Funds sought to buy UP tracks
Coeur d’Alene and the North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation are looking for money to buy about 5.2 miles of railroad track for a public trail that would link the Centennial Trail and the town’s northwest neighborhoods and schools.
City Attorney Mike Gridley told the Idaho Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday that the Union Pacific Railroad should abandon the spur, which runs north from Stimson’s DeArmond mill downtown along Northwest Boulevard through Ramsey Park before veering across the Rathdrum Prairie. The railroad must abandon the line before anybody can buy the right of way.
“The trail systems that have been done up here are very popular and are becoming an attraction in the area and a boost to the economy,” Gridley told Commissioner Paul Kjellander, who was in Coeur d’Alene for the public hearing.
The PUC will determine if the track abandonment would adversely affect the state or current rail service. However, the federal Surface Transportation Board will make the final decision on the abandonment.
The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. has agreed to haul UP’s railcars between Spokane and downtown Coeur d’Alene. That clears the way for UP to abandon the line.
Union Pacific once used the short spur track, which was built in 1910 by the Spokane International Railroad Co. to haul lumber from the Stimson mill to the main line that crosses the prairie between Spokane and Sandpoint. It also serves a gas company. The track is no longer used, except by the gas company.
Nobody spoke against the abandonment proposal, but Peter Cooper of Hayden said he wants to buy the track and turn it into a public transportation system that would eventually run street cars from downtown Coeur d’Alene north to the Coeur d’Alene Airport.
Cooper said he wants this spur to provide freight service to the Industrial Park off Atlas Road. He is willing to allow the city and the North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation to use a portion of the right of way for a bike-pedestrian trail.
Cooper told the PUC that he could get federal grants to start the public transportation system, which – after it was built – would pay for itself with the money generated from hauling freight.
“By working with me the city would be miles ahead in funding this project,” Cooper told the commission.
After the hearing, Cooper said he was having trouble getting city officials to take him seriously.
“I want to get the attention of the business community,” Cooper said, adding he wants to attract investors.
Gridley said the city’s idea is to convert the railroad spur into a pathway that would connect into the Centennial Trail.
The Centennial Trail also is getting a new waterfront route between Seltice Way and North Idaho College. The city recently finalized plans to reroute the trail through the Riverstone development where it will cross the BNSF tracks and run parallel to the Spokane River.
The Idaho Department of Transportation is reviewing the plan and Gridley said he hopes the city can start taking bids for construction in August.
“There’s a good chance we could be building trail by fall,” Gridley said.
Coeur d’Alene will use a $500,000 federal grant to rebuild the section of trail, which is part of the 63-mile path that stretches from Nine Mile Falls to Coeur d’Alene’s Higgens Point. The grant has been on hold for a couple of years while Coeur d’Alene figured out the best way for the Centennial Trail to cross the railroad tracks along the route.
City officials are hoping that someday all the railroad tracks that run downtown to the mill can be removed. The city’s ultimate plan is to relocate the mill so it can create an educational corridor. But the city has yet to find the money or a new spot to relocate the mill.
The educational corridor would allow the University of Idaho, Lewis-Clark State College, Idaho State University and NIC all to offer classes in one location.