California's Infrastructure Projects Are Wasteful Boondoggles That Prioritize Jobs Over Transportation
Source: Chris Bray. "60 Minutes Undersold The Madness of CA's Train-Building Disaster." April 6, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
California is wasting billions on train and infrastructure projects that don't work as promised. These projects cost way more than similar ones in other states, serve very few people, and seem designed more to create jobs than actually move people around efficiently.
Conclusion
California's major infrastructure projects, exemplified by the high-speed rail disaster, are fundamentally flawed boondoggles that waste taxpayer money while failing to deliver promised transportation benefits
Premises
- California's high-speed rail project is 11 years into construction, massively over budget, behind schedule, and has been scaled back from its original Los Angeles-San Francisco promise to a 119-mile Central Valley segment
- Multiple California infrastructure projects show similar patterns of extreme cost overruns compared to other states (mountain lion bridge costing $114 million vs Colorado's $15 million wildlife bridge)
- These projects serve disproportionately few users relative to their enormous costs (SMART train serves 4,500 daily riders across 765,000 population for $1 billion; LOSSAN corridor serves 4,000 daily trips for proposed $20 billion tunnel)
- The projects are marketed and celebrated primarily as job creation programs rather than transportation solutions, with the High-Speed Rail Authority proudly touting 16,000+ jobs created despite no operational trains
- This pattern of wasteful spending represents 'the California way' that could spread nationally if California leadership gains federal power
Assumptions
- Cost-per-rider ratios are a valid primary metric for evaluating transportation infrastructure success
- Comparing costs between different states and projects provides meaningful insights into efficiency
- Job creation should be secondary to transportation functionality in infrastructure projects
- Current ridership patterns will remain consistent and represent the projects' ultimate utility
- California's approach to infrastructure represents a systemic problem rather than isolated issues