» Rails or Trails On Seattle's Eastside?

Rails or Trails On Seattle's Eastside?

Concerned about what could be happening on the BNSF rail line that runs along Lake Washington through the eastside cities of Renton, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, and Woodinville? You should be.

I’ve written a lot of pieces about the trails and rails on my Kirkland blogand watched it evolve over the last few years. We’ve gone from a trail to who knows what at this point in time. The latest I’ve heard is the rail line will not work for light rail. The talk is more about DMUs, Diesel Motor Units. If you check out Brian and Emily’s blog, you can see and hear some examples of DMUs in action.

A group of concerned citizens is forming called Eastside Trail Advocates. The group is dedicated to creating a trail on the BNSF rail line. The group is not against better transportation, but wants to ensure transportation improvements make sense. There don’t seem to be any ridership studies completed for a commuter train, but there’s a lot of talk about developing a commuter line. A critical piece is missing here. Is the cart before the horse?

Here are some key points:

King County Executive Ron Sims supports dual use of the BNSF right of way. Keep the right of way for a future commuter rail line if needed with interim use as a trail with the rail lines pulled out.
A Puget Sound Regional Council study is also for rail banking. Rail banking is the public acquiring of rail lines for trails with the possible future use as a rail line.
The Port of Seattle is scheduled to purchase the rail line from mile 5 down in Renton to mile 39 up in Woodinville in April of this year, with a fall closing. Boeing and BNSF cut a deal to keep Mile 0-mile 5 open for Boeing to transport fuselages.
An Eastside Transportation Partnership has formed with members of Sound Transit, WSDOT, and the Puget Sound Regional Council.

The trail advocates are concerned about:

The best use of tax dollars
The real cost to build this rail line, its stations, and parking.
Safety and street traffic, as many intersections and paths to schools cross over the rail line.
Destruction of neighborhoods.
Noise and pollution if diesel trains are used.
The lack of population density along the rail line when compared to the I-405 corridor.
The loss of a trail, a potential fabulous amenity for all Eastsiders.

No matter what your opinion, get educated about the rails/trails issues. If you are in support of the trail log onto Eastside Trail Advocates and lend your support.

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Darrell R Bryant

It is so amazing with gas prices at almost $5.00 a gallon that there are still people out there who think that there would be no ridership on an eastside rail line. Why do we always have to pull up the rails, repave for a trail, and then pay to re-lay the trackage at a later date if ever. Why can’t we use some of the existing park and ride locations with a bus taking people to the track loading area. I think we are talking about again pacifing the trail people at a cost of millions of dollars to the poor taxpayers. What gets me is that the property owners are largely outnumbered by renters, etc. who will pay no share of the costs through taxes yet have a larger voice on what the rest of us poor taxpaying landowners have to pay. We already have a trail from Renton to Black Diamond that very few people use except on the sunniest of days. We are now planning to do the same thing with the eastside corridor. Look at the traffic. Wake up and get the government in gear.
I am tired of paying tax dollars to accomplish nothing. Please reconsider using the rail line as it is and possibly relaying track to at least Maple Valley if not Black Diamond.
Thank you for your time