6/2/26

The cost of California’s high-speed rail project has surged to $231 billion, up from an original $33 billion estimate, earning it the distinction of the “most wasteful government project in probably world history,” according to one lawmaker. The project, first funded in 2008, was supposed to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles by 2020. Its scope has since been scaled back to a 171-mile Central Valley corridor between Merced and Bakersfield, not exactly hot spots of travel. Expected ticket prices have nearly doubled while ridership projections have fallen by two-thirds, and that’s probably optimistic. GOP state Sen. Tony Strickland and Independent Rep. Kevin Kiley are among those calling for the project to be scrapped entirely. We can only hope that the next governor will abandon it completely given California’s ongoing budget deficits.