From AnnArbor.com
Federal high-speed rail grant money turned down by Wisconsin and Ohio will be redirected to about a dozen other states eager to help develop high-speed rail corridors, and Michigan isn’t on the list of receivers, federal officials announced this afternoon.
The incoming Republican governors in Wisconsin and Ohio indicated recently they would not move forward to use federal high-speed rail money. That left the federal government trying to find other states that would accept the money, and several jumped at the chance.
The Michigan Legislature still has not agreed to match the $161 million it recently was granted for high-speed rail improvements along the Detroit-to-Chicago corridor. The Republican-controlled Michigan Senate declined to take action to put up the $37 million state match needed to trigger the federal dollars before the most recent legislative session ended.