New York Times article: How Flaws Undid Obama’s Hope for High-Speed Rail in Florida

The March 11 edition of the New York Times features the article How Flaws Undid Obama’s Hope for High-Speed Rail in Florida which offers the following in its analysis of the demise of the Florida HSR project:

"The story of the line’s rise and fall shows how it was ultimately undone by a tradeoff that was made when the route was first selected.

The Tampa-to-Orlando route had obvious drawbacks: It would have linked two cities that are virtually unnavigable without cars, and that are so close that the new train would have been little faster than driving. But the Obama administration chose it anyway because it was seen as the line that could be built first. Florida had already done much of the planning, gotten many of the necessary permits and owned most of the land that would be needed."