The high-speed railway system connecting Las Vegas to Southern California may finally be close to beginning construction after more than a decade of planning, proposals and studies—all that’s left, according to those connected with the project, is to secure $3.75 billion in federal funding.
On August 19, Nevada Senator Jackie Rosen announced that an updated letter had been submitted to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urging him and fellow federal officials to approve the grant, which was submitted by the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT)
The letter detailed the progress that has been made on the project, including all of the permits and environmental studies that have already been secured by developer Brightline West. If approved, the money would come from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a bipartisan initiative that was signed in late 2021.
Brightline has indicated previously that it has already received a $25 million federal grant and that if the larger grant is approved, the company plans to use some $800 million for improvements along Interstate 15, the main congestion funnel between the two markets.
With regard to the $3.75 billion grant, Rosen and others are extremely confident that it will go through, given the extensive leg work that has already been done over the past 10-plus years.
“I’m expecting Secretary Buttigieg will award this funding. Why? Because we are shovel-ready. Brightline West has already completed regulatory approvals and environmental approvals needed for the first time in history,” Rosen said, according to KTNV.
“Over the next few weeks, over 100 permits will be complete. We understand this meets all of the requirements that the bipartisan infrastructure law laid out. Now, it just needs the funding to be able to start construction. The sooner we get it up and running, Nevada’s economy will continue to boom.”
Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft said that after years of hypotheticals and projections, it is incredible to think that the project is “ no longer a pipe dream.”
“I see, weekly, the congestion on Interstate 15. We cannot simply tolerate weekend after weekend of mass event-style congestion on the I-15,” Naft said, per KTNV. “As Clark County commissioners, we operate five airports here in Southern Nevada including the nation’s tenth busiest airport. We need another transportation alternative to bring people in from the region and ease some of that wonderful visitor count we have at our airports.”
Tracy Larkin-Thomason, director of NDOT, noted that the project has been in development in various forms since 2004, with the destination evolving from Victor Valley to Palmdale and eventually to Los Angeles.
She also predicted that the federal decision would likely be delivered sometime in September.
Brightline CEO Michael Reninger urged federal officials to consider the secondary benefits that the railway will provide—his chief example was the upcoming 2028 summer olympics in Los Angeles, which could surely benefit from such a resource.
Per KTNV, Reninger posited that the first high-speed rail system, built in Japan, was “built in concert for the Olympics and the line was between Tokyo and Osaka. In China, their high-speed rail was built for the Beijing Olympics. The idea that we get [the project] open before the opening of the [Los Angeles] Olympics is a poetic, ambitious project.
“It’s doable because we’ve been at this for a long, long time. We’ve already gotten over the biggest hurdles to making this project a reality, which is assembling the land and getting the environmental hurdles and engineering done. It seems short now but it’s because we’re standing on the back of a decade worth of work.”
The CEO concluded his pitch by mentioning the idea that if the project is a success, it could pave the way for future developments elsewhere and may spark a transportation revolution of sorts.
“(The railway) will help modernize modes of transportation here,” Reninger said. “We will plant the flag for the development of an entirely new industry and will establish the blueprint on how to build high-speed rail across the United States. We’re not just investing in a rail system. We’re investing in a vision that will help shape the nation’s infrastructure.”
Should the funding be granted, construction is slated to begin by year’s end. In total, the development is expected to create more than 30,000 jobs, and all 13 railway unions in the U.S. have already agreed to work together with Brightline.
If all goes smoothly, the railway could be up and running by 2028.
