Quote:
Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist
Exactly right. The debt, inflation, etc.. didn't even seem to be of the slightest concern with the recent $800B defense bill for next year. We can easily afford this but we don't make modern, efficient, transportation a priority.
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Anything is possible if you are willing to throw money at it. But that does not mean everything should have money thrown at it.
First off, DOD budget is entirely funded by the Federal government and CHSR is funded by both the Federal and State governments. Were talking about apples and oranges here, just on funding.
Now, just for the sake of even distribution of Federal Transportation funding to all the different states, plus a few territories, How much more the USDOT budget would have to be to have the Federal government fund the rest of the CHSR project.
The present DOT budget is $86 Billion
https://www.naco.org/blog/fy-2020-us...iations-motion
California gets around 18%. That means the rest of the nation's share is around 82%
15.5 / 86 x 100 = 18.023
The 2020-21 Budget: Transportation
Specifically, the budget includes $15.5 billion for the California Department of Transportation
The 2021-22 Spending Plan: Transportation
The 2021‑22 budget provides $31.7 billion for the California Department of Transportation
The new Administration has doubled the amount of funding budgeted for USDOT.
Let's assume the remaining portions of CHSR is funded over a 10 year span. With $70 Billion more needed to fund it, that would be a simple $7 Billion more per year going to California just for CHSR.
Remember, California's share is 18%. The rest of the country's share is 82%.
82% /18% = 4.555.
4.555 x $7 Billion / year = 31.885 / year.
31.885 + 7 = 38.885 Billion per year increase just to maintain funding levels half way equivalent between the various states within the USDOT budget.
It's easy to suggest all that is needed to build CHSR with Federal funding alone as a $7 Billion per year budget line item, but the political reality to find that $7 Billion for California is to take a $39 Billion per year budget item hit.