Port of Vancouver Southern Rail Alignment

[Chief]

I just obtained this document from the Port of Vancouver, and am hosting it here at Clarkblog.org for your review. This is a single page in Adobe format, whcih means you can zoom in on it very nicely.

<a href="http://www.clarkblog.org/docs/Sch1RailMap.pdf">Click me for the Southern Rail Alignment Diagram</a>

This map shows an overhead view of the route through the Boise Cascade property, that the new Port rail access line is going to take. Ultimately it will go under the existing railroad bridge on the far left side of the picture, and up the riverbank into the Port.

Now you tell me who is going to be buying a condo with over 150,000 freight cars a day, rolling in and out of the Port of Vancouver?? How much Public money should we be spending to gain access to this piece of land in the first place, and then how much more to put in streets and sidewalks with all of those trains in the background??

Look at some of the aproposoded BRT routes, and they show a stop that is meant to serve this Boise Cascade site. The City is spinning this whole area as some new Eden of Urban development, but the truth is that the Railroad is going to be very busy in that same area. There are critical decisions being made about the Columbia Crossing project, based on major development taking place on that property, and I cannot se how that is possible with that much projected rail traffic on that line.

It's best if you print out a copy of that picture to orient yourself, then use the zoom feature on the computer to take a close look at it.

[Chief]

I talked briefly with one on the Port's Project Engineers about this rail spur project, and I want to flesh it out somemore tonight. According to the guy I chatted with, this is almost a done deal, and they expect to sart actual construction this year.

He indicated that they are not making any changes to the existing viaduct that carries the present rails. They will create a sloped berm from the present level of the railhead, down to whatever level they need to go under the old railroad bridge and up into the Port.

This is a major construction project, and it is going to have significant impact to what the City had originally proposed for access to this site. Originally they were discussing a tunnel at Ester street, but there is no indication of that from the Port.

What that tells me is that the Boise Cascade Project is still just someone's good idea, and until some funding becomes available, nothing is going to happen on the site other than the Port proceeding with its new railhead.

Developing. As I said, I will do some picking again tonight to see what I can shake out of the weeds...