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Back to Design and Architecture

Design and Architecture

Bridges and Walls: High Speed Rail

California’s biggest infrastructure project is a high-speed rail network that would connect San Francisco, the Central Valley and Los Angeles, bridging communities cut off by the state's difficult geography.

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By Frances Anderton • Feb 13, 2018 • 28m Listen

The Tehachapi Mountains are “effectively a wall that divides the state and has divided the state throughout its whole history,” says Joe Matthews, Connecting California columnist. Mathews joined DnA on a trip to the Central Valley to catch up on progress of a project that promises to connect San Francisco, the Central Valley and LA, bridging communities cut off by California’s difficult geography.

California Arts Council, a state agency.

And special thanks to NPR’s Story Lab.

KCRW.com/BridgesandWalls

The pergola in the San Joaquin River Viaduct will allow California’s high-speed rail to cross over the Union Pacific tracks at the south end of Fresno. Photo credit: Avishay Artsy.

More

  • DnA’s Bridges and Walls series

  • Land acquisition delays have paralyzed high-speed rail contractor, lawsuit alleges

  • Is high-speed rail dying? This could be a crucial year for the troubled project

  • California bullet train cost surges by $2.8 billion: Worst-case scenario has happened

  • California high-speed rail: Everything you need to know

  • Vacant lots, empty homes and dying orchards on bullet train route attract squatters, vandals and thieves

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Frances Anderton

    architecture critic and author

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Frances Anderton

    architecture critic and author

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Avishay Artsy

    Producer, DnA: Design and Architecture

  • KCRW placeholder

    Joe Mathews

    Host, "Zocalo's Connecting California"

  • KCRW placeholder

    Bob Brazil

    Farmer in Hanford, CA

  • KCRW placeholder

    Diana Gomez

    Central Valley regional director for the California High-Speed Rail Authority

    Culture
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