(The News Tribune published the following story by Beth Silver on its website on August 28.)
TACOMA, Wash. — The federal government on Wednesday handed over the final money needed to soften a sharp curve in a set of tracks in Tacoma’s Tideflats where freight trains are forced to negotiate the tightest turn between here and Chicago.
Trains have had to skirt the bend at East D and Dock streets near Freighthouse Square at just 10 miles per hour. The slowdown has caused traffic delays, held back freight and prevented more Sounder and Amtrak trains from transporting commuters.
By stretching out the curve, engineers say trains will be able to triple their speed. And building a concrete overpass so traffic can drive over the trains will unclog the nearby intersection, said Craig Sivley, Tacoma’s city engineer.
All of Tacoma’s containers and 40 percent of the Port of Seattle’s containers must make their way through the curve. By widening the tracks’ path and speeding their trip, Sivley said, the Port of Tacoma will be in a better position to compete with other ports that serve as a gateway for goods moving between Asian countries and Chicago.
Construction on the $28.2 million project is scheduled to begin next March and be completed in 2005. Local, state and federal governments and Burlington Northern Santa Fe have contributed $26 million. The U.S. Commerce Department added the last $4 million city planners said they needed to start the project.
Planners estimate it will cost $18 million to build the overpass and $10 million to realign the tracks, said Allison Smith, an intermodal transportation specialist with the Port of Tacoma.
About 80 trains navigate the curve every day. By softening the curve’s edge and adding a mile of extra track around the Thea Foss Waterway, more trains will run on the track and at a faster speed, said Dennis Dean, superintendent of Tacoma Rail.
The city of Tacoma has been trying to cobble the money together for the past five years when the tight turn was identified as one of the region’s slow spots, Sivley said.
The freight trains’ slow speeds impede Sound Transit and Amtrak trains because all three cross paths at the same intersection – Bullfrog Junction on the east side of the Puyallup River.
When a milelong freight train passes through at a mere 10 miles per hour, the entire day’s sequence of crossings is slowed, Sivley said. Passenger and freight trains have to wait for one another to cross the junction, and federal law requires passenger trains to tack on additional time when a freight train passes.
The delay means Sound Transit trains can make three trips through the intersection to the main line just three times a day, Smith said. Once the curve is widened, Sound Transit will be able to add six more trips a day, she said.
Local, state and federal politicians turned out at the site of the sharp bend Wednesday morning to celebrate the federal Economic Development Administration’s announcement of the grant. Once completed, they said the new tracks and overpass could drive 400 new jobs to the area.
“Let’s take the check and start building,” said Sen. Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup).
Plans for the tracks and the overpass, which will tower 35 feet above the street, were just finished. Once the city acquires the adjacent land, it will begin searching for a construction company.
Two Burlington Northern warehouses will be torn down to lay the new track. But freight trains will continue chugging through the Tideflats even while the tracks are under construction, Sivley said. Plans call for the general contractor to construct temporary supports to keep the trains running, he said.