California’s controversial bullet train project got underway on Tuesday with a groundbreaking ceremony in Fresno attended by Gov. Jerry Brown and other dignitaries.
Brown touted the benefits of the $68 billion project, which officials project will generate 66,000 jobs annually over the next 16 years.
“The high-speed rail links us from the past to the future, from the south to the north,”
Brown said, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Critics have expressed concerns about the cost of the project, which Brown sought to dispel, assuring the crowd that “We can afford it.”
The first of its kind in the nation, the bullet train will move travelers between
Los Angeles and San Francisco at 200 miles per hour, Inc. reported.
Voters approved a $10 million bond for the project in 2008, and the Obama administration allocated $3.3 billion in stimulus money for the project in 2012.
The first phase of the project is a 28-mile stretch from Fresno north to Madera. A 520-mile link between San Francisco and the Los Angeles Basin is planned for completion by 2029, Inc. said.
Twitter users shared mixed reactions.
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