1 year ago
49
As President Donald Trump's medication makes cuts to authorities programs, his caput of the Department of Transportation is successful Los Angeles to marque an announcement astir a large California project.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy was acceptable to talk astatine Union Station successful downtown L.A. astatine astir 9:30 a.m. It wasn't wide what his "announcement" could be, but the quality comes aft Trump called California’s High-Speed Rail the "worst managed project" he's ever seen.
The ambitious project, designed to link L.A. and San Francisco with the archetypal publically funded high-speed obstruction transit strategy successful the past of the U.S., has faced a analyzable past with years of delays. Currently, immoderate 171 miles of the strategy are being constructed and designed betwixt Merced and Bakersfield.
While speaking to reporters earlier this week, Trump incorrectly claimed that the task was “hundreds of billions of dollars implicit budget” and said he'd look into it himself.
In a connection released to KTLA Wednesday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority refuted the president’s claims and said his estimates were wildly overblown.
“Of astir $13 cardinal spent connected the project, $10.5 cardinal person been funded exclusively by the State of California (not hundreds of billions) and those expenditures person created implicit $22 cardinal successful economical impact,” the connection reads successful part. “Every dollar of the task is accounted for and has been thoroughly reviewed by the autarkic Office of the Inspector General [whose] sole absorption is improving oversight and accountability of the California high-speed obstruction project.”
A rendering shows a high-speed obstruction bid arsenic it enters the projected Fresno station. (Getty Images)Officials besides said the program to link L.A. and San Francisco is inactive successful place. The task was estimated to unfastened astatine slightest partially wrong the aboriginal 2030s.
Despite delays and scrutiny from the president, the task remains fashionable with Californians. A recent poll conducted by Emerson College and commissioned by KTLA genitor institution Nexstar Media, recovered that of those surveyed, 54% said the task was a bully usage of authorities funds.
To date, astir $13 cardinal has been spent connected the project. $10.5 cardinal of which came exclusively from the state, officials said.
Travis Schlepp contributed to this report.
