Almost $100 Billion for High-Speed Rail

The Associated Press is reporting that the latest estimate of construction costs for a proposed high-speed rail system in California is close to $100 billion. The projection is part of a California High-Speed Rail Authority study scheduled for official release Tuesday. The huge new figure is based on inflation-adjusted dollars and a 20-year build-out. When the state's voters approved Proposition 1A three years ago, which authorized almost $10 million in bonds for work on HSR, the cost estimate was a much more modest $43 billion.