CA High-Speed Rail’s Latest Challenge: Floodwater

“Recent rain­storms that have cre­at­ed flood­ing in some parts of Kings and Tulare coun­ties have also ground work to a halt at sev­er­al key con­struc­tion sites for Cal­i­for­nia’s high-speed rail project,” Tim Shee­han for the Fres­no Bee. While sev­er­al work sites are shit down to the cur­rent flood­ing, offi­cials expect the prob­lem to con­tin­ue into the sum­mer, as a his­toric snow pack melts and sends even more water down the state’s var­i­ous water­ways.

Work is con­tin­u­ing along oth­er stretch­es of the 119-mile stretch of the rail line cur­rent­ly under con­struc­tion, but on sec­tions impact­ed by flood­ing, con­struc­tion crews have been work­ing to help pro­tect com­mu­ni­cates from flood­ing, accord­ing to the arti­cle.

Mean­while, high-speed rail offi­cials report that the project is prov­ing as resilient as it was designed. “The rail line has been designed to cope major floods; viaducts and a railbed that will ele­vat­ed above the lev­el of the sur­round­ing land are expect­ed to min­i­mize the risk of dam­age from future floods,” accord­ing to the source cit­ed in the arti­cle below.

“But it’s the sea­son­al flow of irri­ga­tion ditch­es and canals that the rail line must cross that rep­re­sent uncer­tain­ty in how fast work can progress this com­ing fall and win­ter,” accord­ing to Shee­han.

The Cal­i­for­nia High-Speed Rail project has faced numer­ous chal­lenges through the years, from shift­ing polit­i­cal winds to cost over­runs and plan­ning chal­lenges.