Jaunted

The Baghdad Metro:
Things in Iraq's capital are growing ever more peaceful, which isn't really that amazing given that they couldn't have gotten worse. So Mayor Sabir al-Issawi has set aside some money for a feasibility study on a new Baghdad Underground. One proposal calls for two lines with 20 stations each, covering 24 miles of both Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods.

While war-weary residents are applauding the news, not even backers of the $3 billion project are talking about *when* it might be finished. We're guessing sometime after that cruise terminal in Basra is open for business.

The Australian Space Elevator:
Since space is the ultimate trophy trip, we should be rooting for a carbon-fiber strand stretched more than 22,000 miles above Earth that would make reaching the moon--and beyond--cheaper than ever. But the idea for space elevators has been around for more than a century, and though Japan recently announced it would commence an $11 billion effort to build one, it's Australia that's hoping the pipe dream becomes a reality.

Two experts on the incredibly niche field say a spot in the Indian Ocean about 300 miles from Perth would be the ideal location for the Earth-side platform of any eventual space elevator, meaning we'd have to get Down Under and book cruise tickets to go see the thing. Luckily there's one, er, astronomical hurdle to construction: The materials needed for the elevator cable don't yet exist.

California High-Speed Rail:
Yes, Proposition 1A passed this November 4 in California, approving nearly $10 billion in funding for a high-speed rail connection between San Francisco and Los Angeles, with connections to Sacramento and San Diego. But the chairman of the authority responsible for the train admits it won't be fully complete until 2030. Given that it took four years for this bond measure to even make it onto a ballot, a 22-year timeline for 700+ miles of track starts to look pretty tight.

There's another problem, too. Though California voters have approved $9.95 billion for the first phase of construction, that will only cover about half the anticipated costs; matching funds from the federal government still need to roll in.

The Second Avenue Subway:
New York City has been waiting for another subway down its east side since 1929. And though construction recommenced in 2007--and continues today--it'll be another few decades before we're riding the T Train from 125 Street to Hanover Square.

That is, of course, if the MTA, which oversees New York's public transit, doesn't go bust before then. The authority currently only has funding for Phase 1 of the Second Avenue Subway, a stretch that will only connect 96th Street to 63rd Street; that part of the project is scheduled to be finished in 2015. Meanwhile, with mounting debts and despite rising fares, the agency is pondering deep service cuts to cover a $1.2 billion budget gap for 2009.

Related Stories:
· Baghdad Goes Underground with Metro Plan [Guardian]
· World's First Space Elevator Docked in Australia? [PSFK]
· California High-Speed Rail Authority [Official Site]
· History of the Second Avenue Subway [Wikipedia]
· To Plug Gap, MTA Ponders Service Cuts [NYT]
· Pipe Dreams coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of a pipe dream: VideoGamesBlogger]