“I can’t say for sure, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to meet the required environmental and feasibility studies for the pre-application process,” Jones said. “Right now, we’re in the process of trying to acquire funds to get those studies done, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to meet that deadline.”
Jones has been a strong proponent of a railway known as the Texas T-Bone, linking Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, to create a hub of transportation that would T-bone in Temple. Jones is also vice chairman of the Texas High-Speed Rail and Transportation Corp., a collection of cities, counties and private-sector partners pushing for high-speed rail.
“We’ve had no funding to do the work that needs to be done for those studies,” Jones said. “There are places elsewhere that are much further along than we are.”
Jones said high-speed rail groups in Florida and California had completed many of the studies done for the pre-application.
“To me, it doesn’t matter who gets the money first, or where this process starts as long as it starts - any type of high-speed rail advancement across this country is going to help Texas move forward,” Jones said.
Jones said lack of stimulus funding will not hinder the efforts of U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, who is requesting almost $391 million, or the $660 million sought by Waco Democrat Chet Edwards for transportation projects during the current session. Both politicians have said the majority of the money would be dedicated to high-speed funding.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to use some of the transportation funding to do the studies,” Jones said. “In reality, we recognize though that there may be a short delay before the funds needed are available.
“As far as the stimulus funding goes, once you apply for those funds, you have to be able to show that you will use them in a fairly short period of time - and we’re just not prepared for that at the moment,” Jones said.
