If Ever

(SFGate photo)

Like a runaway freight train there's no stopping the California high-speed rail project, which broke ground today in Fresno. Forget that the initial cost estimates have more than doubled to $68 billion, or that initial operations will serve only about a million people in the Central Valley. (It would be a shock if the Fresno-Bakersfield corridor will produce a regular ridership of at least 1%, i.e., 10,000 people.)

If all goes according to plan, the San Francisco--Los Angeles connection won't be operational until 2029. Governor Jerry Brown "said the state owed it to the future to think big and invest in projects like high-speed rail."

OK, Guv'nor, let's dream about a new, customizable, eco-friendly transportation system for California:

$30 billion for 1,000,000 driver-less all-electric cars @ $30,000--which won't need feeder buses to/from the train stations.

$20 billion for new power plants (nuclear, hydro, solar, and wind)

$20 billion for highway improvements and strengthening the power grid.

This cocktail-napkin transportation project was concocted in two minutes, but there is absolutely no doubt that the CNTP would be operational long before California's High-Speed Rail is completed, if ever.