At its regular meeting this Thursday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CaHSRA) elected a new Chairman to replace Tom Umberg, who resigned his Chairmanship last month. Dan Richards of Piedmont, CA, will replace Umberg, who will still remain on the Board.
Mr. Richards has a background in infrastructure financing, public transit, and public policy and government relations. He is a former President of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District.
In other actions, the Board approved the Supplemental Alternatives Analysis (SAA) Report for the Bakersfield to Palmdale segment of its HSR project. The approval allows the Board to move forward with developing a Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) for this section by early 2013.
“The Board is interested in ensuring they have many options available to them in determining which alignment is built after the initial segment, which runs roughly from Fresno to Bakersfield,” said outgoing CaHSRA CEO, Roelof van Ark. “By approving this report, the Board has moved another stepped closer to creating an opportunity for construction into Palmdale to begin immediately following the Central Valley segment.”
The SAA Report is a refinement of the preliminary report that was approved by the Authority Board in September of 2010. It documents additional evaluation and analysis of the proposed alignments shown in the preliminary report, and identifies alignment alternatives for further study as part of the EIR/EIS preparation process.
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