After decades of debate and lobbying, the first leg of a bullet train system in California will begin construction in Fresno this week. Despite continual resistance from legal and political factions, the first 29-mile segment will be a milestone in the $68 billion project.

The commencement of construction, however, is not an indication that completion of the project will be swift. Officials with the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) have not yet identified funds required to complete even the initial system. The entire San Francisco-to-Los Angeles system is projected to happen over the next 14 years. As it is, construction is beginning two years later than previously pledged.

Opening the way for initial construction, the CHSRA has won a series of legal challenges over the last couple years, including an exemption from the federal government to its own state’s environmental rules. Also important in moving things along has been the victories of a number of key legislative contests and a keen move to speed up the inauguration of service in Southern California by a couple years.

Supported mostly by Democrats, the beginning of construction is seen as an affirmation of a decades-long vision to bring an alternative form of transportation to California’s busy north-south corridor. With some exceptions, getting between the state’s two major population centers is currently possible only by aircraft or private automobile.

CHRSA chairman Dan Richard declared that, for the first time, the public “will see things rising out of the ground.” Despite the promise of enduring challenges ahead, he nevertheless expressed confidence in the program moving forward.

Opponents of the project, mostly Republicans, warn of dangers ahead as California plunges into what they see as a flawed, costly enterprise that is not likely to to be completed. Despite the ubiquity of high-speed “bullet” trains in Europe and other places around the globe, very-rapid transit in the western United States has been fraught with political and financial roadblocks. The San Franciso-to-Los Angeles project continues to face immense technical, financial and political risks.

The 29-mile initial segment will link Fresno with Madera and four-time Gov. Jerry Brown will lead the Tuesday groundbreaking at the site of the future downtown Fresno station. Now beginning his fourth term, the project has long been one of Brown’s highest priorities.

Ever since Brown’s first terms, the system visualized by proponents provides a better way to join the state’s two distinct regions. An urban planning professor at the University of California Los Angeles, Martin Wachs, says that proponents “have enormous hurdles ahead of them,” the largest being the identification of an adequate funding source. At this point, not even half of the funding for the project has been secured.

California High-Speed Rail was approved by voters in 2008 with the initiation of a $9 billion bond measure. The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama then committed grants worth $3.2 billion and the California Legislature pledged one-quarter of revenues from future greenhouse gas cap-and-trade emission fees to the railway. Those are expected  to bring in $250 million to $1 billion each year. CHRSA officials are also hoping to see funds from private investors and even more money from the federal government.

Construction and completion of the first 29-mile segment will require the purchase of 526 private land parcels, of which only 101 have already been secured. The entire system is projected for completion in 2028.

Approximately 330 billion miles are traveled in California each year by 32 million registered vehicles. High-speed rail proponents see the system as critical to adequately meeting the future needs of commuters, as well as the projected 12 million new residents expected to arrive in the state by then. California’s population is expected to meet or exceed 50 million by 2030.