California's $68-billion bullet train to break ground
![California's $68-billion bullet train to break ground](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XeBuYn3gmF6jqXbdcWho7Y-415-80.jpg)
On Tuesday, construction will begin on a $68-billion bullet train from San Francisco to Los Angeles, which will travel at 220 miles per hour and deliver passengers to their destination in three hours.
When the project is completed sometime in the 2020s, it will be the first high-speed rail system in the United States, CBS News reports. Work on the first leg will start in Fresno, where The Fresno Bee reports just 101 of 525 parcels of land required for the first 29-mile segment have been acquired.
Proponents of the project say it will help with traffic and improve air quality, as well as bring in new jobs, while opponents believe it will destroy neighborhoods by tearing down buildings and blocking streets. Diana Gomez of the High-Speed Rail Authority says the train is good for California, telling CBS News, "Our project is going to transform how we move around in the state."
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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