Merced County, CA: San Joaquin Valley Ideal for California’s High Speed Rail Request: Support the San Joaquin Valley as the only area in the nation where the HSR can be tested at full speed

Goal: Support California’s effort to build a High Speed Rail (HSR) system and the San Joaquin Valley as the only area in the nation where the HSR can be tested at full speed.

Description: HSR will link the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento with Stockton, Modesto, Merced, Fresno, and Bakersfield , and with Los Angeles via Palmdale. Frequent trains and travel times will offer Central Valley residents the opportunity to travel in comfort at high speeds like never before.

Necessity:  Construction of the HSR system would bring economic development and the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and once complete, would provide improvements to our air quality, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, congestion relief on our highways and greater mobility for people living in the Valley and other areas of our state currently underserved by other forms of transportation.  Increasing the Valley's transportation options, especially after voters passed Proposition 1B to repair Highway 99 (the San Joaquin Valley’s main transportation corridor), would better serve the region's growing population and enhance the Valley's critical importance to our state's economy.  The San Joaquin Valley will serve as the backbone of the California High Speed Rail system, offering speeds of up to 220 miles per hour. In fact, the unique geography of the Valley makes it the only location in the state where the high-speed trains will reach their full speed.

Beneficiaries:  All traveling Central Valley residents by providing easy, economical, reliable and fast commuter and travel connections  Central Valley economy by providing jobs to build and operate the system  Central Valley freeways by reducing traffic

Contact: Merced County Association of Governments Jesse Brown, Executive Director 369 West 18th Street, Merced, CA 95340 209-723-3153, ext. 302 Phone 209-723-3153 Fax 209-723-0322 [email protected]