I want to know why it would costs $35 MILLION to "Plan "something" ? 
Aren't we supposed to request designs and bids then accept the best proposal and they get the work ?
Aaaahh the good old days
I remember hearing about every few years yet another study was paid for to investigate options for the rail project.
It started for me in 1992 when I arrived here with the project being voted down in 1994. The rail project was approved in 2012, even though the excise tax increase to help fund it was already effective as of 2005. The original date to complete the project was 2020. The new date makes the project 11 years past due -- assuming it actually finishes by 2031.
We spent millions just studying the traffic impacts, route and design. And don't forget the historical and archeological preservation studies to avoid disturbing the bones of people buried along the construction route. The plan that was adopted said it would only cost $5.122B to complete.
It's now 11 years past the projected completion date, and 139% more than the original estimate. Costs to date are over $12.45B with more budgeted. The project has been so sloppily managed, the Federal Gov't has been withholding $744M in funding since 2015.
What happened with most of these state-run projects is they solicit studies to determine how they need to proceed. Then they send out the request for proposals to get those competitive bids (competitive in the sense that someone's relatives or campaign donors will get the job). So, they haven't even gotten to the proposals stage. They are paying people to present options that the decision makers can select from.
If we'd started rail just 8 years earlier, we'd have been able to finish it at a fraction of the cost -- before Obama took office and before the home lending industry destroyed the economy. I'm sure Biden's economic policies are causing a massive inflationary increase in the remaining cost estimates.
Timing really does matter when budgeting for very large projects.