Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- State Senator Ben McAdams asks ‘If Europe and Asia can have high-speed rail, why not the Crossroads of the West'?
He dreams of a bullet train that would connect Salt Lake City in two hours to Denver, Boise and Las Vegas, and eventually to Los Angeles. McAdams stresses he is only exploring the possibility right now.
"Building it will certainly have a hefty price tag, so we need to know that, before we say that this is something we need to build, we need to answer some of these tough questions first," he said.
We need to explore whether it makes sense for us to connect into Las Vegas, and then down the road if we should connect into Denver, Reno and even Boise.
–Ben McAdams
California is developing routes that could be done by 2020, at a cost of between $40 and $100 billion. McAdams says Utah's rails could be cheaper, because the state has more open space. The bullet trains would run near 300 miles per hour.
"We need to explore whether it makes sense for us to connect into Las Vegas, and then down the road if we should connect into Denver, Reno and even Boise," McAdams said.
California's high-speed rail could be finished in eight years. Critics have called it wasteful, but supporters say the spending is creating thousands of construction jobs.
In D.C., the House passed a spending bill that didn't include any federal monetary support for California's system, indicating that there was little support for high speed rail from Republican congressmen. The same is expected from the Senate.
McAdams says high-speed rail could be vital to keep Salt Lake City an important regional hub. McAdams has no idea how much Utah would pay.
Email: psamore@ksl.com
