Cascadia Prospectus

Designated High-Speed Rail Corridors Source: Federal Railroad Administration

High-Speed Rail: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
BY Ray Chambers, Cascadia Center

Washington, D.C.--As big campaign ideas cross the Potomac River and seep into the halls of power, all that is sometimes left is a faint memory -- promises unkept (often unintentionally) that the political opposition can use in the next election. But sometimes, as is happening with the development of high-speed rail, the political stars align on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, making true progress possible.

The unfolding high-speed rail network looks like the real deal for several important reasons. First there is direct presidential involvement. The Interstate Highway Act of the 1950s was President Eisenhower's personal initiative and his highest transportation priority. Similarly, the High-Speed Rail (HSR) Corridor program is President Obama's personal initiative and his highest transportation priority. Never underestimate the momentum of a program personally sponsored by a president.

Second, there is strong bi-partisan support in Congress. In fact the single champion for building high-speed rail corridors by mixing a huge infusion of public finance with "European style" private partnerships and entrepreneurship is U.S. Congressman John Mica (R-Fla.), Ranking Republican on the U.S. House of Representative's Transportation Committee. Committee Chair Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) is the leading across-the-board promoter of bringing true high-speed rail to America. Representatives Oberstar and Mica have formed an alliance. With leadership by President Obama, I believe HSR will dominate the transportation agenda for the next decade. Third, there are no real alternatives. With growing traffic and congestion, the capacity of the highway system cannot be reasonably expanded. Through a variety of measures such as positive train control and infrastructure projects, the capacity on America's existing railroad grid can be expanded to an enormous degree. It will be expensive, but not compared to the alternative. In fact, there is no alternative.

Finally, the proof of the HSR pudding is to follow the money. I began to believe this last February when the U.S. House of Representatives provided no money for HSR and the U.S. Senate provided $2 billion in the stimulus package. The Conference made an unusual compromise to fund the program at $8 billion. That was the result of President Obama's personal intervention in the House-Senate Conference. Then the Obama budget proposed that the HSR Corridor program receive another $1 billion a year for the next five years--upping the kitty to $13 billion, as well as establishing a National Infrastructure Bank. All of this has made me a believer in the HSR initiative.

A rendering of an eTec fast-charge station. Source: Sustainable Industries

On Wednesday, President Obama announced a $2.4 billion grant program "for manufacturing advanced batteries and other components for electric cars," according to the New York Times.

The money comes from the economic stimulus package and is intended to further several goals: cutting dependence on petroleum, reducing carbon emissions, creating jobs and giving the United States a better start on what is likely to be a competitive global industry as companies start bringing electric cars to market.

In the Cascadia Corridor, Seattle as well as Eugene, Corvallis, Salem and Portland, Ore., will benefit from a grant of just under $100 million and which was awarded to Phoenix-based eTec (Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation). Some of that grant will be used to facilitate the "installation of 2,250 charging systems for electric vehicles in the Seattle area, and about 10,000 more in other metropolitan areas," according to industry publication Sustainable Industries.

In Seattle, eTec expects to install charging stations--which will work with any EV that uses an industry-standard connection--in the homes of EV owners at no cost and in office buildings and other public areas. eTec will also install 50 "fast-charge" systems around Seattle which can deliver a "meaningful charge" in about 15 minutes, according to Colin Read, vice president of corporate development for Ecotality, eTec's parent company. Each charging station could cost between $1,500 and $2,500 to install, according to Fryer.

Congress has adjourned for the summer recess with neither house taking action to extend the federal surface transportation program. Hope for a timely enactment of a long term transportation bill this year all but vanished when Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, acknowledged that he does not favor raising the gas tax at this time to pay for the $500 billion transportation authorization ($450 billion for highways and transit, $50 billion for high-speed rail). He made this admission in testimony before a hearing of a House Ways and Means Subcommittee on July 23. "Although increasing and indexing the gasoline and diesel user fee is a viable financing mechanism,...I do not believe that the user fee should be increased during the current recession," Oberstar stated, echoing the posture previously taken by the White House.

Instead, the T&I Committee chairman and Peter DeFazio (D-OR), chairman of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, suggested several  potential  sources of additional revenue to supplement the gas tax and close the funding gap.

If you haven't heard, Cascadia Center Senior Fellow Steve Marshall is one of several contributors to a recently published Brookings Institution book, "Plug-In Electric Vehicles: What Role for Washington?" The book, which is available at Amazon.com and at Brookings Institution, brings together the contributions of many leading experts to evaluate "what can and should be done to advance the role of plug-in electric vehicles." David Sandalow is the editor of the book.

Steve Marshall wrote the chapter titled, "Electric Utility Issues in Replacing Oil with Electricity in Transportation." In the book, Steve concludes: "We need a national program to jump-start a clean, secure energy future. And we need an enduring system of utility regulation that provides the right incentives to turn utilities into what can be thought of as the gas stations of the future."

We encourage you to pick up this timely and critically important contribution to the debate about how to help solve our dependence on oil.

As part of its Eastside Corridor Tolling study of I-405 and SR 167, WashDOT will hold public meetings next week on Aug. 18, 19 and 20 in Auburn, Bellevue and Renton. Due to increased population and employment over recent decades, the north-south highway corridor of I-405 and SR 167 serving suburban cities south and east of Seattle already suffers major peak hour congestion which would worsen without intervention as growth continues. Up to two (electronic, variably-priced) express toll lanes in each direction are being contemplated for I-405 along with the addition of another lane in each direction to SR 167, each of those likely to be similarly managed.

On Oregon Public Broadcasting this morning Tom Banse reported about the long-awaited second daily train between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., which begins service today.

Tom Banse: ...(It) makes its inaugural run Wednesday evening, starting from Portland. The president of the Clipper Vacations company, Darrell Bryan, books many customers on the route. He plans to board the run in Seattle. Bryan says the additional train to British Columbia will give travelers more flexibility.

Darrell Bryan: "It's a much needed service. As you know, the congestion on I-5 is terrible; the issues at the border with long waits. With this, (comes) the ease and convenience of crossing the border and clearing once you arrive in Vancouver."

Tom Banse: Amtrak was ready to start the second cross-border train a year ago. The service expansion was held up until the Canadian government relented on a demand for an expensive border-crossing inspection fee. The Canadians have waived the fee until after the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The cross-border Amtrak service will be reevaluated by both countries after that.

The service expansion also means that Portland will now for the first time enjoy same day Amtrak service to Vancouver, B.C., as The Oregonian reports. Our Cascadia Center - particularly our Director Bruce Agnew - and corridor allies have championed expanded Northwest corridor passenger rail travel, including the second daily train to Vancouver. Northwest passenger rail expansion garnered the spotlight from Vancouver B.C., to Portland during Cascadia Rail Week, in May. Cascadia Center is organizing a delegation of train supporters to take Amtrak Cascades to Vancouver, B.C. this evening. Other participants include representatives of Amtrak, WSDOT and tourism representatives from Washington state and the province of British Columbia. The inaugural ride will depart Seattle's King Street Station on the Amtrak Cascades #516 at 6:50pm. This train departs Everett at 7:42 pm, Bellingham at 8:45 and arrives in Vancouver, BC at 10:45 pm.

Tomorrow, August 20, Cascadia and The Pacific Northwest Economic Region will convene a special meeting of regional business, political and non-profit leaders in Vancouver to discuss policy and marketing issues related to the expanded Seattle-Vancouver passenger rail service. The meeting will focus on marketing of the new train service, border and rail policy, and a special event with the Honourable (Federal) Minister of Public Safety, Peter van Loan. His ministry's duties include Canada-U.S. cross border security. This meeting will be held at the Vancouver Convention Center from 10AM to 2:30PM.

UPDATE - 8/21/09: Libby Tucker of The Columbian reports Washington State transportation officials will keep a close eye on ridership, and that to offset operating costs and keep the second daily train running they will need to see an average of 100 daily passengers on each leg of the trip.

When Congress passes a new $450 billion six-year surface transportation reauthorization sometime in the next 18 months or so, it would directly yield $90 billion per annum, split nationwide over its term. That probably sounds like a lot of money, but it's not. As the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's blueprint for the reauthorization bill notes on p. 7, needed U.S. road and transit projects require $225 billion to $340 billion per year in public and private investment over each of the next 50 years - this according to the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. Even scaled-down needs identified by the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure and Finance Commission - also cited in the committee's reauthorization blueprint - are sizable: $200 billion per year in public investment to maintain and improve the most essential components of the nation's highway and transit systems.

The expected $48 billion in 2009 ARRA stimulus bill spending on transportation makes only a minor dent in either amount. Despite the possibility of some additional leveraged funding via an envisioned infrastructure bank that could be rolled into the reauthorization bill, it's increasingly clear that manna from Washington - though important - isn't a stand-alone solution.

That's because of deepening maintenance and construction needs resulting from four decades of robust growth in passenger and freight vehicle miles traveled, plus simultaneous under-investment in infrastructure, and continuing population growth. And so across the U.S., more and more states and regions are grappling with difficult political choices to pay for fixing eroded transportation infrastructure, and for building new capacity and instituting other strategies to ease traffic congestion as the economic recovery unfolds in the next several years.

The first step is realizing you have a problem. There's a fair amount of that going around.

Former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton addresses the audience gathered at the Arctic Club Hotel in Seattle this morning.

Nearly 200 people packed downtown Seattle's Arctic Club Hotel today for the Washington, D.C.-based Bipartisan Policy Center's first national "field" forum to unveil its recommendations calling for dramatic shifts in transportation policy. The report, "Performance Driven: A New Vision for U.S. Transportation Policy," was unveiled in Washington, D.C., on June 9, 2009, and the BPC is now conducting a set of forums around the country.

As a precursor to today's event, Senator Gorton published an op-ed in The Seattle Times this morning. In the op-ed, "Transportation dollars should be allocated to maximize larger society goals," he argued that Washington, D.C., "does not measure how well its transportation investments improve traffic, safety, energy or the environment" which leads to an ineffective system that ultimately negatively impacts America's "global competitiveness."

Even though they are the economic engines of the nation, large metropolitan regions like ours bear the brunt of misallocated investments. Unfortunately, the current federal program restricts funds from being used in ways that can best advance regional and national goals.

Inside the Arctic Club's Northern Lights Dome Room this morning, experts from the BPC and local leaders tried to get their heads around how to best bring the recommendations in the landmark "Performance Driven" report from idea to implementation. Senator Gorton was joined by the BPC's director of transportation research Joshua Schank and senior advisor JayEtta Hecker. Seattle area leaders on the dais included Bryan Mistele (NTPP member and president and CEO of INRIX), Washington Secretary of Transportation Paula Hammond, and Cascadia Center of Discovery Institute senior fellow Steve Marshall. (A full agenda with participants can be found here.)

Jarred into action by the tragic I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007, the Minnesota legislature in early 2008 proudly passed a $6.6 billion surface transportation funding bill including the state's first gas tax hike in 20 years, plus optional sales tax hikes, a major bonding program and other measures. But 18 months later, according to its new transportation policy plan, the North Star State faces a $50 billion gap in paying for surface transportation projects over the next 20 years. Of $65 billion in needed work, only $15 billion is currently expected to be available, with three-quarters of that targeted for preserving existing roads and bridges. Officials say safety won't be compromised. But mobility and pavement condition will. The executive summary from the report reveals (pp. 14-15) the full battery of envisioned projects are to meet system performance targets as the population grows, mainly by improving mobility in inter-regional corridors and mitigating congestion in the Twin Cities, Rochester and St. Cloud areas.

Chapter 4's discussion of state trends affecting transportation provides more detail. Population is projected to rise 25 percent from current levels by 2035, which would be 50 percent since 1990. Congestion in the metro regions is expected to grow due to more population, a high rate of solo driving on all trips, greater commuting distances and high use of inter-regional corridors. (State highway map here). Needed projects are detailed in the accompanying statewide highway investment plan (full report here; Twin Cities district here). Given the wide funding gap between needs and resources, leaders want to encourage new ways of maintaining roads, pricing limited peak-hour highway capacity, deploying in-vehicle technology, and funding system improvements. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: