Chattanooga To Atlanta Connection Not In Obama's High Speed Rail Plan

Despite a decade of exploration, Tennessee and Georgia appear to be further behind other regions in the race to make a Chattanooga to Atlanta high-speed rail connection a reality.

President Obama plans to invest billions connecting communities with rail.  "I'm announcing my administrations plans to transform transportation in america with a historic investment in high speed rail."

Saying the current system of highways, airways, and railways hinders growth, President Obama identified ten possible corridors to launch this infrastructure upgrade.  "Building a new system of high speed rail in america will be faster, cheaper, and easier than building more freeways or adding to an already overburden aviation system and everybody stands to benefit."

RailMissing from the regions being targeted -- Atlanta to Chattanooga.  Congressman Zach Wamp says "he's right to make it a priority, but so far we don't have all the money we need to go forward with Atlanta to Chattanooga."

Congressman Wamp says our corridor remains at the mercy of the Department of Transportation, which holds the purse strings on a $15-million engineering study needed to prove high speed rail can be built along I-75.  "All the local governments from atlanta to chattanooga have agreed to put up their cost share, that's done if the federal government will just give us the $15 million that was supposed to be designated ."

President Obama says the ten-regions being targeted already submitted plans to the Department of Transportation, but he wont rule out other options.  "I want to be clear, no decision of where to allocate funds has been made, and any region can step up, present a plan and be considered."

The President set aside eight-billion dollars in the stimulus bill for high speed rail.  Obama wants Congress to invest another five-billion over the next five years.  The DOT plans to award the first round of funds this summer.