High-Speed Rail: A Tremendous Economic Opportunity

Reasonable people certainly disagree over what impact the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will have on our country's economy. Disagreements also abound about some of the items included in the act, with the most high profile of those contests over expansion of unemployment benefits having played out in the General Assembly's recent reconvened session.

However, two things about ARRA are certain. First, it was sold to Congress and the American people as a national investment in our country's infrastructure and our work force that would create jobs and stimulate our sagging economy. In Virginia, no project presents the prospect of fulfilling those goals better than high-speed rail, and ARRA happens to make available $8 billion for such investments.

Here are a few of the facts related to improving the rail corridor between Union Station in Washington, D.C., and Main Street Station in Richmond. (If we were to include extending those improvements to Hampton Roads or to the Raleigh/Durham area in North Carolina, all of these numbers grow.)

• The cost of higher-speed rail between Union Station and Main Street Station is approximately $2.5 billion.

• The project could create 50,000 jobs.

• It could create up to $21 billion in private investment along the corridor.

• It could take thousands of cars off the congested I-95 corridor each year.

With these and other facts in hand, the Greater Richmond Chamber's staff and board leadership have spent significant time talking to representatives from the business community, elected officials, and experts in the region about the potential impact of higher-speed rail on our region, beyond private investment and job creation.

To our pleasant surprise, nearly everyone agrees that the prospect of higher-speed rail in our region is transformational, particularly in terms of attracting new businesses -- and the jobs those businesses would bring -- to the region.

Also, somewhat surprisingly, business leaders we've spoken to who regularly do business in Washington are more interested in consistent, on-time service than they are in the ability to get to D.C. in less than an hour and a half.

Two-hour train service that reliably arrives within 10 minutes of the scheduled time is what it will take to make business people comfortable enough to get out of their cars and onto the train, thus reducing traffic on I-95 and the associated pollution. As an extra bonus for business, employees can be more productive because they can work while they ride the train and arrive for their business in D.C. less stressed than they would be if they fought I-95 traffic.

We find it significant that the issue of higher-speed rail seems to have united the elected, appointed, community, and business leaders in our region like no other major issue has in many peoples' memories. Reps. Eric Cantor and Bobby Scott -- one a Republican and one a Democrat -- publicly announced their support together in a press conference at Main Street Station. Our two United States senators support the idea.

To date, seven local governments, the Greater Richmond Chamber, and the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission have all passed resolutions supporting high speed rail. At least two other local jurisdictions are scheduled to take up their own resolutions in the next few weeks. When was the last time this level of support for anything emerged in our community?

With our region and much of the rest of the state united in support of high speed rail from D.C. to Richmond, our next step is ensuring that the state makes a complete application that allows us to actually build the infrastructure we need to achieve speeds up to 90 mph on that corridor. Passage of the ARRA represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to complete this kind of transformational transportation project.

Failure to apply for all the resources necessary for completion of the project (and there are sufficient resources available through ARRA) would be extraordinarily unfortunate and would set efforts to implement higher-speed rail back by a decade or more.

Whether you agree or disagree with the premise of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it is clear that higher-speed rail most completely fulfills the goals of ARRA. Government is often criticized for spending money on projects that generate no economic benefit. If the numbers above are accurate, high speed rail can generate more than $8 in private investment for each public dollar spent.

It will generate short-term jobs associated with building the infrastructure -- and long-term jobs associated with the private investment along the corridor and businesses that are attracted to locate along the corridor. It will also transform the way our citizens think about inter-city transportation and connect us to every major American city north of us.

In every respect we can imagine, bringing higher-speed rail to our region is a winning idea that nearly everyone in our region supports. Let's make sure we give ourselves the opportunity to leverage the ARRA resources we need to get it done.

Gary L. Rhodes is chairman-elect of the Greater Richmond Chamber and president of J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College.