With the 2012 elections not that far off, Republicans are taking on President Obama’s high-speed rail plan.

President Eisenhower's dream of an Interstate Highway system was bold and shaped America's future in the second half of the 20th century. These days the magnitude of his project is largely forgotten, and the vast system of roads is taken for granted as part of American life. But was it always so easy to see Ike's vision for the country?

Sometimes responsibility is in the eye of the beholder. For example, what is the best way to invest in the nation's infrastructure? In the state of Wisconsin, the governor declined $810 million worth of federal stimulus money for a high speed rail initiative because he says the state couldn't afford to maintain the system and that money should be spent on roads, not rail. However, in Illinois, the governor sees his responsibility differently. A look at the future of passenger rail.

In hard economic times, it's difficult to believe that two states are together rejecting over a billion dollars in federal money. Ohio and Wisconsin will not undertake high-speed rail projects that were in development as late as last November. New leadership in both states claimed the rail projects would forever burden their state budgets. In the morning light, however, their objections may face fresh scrutiny.

Last month, Blueprint America's colleagues at Need to Know debuted a new segment on the program: Fixing America. This week, their big thinkers take on infrastructure and the economy -- can High-speed rail get America back on the right track? Guests include Petra Todorovich, director the America 2050; Felix Salmon, a financial blogger for Reuters; and Patricia DeGennaro, a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute.

After making headlines for weeks, yesterday New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made it official: He's killing the commuter rail tunnel between Manhattan and New Jersey. The project is too expensive, he says, and his state doesn't have the money to cover its share of the costs. The demise of the largest public works project in decades illustrates the stark political choice many voters will make next week: either spend our way out of the Recession with big projects like high-speed trains and tunnels or save our way out with good old fashioned belt-tightening.

The Dallas Cowboys left town for a new stadium before the start of last year’s season. And the Dallas suburb of Irving, where the NFL team played from 1971 to 2008, is planning for life after football with a new transit-oriented development. At the same time, a new stadium just down the road has no transit access at all -- except for a one-day, temporary rail line to be built for Super Bowl Sunday next year.

KCET public television in Southern California -- as a part of Blueprint America -- in a two part report following the one-year mark of President Obama's stimulus plan on the question of high-speed rail and the potential of green jobs as the California state budget verges on bankruptcy.

Blueprint America: Beyond the Motor City examines how Detroit, a symbol of America’s diminishing status in the world, may come to represent the future of transportation and progress in America.

High-speed rail in California, in addition to connecting the state's major cities, will link some 20 smaller cities to the industries and economies of those larger centers. And as train stops were determined, no one wanted to be passed by. Blueprint America followed Mayor Jesus Gamboa as he lobbied the California High-Speed Rail Authority for a train stop for the city of Visalia.

A national high-speed rail plan was put forward by President Barack Obama in April 2009, just months after he set aside $8 billion in stimulus funds to begin such an undertaking. At the end of January this year, the White House selected 13 passenger rail corridors in 31 states to receive stimulus funding. High-speed rail projects in California, Florida and Illinois were the big winners.