Conserving the Seattle's Eastside Rail Corridor for long term best use.
Eastside Trail Advocates' mission is to create the region's premier pedestrian and
biking trails along the Eastside BNSF corridor.
Sign the Eastside Trail Advocates' online petition showing your support for the constuction of a bicycle and pedestrian trail along the Eastside Trail Corridor.
Second PSRC Study Says Commuter Rail to Cost $1.2 Billion
The draft of the second PSRC BNSF Eastside Commuter Rail Feasibility Study is in and it states:
“The total capital cost estimate to provide both the proposed commuter rail system and parallel trail is between $1.23
and $1.60 billion (2nd Qtr 2008$).”
As some of you are aware, this $300K/400 page study was essentially a do-over asked for by rail advocates. The second study
comes to similar conclusions as the first PSRC study
($800K/400 pages - completed in May of 2007 by a completely different consultant.
We have now spent over a million dollars and 800 pages in 2 studies in the last 2 years to tell us what anyone could
determine by walking the corridor.
Both reports indicate that the track is in very poor condition and would need to be replaced in order to run commuter
rail on it reliably and safely. But track condition is the least of it. There is currently no unified crossing signal
system and bridge conditions are suspect (minimally, there would have to be a new bridge built over 405 as the old
one was removed for 405's widening). So safety is a big concern.
Real costs reside in trying to fix the geometry and cross section profile of the track. There are 97 curves along
the corridor. As a comparison, the Escondido Sprinter in California has 1 curve in it. The geometry of the track has so
many curves that the average speed of a commuter train in the BNSF corridor would be 24mph after spending $1.2
billion. Furthermore, the cross section of the track bed reveals steep slopes and embankments along many portions of the
track. The costs of cutting and back-filling are expensive. But the costs in this report are actually low because it
makes no provisions for any new grade separated crossings. Minimally, grade separated crossings would be needed at NE
8th in Bellevue, 124th in Kirkland, and 139th in Woodinville.
On November 4, Proposition 1 passed. Moving forward, our work is cut out for us
as we advocate for the creation of a trail along the eastside BNSF corridor. We will
have a steering committee meeting on December 4th at 7:30. Let us know if you'd like to
attend by filling out our contact form.
Port Postpones BNSF Deal
On October 30, the Port of Seattle has postponed the planned purchase of the corridor
due to problems in the credit market. According to the Port:
The Port intends to sell municipal bonds to finance the $107 million acquisition.
The two agencies agreed to the delay because of ongoing difficulties in the nation's municipal
bond markets.
Eastside Trail Advocates is a grass-roots community organization.
We're focused on trail development as a long-term asset for all the citizens of
the Puget Sound region. We are comprised of citizens who desperately want an
overall reasoned regional transit solution. We are a group of King County
taxpayers who want any resources (financial or human) dedicated to the BNSF
corridor to be focused on long-term investment, not simply short-term "easy"
solutions.
Eastside Trail Advocates participate in advocacy activities at the city, county,
regional, and state government levels, as part of the long-term transportation
planning process for the Puget Sound region.
We foster partnerships with other advocacy and social organizations
targeting similar objectives.
We conduct educational efforts targeted at individuals and communities affected
by the BNSF corridor, including neighborhood associations along the corridor.
We lead public outreach initiatives aimed at generating broader community
participation in the ongoing evaluation of public use of the BNSF corridor.
WOW...WHAT A TURNOUT!
On July 9th there were over 150 people at the Port of Seattle open house at
Kirkland City Hall. The turnout impressive, and everyone's remarks and were
fabulous! The Port, Sound Transit, the PSRC and our own city realized there are
real concerns about the corridor and the robust public process that's been
promised all along MUST be a part of the plan.
No passenger rail and no dinner train!
I urge you to continue to preach this message to the Port, ST and our elected
officials!
While the Port waffled and struggled with an answer to our questions about
utilizing the rail south of Woodinville prior to this public process, we did
speak with Mike Merritt (Local Government Relations Manager of the Port). Mike
holds firm that the promised public process WILL occur prior to any decision
being made on utilization (or not) of the track south of Woodinville. It's very
possible that the dinner train could run north of Woodinville to Snohomish.
If you were unable to attend the meeting, I urge you to listen to it. The audio
can be accessed
here.