FRESNO, Calif. (CN) – Driving south on Highway 99 past Madera, a small agricultural town characteristic of California’s Central Valley, the yellow cranes jut out against the horizon.
For proponents of the California high-speed rail project, the cranes are not only the symbols of progress, bustle and productivity; they also represent a sense of inevitability for one of the nation’s largest and most daunting infrastructure projects.
“Building something like this is very hard,” said California High-Speed Rail Authority Board Chairman Dan Richard. “In 21st century America, to build something of any magnitude is an enormous undertaking.”
The challenges the $68 billion project has faced so far are many, including entrenched political opposition, logistical challenges of right-of-way and route selection, clearing the significant environmental hurdles to comply with both state and federal regulations, and securing funding.
“The most obvious challenge is funding,” Richard said in an interview. “But I think our biggest challenge is imagination. Most Americans have not ridden high-speed rail. Most Americans cannot imagine how this project is going to change their lives.”
But critics of the project remain, and in some quarters they are growing more vociferous.
One of the more unlikely critics is Quentin Kopp. Dubbed the father of California high-speed rail, the former state senator was instrumental in convening the California High-Speed Rail Authority in 1996, served as its chairman, and wrote the ballot proposal Proposition 1A — ultimately approved by California voters in 2008.
“The project they have now is not high-speed rail,” Kopp said.
Kopp believes the rail authority’s plans to share track with Caltrain’s regional service from San Jose to San Francisco will not only hinder the system’s ability to be financially self-sustaining once built, but run contrary to the legal provision set forth in Proposition 1A.
“There are two characteristics set forth in Proposition 1A, one that it must run on dedicated tracks and not share a track with any other entity, and the other is that it must be electrified so it can obtain its top speed,” Kepp said.
These issues are central to a lawsuit filed in Sacramento County Superior Court by farmer John Tos, Kings County and other plaintiffs against the California High Speed Rail.
Tos owns nearly 600 acres of farmland in Kings County, and he says his agricultural operations will be severely impacted by the proposed route.
“John has been hurt the worst out of anybody in Kings County,” Kings County Supervisor Doug Verboon said in an interview.
Verboon also opposes high-speed rail, and says even those who support the project in his mostly rural community are completely frustrated with the way the project has been carried out.
“It’s devastating to see our community going through this and they still don’t have a plan,” Verboon said.
But the county supervisor also reluctantly acknowledges that Fresno stands to benefit from high-speed rail, as the station and surrounding commercial and residential development has the potential to transform a currently downtrodden part of the city.
The same goes for the small town of Hanford in Kings County, where the rail authority plans to put a station and a modest maintenance yard.
“If it’s all said and done, we don’t want to miss out on the opportunity and it is important to have a station there,” Verboon said. “Not everybody is going to want to go to Fresno.”