Page 42 - the NOISE July 2014

illus by Pedro Dia & Aaron Carpenter
I-17’s Elevated Solar High-Speed Rail
text by Omar Victor
The Congressional Budget Office recently reported the cost of wars in the last de- cade will peak $6 trillion, on top of a annual
military budget of $1.5 trillion, (representing 33% of the National Budget once veterans’ benefits and the interest on debt financing past wars are factored in).
As a country, we have spent $500 billion per year, $42 billion a month, $1.3 billion per day, or $57 million per hour on operations in foreign lands which benefit not the many, but the few: oil companies and the legislative
“representatives” candidly financed to vote on this budget.
If the amount of resources used in the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan were put to use shoring up our homeland infrastructure, we would meet the pressing dangers of climate change and domestic manufacturing obsolescence head on. Indeed, the War on the Environment and the War on the American Job are the two confrontations which require not a rifle to be held nor a single life to be shed — and both are winnable without psychological or finan- cial burden to future generations.
To finance the wars, it is assumed every man, wom- an, and child living in the United States will contrib- ute $25,477.71, but most of us don’t remember sign- ing a credit slip for this. What many of us did sign up for were the assurances of a hopeful president six years ago, who stood at a televised pulpit with ideas like: renewable energy investment, public transpor- tation renovation, and the bringing of our GIs back to grandma in one piece.
Arizona has the highest tourist traffic of any state in the nation, accommodating 38.1 million each year, about the population of the entire state of Califor- nia. The National Parks, which have a pretty decent clicker, report 4.3 million to Grand Canyon alone. It is estimated Interstate 17 is the most used tourist cor- ridor, with ADOT clicks hovering around 42 million individual vehicles.
The California intrastate High Speed Rail System, currently in the “build” stage, will cost $91.4 billion at full build, encompassing 800 miles at about $114 million per mile. While California’s terrain is similar to Arizona, what may create more hassle for the former is the decision to create a new rail corridor, separate from the interstate system, and requiring the outlay of additional land purchases from private entities.
If Arizona were to use existing interstate corri- dors, which are already publicly owned, to create an Elevated High Speed Rail System, allotments could be made for additional solar energy tech- nology, collection, and utilization. Presuming the current cost of materials and construction, including concrete, steel, solar, and an electric locomotive surpassing speeds of 225mph, the 145 miles from Sky Harbor to Flagstaff (with plat- forms at Anthem, Black Canyon, Cordes Lakes & Camp Verde) would cost our US Government $16 billion, or about 12 days of war.
Giving tourists & residents of Arizona an op- tion to travel what is the state’s most accident- prone corridor in a fraction of the time spent driving would be a boon to not only public safe- ty but to the Arizona way of life, as commuters would shrink their carbon footprint and visitors could use rental cars & other transit for strictly local jaunts.
What’s more, if current military-grade equip- ment and manpower were to be leased back from the “defense department” and diverted to this homeland “offensive,” this seemingly daunt- ing construction project could be accomplished in just 6 short months.
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