Got an earful from Uncle Scooterbug last night about the high speed train project in Wisconsin to connect Milwaukee and Madison - total cluster that makes this one in Florida look fantastic.
Wisconsin beat other other states to get a $810 million grant, has been studying this/working on it for 15 years, and construction has already begin.
But the state just elected a new governor who wants to halt the project and use the money for something else (this is not an option, which has been specifically written into the deal and has also been explained to him by the US Sec of Transportation). He thinks people should just drive cars to get places and doesn't quite get that a grant for high speed rail has to actually be used for high speed rail - a problem shared by many voters.
That's 5,500 jobs down the drain, a total loss of $14.25 million already spent (part of it to Uncle Scooterbug's company), and an additional $83 million the state will have to spend of its own money to upgrade old rail lines. :roll: