The Weekly Basket: The Golden (State) Road

TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE-Two recent – but unrelated – decisions from the Golden State are likely to have wide-ranging implications for the nation’s transportation systems, and are important developments for taxpayers to watch in coming years. First, California got the go-ahead on the 130-mile first phase of its controversial high-speed rail (HSR) system; less than a week later, it passed legislation at the state level to allow the on-street use of autonomous – or self-driven – automobiles.