Billings, MT
Stop on the proposed 17,000-mile maglev network. Next stop: Salt Lake City, UT (386.5 mi).
About Billings
Billings is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana, and the 253rd most populous city in the United States. The population was 117,116 at the 2020 census, while the Billings metropolitan area has an estimated 193,000 people.
Source: Wikipedia summary (full article). Population and facts as published there.
Cost breakdown (proposal-scale estimates — see math)
| Item | Basis | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal construction | Small-city terminal (parametric range $0.5–1B) | $0.75B |
| Land acquisition | Regional factor 0.7× on $200M base | $140M |
| Track: Billings → Salt Lake City | 386.5 mi × $500M/mi | $193.2B |
| Annual operations (share) | Staffing, power, maintenance | $15M/yr |
| Stop total (excl. annual ops) | $194.1B |
Best terminal location (proposed)
The downtown Montana Avenue / former Northern Pacific depot district. Billings' Montana Avenue corridor holds the former Northern Pacific depot in a historic warehouse district the city is revitalizing. The site sits at the I-90/I-94 junction — the region's highway crossroads — and serves as Montana's largest city's intercity gateway.
Before / after
Aerial mock-up (illustrative, not an engineering rendering). Left: the proposed site today. Right: with the maglev terminal.
- Laurel, MT — refinery town west on I-90.
- Bozeman, MT — university city (Montana State) in the Gallatin Valley.
- Idaho Falls, ID — eastern Idaho hub on the I-15 corridor.