With billions of dollars of state and federal funds anticipated, California can now pay some 80 engineering consultants on its planned 800-mile, $46-billion high-speed rail line. Already $5 million in debt for scoping and design work that occurred on the north-south express connector since the financially-strapped state froze infrastructure financing in December, the Pooled Money Investment Board approved a $29.1-million loan at its April 6 meeting after State Treasurer Bill Lockyer successfully sold $6.54 billion in bonds at the end of March.
The High Speed Rail Authority competed with $3.8 billion in other bond-funded projects for approximately $2.6 billion not already going to other debt service. "The treasurer is supportive of making sure the High Speed Rail Authority has sufficient funds, but they are in the same situation as 5,300 other projects," says Lockyer's spokesman Tom Dressler. The loan will fund operations until the end of the fiscal year in June. Another bond sale planned for mid-April could keep the project moving ahead.