[nfbmi-talk] mi losing more mass transit options

[joe harcz Comcast]

State may lose funds for high speed rail

By

Ed Brayton |

Michigan Messenger

12.14.10 | 7:22 am

 

Unless the legislature comes up with $35 million early in the next session, Michigan will lose out on more than $160 million in federal matching funds to

build a high-speed rail project from Chicago to Detroit.

 

The Detroit Free Press

reports:

Block quote start

 

News from Washington in October that the state would get $150 million to develop a high-speed railway between Kalamazoo and Dearborn brought a welcome push

to Michigan’s efforts to build a 21st-Century transportation system. But the federal government can’t help those states that won’t help themselves. Michigan

now faces the very real prospect of losing the grant because the Legislature failed to set aside the required 20% local match.

 

It’s an ominous portent for the road ahead — if Michigan doesn’t find a better way to fund state transportation needs. Yes, that effort must include improving

efficiency and working to get a fair share of dollars from Washington. But unless Michigan wants to watch hundreds of millions of dollars of federal grants

fly to other states, it also means an overdue increase in the state gas tax.

Block quote end

 

The state has already lost more than $150 million in federal funds that would have helped prepare the tracks along that route for high-speed trains because

the legislature failed to appropriate the matching funds.

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