LONGVIEW, Wash. — The Port of Longview will receive a $16 million federal grant to help fund its multiyear Industrial Rail Corridor Expansion. The project will double rail capacity at the port. Funds will be used to construct a six-track rail right-of-way adjacent to the existing corridor, two additional 8,500-foot tracks and increase the length of the current tracks from 7,500 feet to 8,500 feet to accommodate full-length unit trains. The project will allow the port to redevelop Berth 4 for bulk exports like soda ash or agricultural products, enabling the port to find new tenants for the terminal.
The IRCE Project builds on an original two-track rail link the Port constructed in 2004 that provides direct access to Class I main lines. The construction of the original two tracks led to the development of one of the largest grain export facilities in the country and provides access to the Port’s eight marine terminals. However, because of the success and demand placed on the existing infrastructure, the Port has spent years planning for the addition of six more tracks to meet current and future demand.
Funding will come from the federal RAISE (Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) program. It was one of four Washington projects receiving a total of $60 million in RAISE funding; also receiving a grant was a $2.08 million grade-separation project in Aberdeen, Wash., to ease congestion on U.S. Route 12 from rail traffic heading to the Port of Grays Harbor.
As for the grade separation project in Aberdeen, unless they put the rails 15 feet up in the air next to Wiskah Street (US-12), I don’t how they are going to “seperate the grade” so to speak. Besides did they ever check to see if the train engineers were stopping at the McDonalds, Dairy Queen or Papa Murphy’s that they could almost reach out their window for?
Otherwise when a inbound consist sits at the signal at Chehalis Street waiting for his green for the Wiskah Swing Bridge to close, the only thing being constrained is the local WalMart. That bridge is only 9’6″ above grade.
So if they raise the grade 9 feet to match the swing bridge and lower all the streets that access WalMart 3 feet, like Chehalis Street, then a trainset could saunter all day waiting for the bridge.