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High Speed Rail and Rural Counties

High Speed Rail projects currently in development.
fra.dot.gov
High Speed Rail projects currently in development.

By Angela Hatton

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-955849.mp3

Nashville, TN – By the end of 2010, the federal government had doled out nearly five billion dollars to high speed rail projects across the country. Part of that is a quarter million dollars for a feasibility study on a line from Louisville to Atlanta. Kentucky chipped in a little over 80 thousand dollars to help complete the study, which should have results in November. As the nation sets out on this massive undertaking, transportation officials consider how to incorporate high speed rail into daily travel. Angela Hatton spoke with Ed Cole, Executive Director of the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee and former Environmental Planning Director for the state Department of Transportation. Cole explains how the rail corridor may affect rural communities in Kentucky and Tennessee.