Yes, that's why I said "a substantial portion". About 25% of OR/WA don't live within an hour of the corridor. I live in Oregon, along the I-5 corridor. I've been looking at the feasibility of HSR for years. The math does not yet make sense. If the population was doubled, it would be a no-brainer.
How long until the population doubles? How much harder would it be to build HSR on a route with double the density?
Hopefully never, and not much more than currently
Yep. Half live in the Portland and Seattle metro areas alone.