According to a poll released by supporters of the proposed high-speed rail system, three-fifths of voters in Oregon and Washington state support regional high-speed rail lines to transport passengers from Eugene, Oregon to Vancouver, British Columbia. city
The survey was conducted by California-based FM3 and was conducted by Fast forward to Cascadia, Showing that 43% of voters in the two countries strongly support high-speed rail, while another 19% of voters have some support. On the contrary, a total of 27% strongly opposed or somewhat opposed the new high-speed rail project.
Rachel Smith, chairman and chief executive of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, said that polls show that other public transportation in the Pacific Northwest has received the necessary political support.
The broad proposal to bring high-speed rail into the Pacific Corridor has received broad support from the top. Governor Jay Inslee supported this idea, as did the Port of Seattle and a few mayors along the proposed route (including Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan). Microsoft President Brad Smith; Zillow CEO Rich Barton; Boeing Commercial Aircraft President and CEO Stan Deere; and other technology leaders also support this concept.
In 2019, Microsoft donated US$223,667 to study the possibility of building a high-speed rail line connecting Vancouver, British Columbia, Seattle and Portland, bringing the company’s total donation to research the feasibility of the idea to US$573,667. According to a preliminary study, if completed, trains in the Pacific Northwest will reach 250 mph and can carry up to 3.3 million passengers per year.
A study completed in 2018 estimated that the project cost will be between US$24 billion and US$42 billion.
Rachel Smith said that the federal government is currently willing to invest billions of dollars in Washington’s infrastructure under the new legislation approved by the U.S. Senate. Now is the time to promote the project. “There are a lot of resources available,” she said. “The (decision) we are making now we hope we can make it 20 years ago.”
The poll will be conducted from July 22 to August 3, 2021. According to its poll data, FM3 interviewed 1,616 potential voters, who are evenly distributed in Oregon and Washington state.
Broady, voters in the Northwest seem to be highly concerned about transportation, transportation infrastructure, and climate. The data shows that they see high-speed rail as part of the solution to these problems.
However, any high-speed rail project has considerable obstacles to climb in the United States, which lacks high-speed rail lines similar to those of Europe, Japan, and China. The California and Texas proposals met with strong political opposition after initial good polls.California’s proposed operation from the Bay Area to the Los Angeles Basin Is hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.
Smith said that supporters of the Cascadia line carefully analyzed the mistakes made by other projects and gave a good explanation of potential pitfalls. “We are confident that we can complete this project,” she said.