Alabama Gets $$$ for High Speed Rail...

....planning. And not very much money either. Nine states will share $6-Million, while projects in Florida and California are getting billions:

The Kansas City Star newspaper reports:

A list of projects circulating in transportation circles this morning shows Missouri and Illinois being among the big winners with a $1 billion grant to build a high-speed corridor from St. Louis to Chicago.

Here is the list of what other regions are getting:

California: $2.3 billion.

Eugene-Portland-Seattle: $598 million.

Chicago-St. Louis-Kansas City: $1.1 billion
Minneapolis:-Milwaukee-Chicago: $823 million
Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati: $40 million
Detroit-Chicago: $244 million
Tampa-Orlando-Miami: $1.2 billion
Charlotte-Richmond-Washington: $620 million
New York-Albany-Buffalo-Montreal: $151 million
Boston-New York-Washington: $112 million
Brunswick/Portland-Boston $35 million
Philly-Harrisburg-Pittsburgh: $27 million
New Haven-Springfield-St. Albans: $160 million
Other awards:
Iowa: $17 million
Fort Worth area: 4 million

Planning awards: $6 million for rail planning in Kansas, Iowa, Georgia, Vermont, West Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Alabama and Delaware.

Yea, that's Alabama down at the bottom of the heap. But why not? Our gas taxes are earmarked for roads, not mass transit. Except for the larger cities (and really only minimally there), there is no Mass Transit in the state. We love our cars. And you can have mine when you pry it from my cold, dead....

If you like the idea of high-speed rail, there is a group of die hards who belong to a Southern High Speed Rail Commission. And they even have a big meeting coming up in Mississippi. I wish them well. But asking nine states to do something involving high speed rail, and telling them to split $6-Million, is pitiful. Save the money. Spend it on something meaningful. Like asphalt to pave the potholes on I-59 near Gadsden.

[UPDATE: More on the money, what little there is.]