ATTORNEYS TO REVIEW HIGH-SPEED RAIL PLAN.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer PALMDALE - Continuing the push for an Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley alignment for a proposed $25 billion high-speed-rail system, Palmdale officials plan to hire a noted law firm to review an environmental impact report on the project. At its meeting Wednesday, the City Council will consider an agreement to hire the firm of Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard and Smith, at a rate of $250 an hour, to review the environmental report on route alternatives for the high-speed rail High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions include 200-320 km/h (125-200 mph) - depending on whether the track is upgraded or new - by the European Union and above 90 mph . Chris Bisgaard, who served as lead trial counsel in the Stringfellow acid pits cases, will be the lead counsel for the city. ``The reason why we're retaining them is their ability to analyze and provide comment to reinforce the Antelope Valley alignment,'' Mayor Jim Ledford said. He said the environmental report will be the foundation for selection of the alignment. Bisgaard has represented public entities in environmental litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. , including the Housing Authority, the airports department and the Community Redevelopment Agency for the city of Los Angeles
The California High-Speed Rail The California High-Speed Rail project is a proposed high-speed rail system in the state of California. The system is being planned by the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which will design, build, and operate the system. Authority is considering two possible alignments between Bakersfield and Sylmar for the rail system - by Interstate 5 through the western Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. or through the Antelope Valley and eastern Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, . Environmental studies examining those two routes are expected to be released within a few weeks. Palmdale officials have lined up consultants to help bolster their claims that an Antelope Valley route would serve a growing population, wouldn't require tunneling or wouldn't raise as many environmental concerns as a route over the Grapevine. Palmdale officials have long said the tunneling work required for the Interstate 5 alignment is much riskier than state officials believe. ``The city will have a wide range of consultants and city staff reviewing the high-speed rail EIR EIR n. popular acronym for environmental impact report, required by many states as part of the application to a county or city for approval of a land development or project. (See: environmental impact report) , including engineers with significant international high-speed-rail experience; cost estimators; environmental, traffic and air-quality experts; and others versed in a project of this magnitude,'' City Attorney Matt Ditzhazy said in a report to the City Council. ``The city attorney determined that there was a need for legal counsel with significant experience in analyzing and-or challenging environmental impact reports of this type.'' The proposed Antelope Valley alignment would follow Highway 58 from Bakersfield to Mojave, then would run south along the Union Pacific railroad Union Pacific Railroad, transportation company chartered (1862) by Congress to build part of the nation's first transcontinental railroad line. Under terms of the Pacific Railroads Act, the Union Pacific was authorized to build a line westward from Omaha, Nebr. tracks through Lancaster, Palmdale and Soledad Canyon. At the southern end of the Antelope Valley, the route follows Soledad Canyon Road instead of the Antelope Valley Freeway The Antelope Valley Freeway is a freeway in Los Angeles and Kern counties in southern California. It is signed as California State Highway 14 along its length. It connects Greater Los Angeles to the rapidly developing Antelope Valley. . State officials determined that the Soledad Canyon route probably would cost less than building a new rail line back and forth across the Antelope Valley Freeway. In November 2004, California voters will be asked to approve a $9 billion bond measure to build the rail segments linking Los Angeles and San Francisco. The federal government is expected to put up billions more. CAPTION(S): map Map: HIGH-SPEED RAIL SOURCE: California Intercity High-Speed Rail Commission Gregg Miller/Staff Artist |
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