Passenger Trains > CA HSR: Highway 99 Closes for 2 Nights for HSR Construction

Highway 99 closes in both directions for two nights in Fresno to accommodate high-speed rail construction:

http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/high-speed-rail/article144289674.html

What happens if 'someone' puts a rare state-protected rattlesnake in the construction zone? Will they halt everything so as not to endanger the poor snake? Will that spell the end of HSR in Ca? Or will they have years of government hearings in order to decide how to work around this? Inquiry minds want to know!

Old news. Closure already happened 4/18 and 4/19.

wigwag Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What happens if 'someone' puts a rare
> state-protected rattlesnake in the construction
> zone? Will they halt everything so as not to
> endanger the poor snake? Will that spell the end
> of HSR in Ca? Or will they have years of
> government hearings in order to decide how to work
> around this? Inquiry minds want to know!

Not to worry, all CA rattlesnakes have been sent to The Swamp in DC about 3 months ago!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/17 18:54 by railwaybaron.

wigwag Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What happens if 'someone' puts a rare
> state-protected rattlesnake in the construction
> zone? Will they halt everything so as not to
> endanger the poor snake? Will that spell the end
> of HSR in Ca? Or will they have years of
> government hearings in order to decide how to work
> around this? Inquiry minds want to know!


Trust me, there are no rare state protected rattle snakes. The little scaly beasts reproduce quite well thank you.

> Not to worry, all CA rattlesnakes have been sent
> to The Swamp in DC about 3 months ago!

Wrong, there is still the biggest one in Sacramento. The Brown Snake.

There are few, if any, rattlesnakes on the floor of the San Joaquin Valley. Once the project gets into the coastal hills or foothills, there may an opportunity to revisit the concern.

Posted from iPhone

TomG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Not to worry, all CA rattlesnakes have been
> sent
> > to The Swamp in DC about 3 months ago!
>
> Wrong, there is still the biggest one in
> Sacramento. The Brown Snake.

That may be so but the fattest snake in the country is the DC Swamp Snake, and its gold plated.

railwaybaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> TomG Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > > Not to worry, all CA rattlesnakes have been
> > sent
> > > to The Swamp in DC about 3 months ago!
> >
> > Wrong, there is still the biggest one in
> > Sacramento. The Brown Snake.
>
> That may be so but the fattest snake in the
> country is the DC Swamp Snake, and its gold
> plated.


Well yes, but that one lives in the White House.

reindeerflame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Highway 99 closes in both directions for two
> nights in Fresno to accommodate high-speed rail
> construction:
>
> http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/high-speed-rai
> l/article144289674.html

Next time, try paying attention to the details.

Hang on....this forum has told me repeatedly and in no uncertain terms that this would not go ahead....?! So what's going on...humble pie for the doom-mongers?

exhaustED Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hang on....this forum has told me repeatedly and
> in no uncertain terms that this would not go
> ahead....?! So what's going on...humble pie for
> the doom-mongers?

I'm surprised one of the staunchest opponent of the project (Tom McClintock) hasn't said a peep during the bond "IPO" process. He did engineer an underhanded attack along with other GOP congressmen from the Central Valley, the "audit" of Caltrain Electrification funding.

CA HSR "CEO" Jeff Morales is stepping down (see the more recent thread posted by raillady), so maybe, someone might actually be listening to those who have been criticizing the CA HSR constructively? Let's see if this will lead to real regime change for the better, or the same ol' B.S., another rearranging of the chairs on the Titanic.

Frankly, the real replacement needs to occur with the Board of Directors, but there probably aren't many who hold that opinion.

No humble pie for the doom-mongers. Some of them should be thanked for expressing their opinions.

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> exhaustED Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Hang on....this forum has told me repeatedly
> and
> > in no uncertain terms that this would not go
> > ahead....?! So what's going on...humble pie for
> > the doom-mongers?
>
> I'm surprised one of the staunchest opponent of
> the project (Tom McClintock) hasn't said a peep
> during the bond "IPO" process. He did engineer an
> underhanded attack along with other GOP
> congressmen from the Central Valley, the "audit"
> of Caltrain Electrification funding.
>
> CA HSR "CEO" Jeff Morales is stepping down (see
> the more recent thread posted by raillady), so
> maybe, someone might actually be listening to
> those who have been criticizing the CA HSR
> constructively? Let's see if this will lead to
> real regime change for the better, or the same ol'
> B.S., another rearranging of the chairs on the
> Titanic.
>
> Frankly, the real replacement needs to occur with
> the Board of Directors, but there probably aren't
> many who hold that opinion.
>
> No humble pie for the doom-mongers. Some of them
> should be thanked for expressing their opinions.

Interesting....but you're kind of missing my point. I'm referring to those who in the past, on this forum, repeatedly and consistently said things to the effect of 'it's a waste of money, the whole project will never even happen, so there's really no point even discussing it'. So i'm not referring to people making constructive criticisms, what i'm saying is people made a lot of completely unconstructive statements with absolute certainty and, generally, a not insignificant amount of arrogance. It's those doom-mongers that i was referring to.

a few questions:

-is the cost of building cahsr going to be what was told to the people when they voted for it?

-were the people told that cahsr would cover operating costs and maintenance costs?

66

goneon66 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> a few questions:

I'll answer since reindeerflame never responds to CAHSR questions that he can't put a positive spin on.

> -is the cost of building cahsr going to be what
> was told to the people when they voted for it?

No. FAR higher.

> -were the people told that cahsr would cover
> operating costs and maintenance costs?

Yes, which was absurd from the beginning.

exhaustED Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting....but you're kind of missing my
> point.

Until the trains start running, and I can actually ride it for a SoCal day trip without flying, it's too early for the humble pie. Project can still fail, and as an example, the Narita Shinkansen project (Tokyo to the airport) was never completed - there's a concrete viaduct just outside of downtown Narita that sat for decades, unused.

Greyhound depot destruction, propaganda "bids" for operators for a system without a single piece of track, Hwy 99 migration, and a new roadway over the ROW are not signs of CA HSR inevitability. The doom-mongers aren't wrong yet, especially when the project has a 8 year head start on.... nothing.