9 in 10 Americans view high-speed rail as an option

Stimulus money adds publicity

Steve Hawley, Feb 26, 10.

Nearly 9 in 10 Americans are thinking about high-speed rail as a long-distance travel option, according to a survey conducted by architecture and engineering firm HTNB Corporation. The Obama administration recently awarded $8 billion in stimulus funds to high-speed rail projects, primarily in California, Florida, and Illinois.

However, support is slightly lower than in March 2009, when 94 percent of Americans viewed high-speed rail as a travel option. And while 54 percent of Americans last year would have preferred to take high-speed rail instead of driving or flying, that number has declined to 38 percent now. HTNB attributes the drop primarily to a decrease in gasoline prices:
“The pain we all felt when gasoline was hovering near $4 a gallon has receded,” [HTNB high-speed rail services chair Peter] Gertler said. “Yet we can’t stand by for the next crisis to hit to address the underlying issues of congestion and our dependency on limited fossil fuels.”

The survey also found that 83 percent of Americans favor greater federal investment in transit and high-speed rail:

“While our interstate highways empowered economic growth and development during the last 50 years, we can no longer simply build our way out of congestion and conservation problems,” Gertler said. “Establishing a long-term multi-modal transportation vision that includes rail is crucial.”

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