Traffic & High-Speed Rail

The Issue

California’s transportation challenges show up in daily life as traffic congestion — lost time, higher costs, more stress, and reduced productivity. But underneath the day-to-day traffic problem is a larger systems question: Can California still deliver major public infrastructure competently, on time, and on budget?

High-speed rail is a clear example of why this matters.

A Case Study: High-Speed Rail

California began high-speed rail in 2008. It is currently projected to be completed in 2035 — a 27-year timeline.

In much of the developed world — countries such as Spain, France, and Japan — comparable high-speed rail corridors are often delivered in roughly 8–10 years, at average costs of about $30–$50 million per mile.

California’s project is now projected to exceed $150 million per mile on average.

Spending enormous sums over long periods with limited visible outcome is unacceptable.

Repeating the same answers to the same problems isn’t persistence. It’s a failure to learn.

My Position

I support high-speed rail. I want it completed.But the time and cost are not reasonable. Before continuing with the same approach, I propose a reset focused on competence.

This isn’t about abandoning ambition. It’s about restoring learning, accountability, and stewardship to how California builds large public projects.

A Practical Path Forward

A responsible reset should include:

• Pause and conduct a serious review of how peer countries delivered similar systems in one-third the time.

• Bring in engineers, planners, and project leaders who have actually built high-speed rail at scale.

• Establish a single point of authority with real accountability for time, cost, and delivery.

• Run permitting and engineering in parallel, not sequentially, where feasible.

• Standardize designs and deliver usable segments as they’re completed.

The Standard

California should be able to build major projects with the same competence seen elsewhere in the developed world. Traffic relief and long-term transportation solutions are possible — but only if we treat execution as a discipline, not a slogan.