When the Obama administration announced which states would be the winners in the $8 billion high-speed rail derby last week, Florida was one of the biggest winners -- getting $1.2 billion to build a rail line from Tampa to Orlando. Maryland, on the other hand, received $70 million for two critical but more modest projects -- better than many states but far behind the biggest beneficiaries.
So now a Florida congressman is contending that Maryland got "peanuts," Southerrn Maryland Online reports.
U.S. Rep. John Mica, the ranking Republican on the House Transportation Committee and one of the leading cheerleaders for high-speed rail in Congress, said the money Maryland received toward a new Amtrak tunnel in Baltimore and a new BWI train station was "an insult."
If Maryland's own representatives were feeling insulted, they concealed it well. Most of the state's top Democrats welcomed the money. But Mica's point is that more of the money should have been directed into the Northeast Corridor to bring it up to a condition that would support truly high speeds.
