> The US is a huge country with a lot of empty space.
China has the same problem... they simply made it a priority to build the infrastructure.
There is nothing stopping us from doing the same thing.
China has the same problem... they simply made it a priority to build the infrastructure.
There is nothing stopping us from doing the same thing.
Well what's stopping us is:
1. prioritization of private property ownership over every other possible measure of societal health, people can drag out these projects fighting over the land in court for decades
2. government cronyism isn't even organized enough to stomp out the issues with #1 using eminent domain, because all the small fractious governments of states and local municipalities are working against each other to each win the cronyism battle. at least in more centralized governments, the cronysim is organized enough to get the project done while skimming 75% of the money off the top.
China has almost four times the population density of America’s (146 per square kilometre to 37).
The USA is a bit better, 25% live in the western half (mostly on the west coast though).
If you look at China's HSR map, they have exactly one line that goes into the western half of the country (from Lanzhou to Urumuqi). It only takes 9 hours, only a few stops in between.
No reason these couldn't be linked up and are more populous than many equivalent regions with HSR. It's like power grids, noone is arguing that one big one from SF to NY is the right solution.
However achieving property rights for the land needed for the project is a much bigger issue in the US than in China, where I doubt they receive much dissidence from people affected due to their infrastructure improvements.