Here's a refreshing look at how rail and its multiple uses is treated in other parts of Washington. This is a big project, based in and around Moses Lake WA. The plan's focus is to attract rail-borne business to the area and to repair the otherwise deteriorating "physical plant" in use today. All key players - Grant County, Columbia Basin Railroad, BNSF, City of Moses Lake - all agree the project should move forward, which is something I'm not accustomed to seeing from where I sit in Western WA. "Out here on The Coast" - as it's referred to from the Inland Empire - one or two people can hold up an entire project like this, using litigious or otherwise irritating means for the sole purpose of getting their way. While some of the players in the Basin Project do differ in opinion on how the new lines should look, they all seem to want the same result. Breathe in, breathe out. Ahhhh...
Moses Lake was once a Northern Pacific town. It is now served by the Columbia Basin Railroad. It's also home to the ginormous Grant County International Airport, which is the former Larson Air Force Base closed by the military in the mid 1960s. A big portion of the railroad project would provide better track to GCIA for a container facility.
Of course, even in a place where everyone can at least agree that something should be done (unlike Seattle), there are differing opinions on where the trains should run. The "Citizens Option," which would have run trains away from town and over a former NP branch line, was brought up, researched by the State, and rejected as too difficult to acquire and build since there were many homes and roads already built on top of the abandoned right-of-way.
Check out the Port of Moses Lake's official page on the project; it has huge PDFs of maps etc. to give you an idea of what's needed and what's happening:
http://www.portofmoseslake.com/Northern%20Columbia%20Basin%20Railroad%20Project.htm
This will be one to watch, because when complete it allows Moses Lake to expand its reach in the region, providing jobs and products. Sounds like a win-win to me.
Posts
Hey!
ReplyDeleteMoses Lake was once a Milwaukee Road town. The NP was about 4 miles away at the closest. The NP and the MILW connected to each other at Wheeler (this is the 4 mile point) via spur tracks to a sugar factory. This is the current connection today. The MILW branch to Moses Lake was abandoned from the mainline at Warden to Seiler, where the spur track took off to Wheeler. The NP branch from Connell to Coulee City passed through Wheeler. This branch was abandoned between Wheeler and Coulee City. It is now operated by the CBRW, along with the remaining MILW branch to Moses Lake.
Dan
Well now...we learn something new every day! Thanks to Dan for pointing out this error in the posting. The fact that Moses Lake was a Milwaukee Road town makes ML an even better place to me!
ReplyDelete