LETTER: High-speed rail project a waste of money

After reading your Monday editorial regarding the pending Brightline boondoggle, I felt compelled to further elucidate regarding another pending financial tar pit furthered by the outgoing administration.

Often when driving from California to Las Vegas, I would time my travel to avoid weekend traffic by leaving Las Vegas on any day but Sunday and returning any day but Friday. By doing so, I avoided the logjam of cars inching their way toward their destination. Many times, I drove along quite happily with those in a miles-long traffic jam inching their way home in the opposite direction from a weekend in Las Vegas.

I would see a Burlington Northern-Southern Pacific freight train rolling along parallel to the freeway while the thousands of cars sat idle, barely inching along, and I thought: Why don’t our government officials work with the railroad to modify the existing tracks to include both freight as well as passenger trains? And this was more 20 years ago. And yet transportation department bureaucrats continue to dither, waiting to maximize any political benefit they might derive.

Let face it: Most people are visiting Las Vegas as tourists to enjoy gaming, sports and other entertainment options. Whether they take four hours to arrive by conventional rail transportation or two hours by high-speed rail makes no difference. The conventional mode of travel can be as fun and entertaining as their stay in Las Vegas — without spending tens of billions of dollars and further adding to our nation’s debt.