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Ballard Terminal files lawsuit to stop abandonment
After looking at Google maps, I see no big problem with removing the tracks…except that Sound Transit could use the line to create a loop from Seattle to Everette to Kirkland to King County International, and back to Seattle
If tracks can later laid beside the trail, then why not run the trail beside the already existing track and not tear them up? The answer seems pretty obvious, you don’t want people walking next to tracks for long distances.
We had a similar situation in Peoria where a potentially viable railroad was torn out to make way for a trail. Don’t let it happen!
If the track is not torn out, the trail advocates can find a way to build a trail next to the track. There are other places where trails and tracks safely coexist with only a fence between them. However, if the track is removed, the safety argument, as well as the cost, will be used as arguments against restoring the railroad if there is a reason to do so.
So … if you’re tearing out the track, you plan on putting it back after the trail is in? Why not simply build the trail alongside the track and leave that expense out of the equation!
So … if you’re tearing out the track, you plan on putting it back after the trail is in? Why not simply build the trail alongside the track and leave that expense out of the equation!
Once that bicycle trail goes in, those tracks have zero chance of getting put back in. Better off with rotting ties and rusting rail and running a hi-railer over it once a year. At least that way in the future if an industry decides to set up shop, it becomes that much more difficult for the NIMBY gangs and socialist government to stop the railroad. Especially if the railroad plays it smart and gives the appearance that the track is still used on occasion. 100% of NIMBY gangs can’t tell a locomotive from a hi-rail truck. All that truck would have to do is whack off a few weeds once a year.
Meanwhile, socialist government wants to spend taxpayer money on something which has zero economic growth potential. Don’t think that the NIMBY gangs are willing to let a freight train share the right of way with “their” trail. They will immediately cite all kinds of safety issues for why freight should not exist. Never mind, freight trains actually contribute to the economy.
I don’t know why Ballard Terminal would file a lawsuit, but I also don’t know the Kirkland City limits. There is on track industry in the Totem Lake area but I’m not sure that is in Kirkland.
I did my part from way down here in Huntsville, Alabama. I e-mailed Mr. Triplett questioning removing any trackage as our railroads emerge as the smart way to move freight. Especially for another trail.
The city is probably counting on the scrap value of the rail to help fund the trail.
Dave, sounds like the City Of Kirkland is blowing smoke up everyone’s rectum. That’s just a backhanded way to get rid of the tracks in order to give their yuppie residents an exclusive bike trail unfettered by those “awful” trains. The “good” citizens of Kirkland are indeed selfish.
Some talk of light rail on row
“And that’s one of my frustrations with this is that we’ve been very transparent about what Kirkland is trying to achieve and our interim trail proposal would actually leave the rail bed in.”
That is bureaucratical double speak for “first we get the rails out and then we take the thing over. Once the rails are gone they ain’t ever coming back so we can have our cake and eat it too!”
Wise-up people…support Ballard Terminal or your chances at reviatlizing an area for shipping by rail will be gone forever. Get it in writing that the rails stay and the trails can be built next to it, in the right of way, a win-win for everybody…except those of a “single use” mindset…
We have the same situation here in central Maine. A rail trail was built next to the old Maine Central tracks that had been sold to the state. Now they can’t find an operator to provide service due to the liability of a trail next to the tracks. The trail is very popular (I use it almost daily) and will never be torn out for resumption of rail service. Once the trail is built there will be no more rail service.
I live in Seattle. I can’t think of a major metropolitan area with less rail trackage than ours. We need to keep what little we have. Period.
That trail will be lightly used at best and the rails should stay Kirkland is rushing things and needs to taker a chill pill.
That trail will be lightly used at best and the rails should stay Kirkland is rushing things and needs to taker a chill pill.