Welcome to another installment of a pocket park episode! In this one, Mary and Shelley discuss all things high speed rail, including the new federal funding to study a potential high speed rail line in the Pacific Northwest. What are the exciting opportunities, but also what are the pitfalls? Is it worth it to be able to go from Portland to Seattle in 1 hour, but it'll take years to fund? What about the existing Amtrak line? We talk all about it in this episode.

What is a pocket park episode? It's a shorter episode on highly relevant, planning related topics that are happening in the public realm in real time.

Episode Resources:

• WSDOT Ultra High Speed Rail Study https://wsdot.wa.gov/construction-planning/search-studies/ultra-high-speed-rail-study
• President Biden Announces $8.2 Billion in New Grants for High-Speed Rail and Pipeline of Projects Nationwide https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/president-biden-announces-82-billion-new-grants-high-speed-rail-and-pipeline-projects
• FY22 Corridor Identification and Development Program Selections https://railroads.dot.gov/elibrary/fy22-CID-program-selections
• High-speed rail projects get a $6B infusion of federal infrastructure money https://www.opb.org/article/2023/12/08/high-speed-rail-projects-get-a-6-billion-infusion-of-federal-infrastructure-money/
• Lawmakers introduce bill that would require ultra-high-speed rail project to extend to Eugene https://www.opb.org/article/2023/02/25/cascadia-bullet-train-pacific-northwest-transportation-portland-seattle-eugene-politics/
• Rail Advocates Still Pushing For Northwest Bullet Train Despite Anti-tax Mood https://www.opb.org/news/article/bullet-train-portland-seattle-vancouver-car-tab/
• Cascadia bullet train stuck at the station as feds dole out big bucks for rail https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2023/12/08/cascadia-bullet-train-stuck-at-the-station-as-feds-dole-out-big-bucks-for-rail/.
• What I learned from taking a train across the US (VOX) [Video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=von_IMi97-w

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