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    The Train to Nowhere Otherwise Known as Victorville

    By Todd Jacobs | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Tue, Mar 29, 2011
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
    Do you have a story to tell? Become a Yahoo! contributor

    COMMENTARY | Where is our tax money going from the out-of-control federal budget? It is headed on a semi-fast railroad to the middle of the Mojave Desert? The DesertXpress, a pet project of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has been given the green light as of Friday in a statement released by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

    The project will be a high-speed light rail project that will connect Las Vegas to Victorville, Calif. The plan is for Los Angeles and Southern California travelers to park in Victorville and take the high-speed light rail DesertXpress the rest of the distance to Las Vegas.

    The goal is to relieve traffic congestion from the over-burdened Interstate 15. The question is will anyone go to the trouble of packing up their car in Southern California, park in Victorville, unload their car and then board the DesertXpress?

    This is another example of an out-of-control government investing billions of dollars of taxpayer money on a project that will never succeed. The logistics of the project are daunting and the fact it will be fully funded by taxpayers at a time when we are facing a financial crisis is inexcusable.

    Reid was originally behind the privately funded Maglev project that would have connected Las Vegas and Anaheim, Calif. The Maglev project was already struggling when Reid dumped his support and reallocated funds reserved for the project as reported by the Las Vegas Review Journal in March 2010.

    To be fair, the Maglev project has been a slow and cumbersome project. This does not mean the $6 billion DesertXpress is the answer. Building a light rail train that ends in Victorville will help no one, including Nevada. It may create jobs in the short run but in the end it will be another failed government funded project. The answer is to get private industry to build and fund these projects.

    Money will come from federal loan guarantees as detailed in the Oct. 13, 2010, Las Vegas Sun. The problem with this idea is what will happen when the DesertXpress fails? The short answer, the taxpayers will be left holding the bag at the end of the day.

     

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