13 states to divide HSR, HrSR funds

About $1.2 billion in rail stimulus funds rejected by the governors-elect of Wisconsin and Ohio will be divided up among 13 other states still committed to high speed rail (HSR) or higher-speed rail (HrSR) projects.

DOT Secretary Ray LaHood (pictured at left), keeping his word, is reapportioning the stimulus funds to other rail projects, rejecting entreaties from the incoming governors of Wisconsin and Ohio to divert rail funding to road and/or other uses.

“High speed rail will modernize America’s valuable transportation network, while reinvigorating the manufacturing sector and putting people back to work in good-paying jobs,” LaHood said in a statement Thursday. “I am pleased that so many other states are enthusiastic about the additional support they are receiving to help bring America’s high speed rail network to life.”

DOT Thursday said California and Florida, both advancing true HSR projects, would receive most of the reapportioned funds. California will receive another $624 million on top of the nearly $3 billion it already has received so far toward its projected $43 billion state HSR system. Florida will land $342 million to add to the roughly $2 billion in federal funds already received for HSR between Orlando and Tampa.

Other states receiving reapportioned funds include the state of Washington, $161 million, and Illinois, $42.3 million. Nine other states—Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Vermont—will each get sums of less than $10 million. Both Illinois and North Carolina had made specific, publicized pleas to capture significant portions of funding if Wisconsin and Ohio forfeited the money.

Wisconsin reportedly will be able to keep about $2 million for work on right-of-way between Chicago and Milwaukee, used by Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service trains.