establish a rail line that could whisk riders between Northern and Southern California in a matter of just more than two hours.

Legislation passed last year requires a $10 billion bond measure to fund the rail line to go before voters in November 2008. However, the governor since has dropped his support for the bond, which already was moved back two years to accommodate his own transportation bond measure in November 2006.

Legislation would be required to take the bond measure from the 2008 ballot.

The state's high-speed rail authority will continue to receive funding, however, to further develop the plan so it can progress if other funding is found.

Several plans also have been discussed relating to a regional high-speed rail system, including a joint-powers authority of more than a dozen cities - including Palmdale - called the Orangeline Development Authority. The Orangeline plan calls for a 100-mile route from Orange County to Palmdale using magnetic levitation technology.

The record-setting 357-mph run of France's high-speed rail last week also may reinvigorate some interest and support for the California project.

A delegation of state lawmakers was on hand for the record run during a visit to examine France's system.

By ALLISON GATLIN
Valley Press Staff Writer
agatlin@avpress.com