Mayor Piercy links high-speed rail $ and 2021 IAAF track championships

Complementary money pits – every politician’s dream. From Diane Dietz in the RG:

The 2021 IAAF World Championships track meet in Eugene presents an opportunity to move teams by rail to Eugene from training sites up and down the Willamette Valley. “It could prove to ourselves and to the ­Legislature what potential (rail) could really have,” Piercy said.

The cost estimate for the cheap rail plan is ~$700M, the expensive plan is $4B. Those are the liar’s budget numbers of course, and are for construction alone. For a comparison, state support for UO is about $60M a year.