LETTER: Vegas to LA rail line will be a winner
On behalf of the thousands of union jobs and hundreds of permanent jobs; on behalf of the independent long-haul truckers who get stuck in bottlenecks and gridlock costing them immeasurable time and money; on behalf of the many visitors to Las Vegas who spend hours sitting in traffic jams; on behalf of those with a fear of flying and the families and friends of all who have died on that section of road; on behalf of all of us who will be breathing a little easier with the estimated 400,000 tons of carbon emissions eliminated from the air, we thank the high-speed rail line plan between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
The total cost of congestion on Interstate 15 equates to more than $6 billion per year, with more than half of that due to choke points between Los Angeles and and Las Vegas, according to i15alliance.org. The economic impact on an area that includes 48 miles of light rail in the L.A. basin serving more than 18 million people adds another positive dimension to the project.