High-speed rail grant announcement coming tomorrow

On Monday, reports began surfacing out of Florida that President Obama and Vice President Biden would be in Tampa this Thursday for “an event.” The White House was mum on what they might be discussing, but elected officials and business groups down in Florida immediately began speculating that Obama and Biden would be announcing a high-speed rail grant — and, of course, assuming that Florida would be a top pick to receive some of the $8 billion available in federal high-speed stimulus funds.

I’ll admit — I was skeptical. After all, these grants (the first round of them, at least) were supposed to be announced in September. After that month came and went, the Federal Railroad Administration announced they were holding off on announcing any awards until “winter 2010,” which technically doesn’t end for another two months. In the meantime, several other rumored grant announcement dates have come and gone.

But here’s when I started to wonder if these Florida newspapers were onto something: My contacts at the Federal Railroad Administration have been quick to quash the rumors any time that I’ve checked in with them during the past several months. After a quick call on Monday afternoon asking whether Thursday would be “the day,” I was only told, “You’ll have to ask the White House.”

I checked in with Rep. John Mica’s (R-Fla.) office as well, figuring they might have some sort of inside information, considering Mica’s interest in high-speed rail and, of course, his ties to the Sunshine State. Justin Harclerode, the media contact for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (of which Mica is the Republican leader) said he didn’t know anything other than Obama and Biden would be in Florida the day after the State of the Union address. But he also said there was nothing they could think of, aside from the high-speed rail announcement, that would warrant a presidential visit to Tampa.

Now, the Florida speculation has turned into national speculation, and an article disseminated on the e-wires this morning by the Associated Press provided the closest confirmation yet that a high-speed announcement is coming: According to an anonymous White House official, Obama will announce grants for 13 “major” high-speed rail corridors tomorrow. In addition, several smaller awards will be made for improvements to existing rail lines. All in all, 31 states will receive a piece of the $8 billion being doled out for high-speed rail under the recovery act.

The announcement will come tomorrow during a town hall meeting being held at 12:30 p.m. eastern at the University of Tampa, a university staff member told me. HSRupdates.com will post the grant announcement as soon as we receive it.

And, check back often in the coming days and weeks under our new “Stimulus Grant Awards” section on the HSRupdates.com home page. That’s where we’ll be posting all stimulus grant-related coverage, including interviews with grant recipients, grant-related news and a Webcast that will provide an analysis and overview of the grant awards.

— Angela Cotey