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What do you want on the BNSF Corridor?

Public Meetings Underway

Updated June 24, 2008

The Port of Seattle is holding a series of public meetings to judge the public's mood regarding the newly-acquired BNSF corridor. While all parties to the purchase agreement say they want rail-with-trail, there is still uncertainty about the final configuration.

Cascade Bicycle Club supports dual use. But if the upcoming rail feasibility study finds that rail transit it not currently supportable along the corridor, we believe that King County should be allowed to build an interim trail on the railbed, which puts the corridor into immediate public use while protecting it for future rail transit. That way, we could provide thousands of Eastside residents a clean, reliable, and inexpensive transportation option in just a few years.

Please join us at one of the Port's meetings. Tell them: we want dual use, but if rail's not feasible, build a trail right away!

Attend a meeting

Can't come to one of the meetings? Send an email instead.

Background

On Monday May 12 the Port of Seattle held a signing ceremony at the Wilburton Trestle in Bellevue to seal the $107 million deal between the Port and BNSF to purchase the Eastside BNSF corridor. Their signatures closed the first and most important chapter for the 42 mile corridor between Renton and Snohomish -- that being getting it into public hands.

Thank you to the more than 1,370 people who took action by contacting the Port and the County about the corridor. In the coming weeks, we'll call on you to help us launch the next phase of our campaign to ensure nonmotorized transportation within the abandoned right of way.

The Cascade Bicycle Club is currently analyzing the terms of the agreement between King County and the Port of Seattle, While we applaud the Port of Seattle for bringing the BNSF corridor into public ownership, it is critical that we take full advantage of this opportunity by making nonmotorized transportation a top priority. Based on our legal analysis of the easement signed by King County and the Port, we are not yet convinced that the future of nonmotorized transportation is secure along this corridor.

Here are a few of the upcoming corridor development milestones:

Fall 2008: Approval from the federal Surface Transportation Board to railbank the corridor

Fall/Winter 2008: A public process, administered by King County and the Port, to determine the best use for the corridor

Feburary 2009: Results of State Legislature's rail feasibility study released

Resources

Port of Seattle letter to CBC Executive Director Chuck Ayers (April 25 2008)
Open letter to the Port of Seattle Commissioners from CBC Executive Director Chuck Ayers (Dec 10 2007)
PSRC's BNSF Corridor Advisory Committee's "Findings and Recommendation for Transportation Uses in the BNSF Eastside Corridor.” Approved January, 2007
PSRC's HDR "BNSF Corridor Preservation Study" Published May, 2007
Map of the corridor
Includes six benchmark mileposts indicators for orientation.
- Milepost 5, the southern-most end at the north end of Gene Coulon Park.
- Milepost 11, roughly the site of the Wilburton Tunnel at I-405.
- Milepost 17, Kirkland
- Winery District = where the line passes by the concert lawn at the St. Michelle Winery
- Milepost 25, in Woodinville, roughly where the northern end of an interim trail would start/end.
- Milepost 39, the northern most end of this line acquisition in Snohomish County (located at Harvey Airfield in the City of Snohomish)
Pictorial Storyboards
From King Co’s November 2 press conference.
The Connections for Our Future PowerPoint Presentation
This details the evolution of the Connections for Our Future proposal from February of 2007 through late August.
Puget Sound Regional Council's BNSF Corridor Preservation Study page
What is Railbanking?