In what the Los Angeles Times characterizes as “a surprising and controversial move” the California bullet train planners have decided to revive consideration of an earlier, discarded route that would take the high speed rail line along Interstate Route 5, across the Grapevine (a mountain range that separates the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles from the Central Valley). That route is nearly 30 miles shorter, would reduce tunneling and save $1 billion. So why wasn’t it chosen in the first place? See Rich Connell and Dan Weikel, High-Speed Rail Planners Revive Grapevine Route, L.A. Times, May 6, 2011.
The problem is that the potential new (actually old) route would swap opposition by one set of NIMBYs for another. Both routes will involve interference with existing land uses, notably residential ones. Both routes will be studied now, which is to say the old, rejected I-5 route will be reconsidered.
Stay tuned.
For the Los Angeles Times story go to http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-high-speed-grapevine-20110506,0,7371109.story