High-Speed Rail Looks Golden in a Good Night for Transit


A promo for California’s victorious Prop 1A touts the connection between high-speed rail and smart growth.

Last night The Overhead Wire‘s Jeff Wood gave a heroic play-by-play of several transit ballot initiatives, live-blogging results into the wee hours. The big-ticket item — California’s bond issue for a high-speed rail line spanning most of the state — passed with about 52 percent of the vote. Plenty of other measures passed too, with notable exceptions in Missouri, where Kansas City voters rejected a light rail line, and St. Louis opted not to increase funding for transit operations and expansion.

New transit systems and expansions were approved in Los Angeles, Seattle, Honolulu, West Sacramento, Marin County, and Aspen. Voters in Milwaukee and Berkeley signed off on new funding streams for operations, while another measure in Berkeley that would have made it tougher to launch BRT lines went down to defeat.

In a press release, CALPIRG cautioned that the high-speed rail line is not yet a fait accompli:

This vote confirms California’s commitment to building high-speed rail. Now California leaders must continue fighting for the project in order to start laying the tracks as quickly as possible. Before we spend bond funds on construction, Congress and private companies will have to match California’s commitment to the train. We need that to happen quickly because this project cannot be delayed any longer.

Damien Newton has more on California’s transpo ballot measures over at Streetsblog LA.

Video: California High-Speed Rail Blog

  • You guys sent me out here just in time! The Times They Are a Changin’ in LA. Next step: making things better for bikes.

  • “another measure in Berkeley that would have made it tougher to launch BRT lines went down to defeat.” Not just defeat – overwhelming defeat by a margin of more than 3 to 1.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Big Day for Transportation Ballot Initiatives

By Brad Aaron |
In case you’re not already tracking enough outcomes this evening, the Overhead Wire will be live-blogging the election with an eye toward a bevy of transit-related ballot initiatives. Here’s a sampling (links ours): St. Louis – An election is being held to give Metro a half cent more in order to keep up with operating […]
STREETSBLOG USA

Communities Vote to Tax Themselves to Support Transit

By Tanya Snyder |
In addition to some of the high-profile measures that we covered already, Election Day brought many successes on some smaller ballot initiatives. According to the Center For Transportation Excellence, pro-transit campaigns had an 80 percent success rate this year at the ballot box, with more ballot measures coming up for a vote than any previous […]
STREETSBLOG USA

Survey Reveals Huge Appetite for Transit Expansion in Seattle

By Angie Schmitt |
Sound Transit in Seattle recently commissioned a survey to gauge support for pumping $15 billion into light rail expansion from local taxes. About 1,500 voters were interviewed by phone in Snohomish, King, and Pierce counties about their appetite for such an increase. The questions were phrased neutrally and showed “overwhelming” support for continuing to expand transit options […]
STREETSBLOG USA

Transit Vote 2016: Atlanta May Finally Expand MARTA and Beef Up Bus Service

By Angie Schmitt |
We continue our overview of what’s at stake in the big transit ballot initiatives this November with a look at Atlanta. Previous installments in this series examined Indianapolis, Seattle, and Detroit. Back in the 1970s, both Atlanta and Washington, D.C., received federal grants to build rail networks. After finishing the first wave of Metro construction, D.C. continued to invest, […]