Johnny Issakson is reaching across the aisle again, this time to some Senator from Massachusetts, to jump all-aboard a proposal to build a high-speed passenger rail-line from Birmingham, thru Atlanta to D.C according to the AJC’s Political Insider. (Birmingham??)  There’s no mention of any further connections to NYC and Boston, but one would assume that a Boston to D.C. rail would also be a priority.

This, compounded with the announcement that the federal highway trust fund will run out of money this month, may make a lot of financial conservatives cringe.  How can we spend any more money on some speculative project when we can’t even keep our millions of miles of highways and bridges from crumbling?  Well, the argument that our highway system is unsustainable in the long run is a conversation for another day.

But right now, let’s think about this from an selfish Atlanta perspective.

Atlanta, like other train towns such as Denver and Chicago (post-Erie canal), is located where it is because of its topography.  Sitting on the edge of the piedmont, just south of the Appalachians, was/is an ideal central southern hub for rail (looking past all the old city rail wars that determined ultimate supremacy).  So guess what Atlanta?  Though most of your transients love to ignore your rail birth and history like the lonely Atlanta train depot, which sits almost comically outside Underground below a mural of whales painted on the side of a parking deck, you’re all about rail.

A high-speed connection to the nation’s financial hubs could potentially be a boon for the city, and really help catapult Atlanta into the top tier of cities.  With topography and history on our side, its little wonder why Issakson is on board.

And yes, building new things does cost money…but I’d argue that its just as big a gamble to continue to allow 85% of all federal transit funding to go to our highway system, while oil prices continue to rise and mass transit continues to nibble at the scraps.

Acting now, as Issakson is doing, could one day help Atlanta regain its national standing as a rail mecca (this time for passenger trains)…and not just a gridlocked mess.

h/t: Fresh Loaf