Railing For Safety ‘Bridging The Valley’ Study Will Focus On Noise, Congestion And Safety Concerns At 33 Rail Crossings

Railroads had established their places in the Spokane Valley long before subdivisions or shopping centers moved in.

But the new neighbors have brought with them concerns over the noise, congestion and safety at 33 rail crossings in the Valley.

In recent years, Valley school districts, fire departments and businesses have pushed for ways to decrease conflicts between railroads and Valley residents and businesses by building new rail overpasses or underpasses, closing some crossings and perhaps combining the two major rail lines that run through the Valley.

That push has led to a newly commissioned “Bridging the Valley” study, which will focus on the Burlingtom Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific rail corridors between Spokane and Athol, Idaho.

An average of 60 trains pass through the Valley each day, the majority of them on the BNSF line.

The inconvenience and danger of rail crossings are the forces that have driven the Valley’s school and fire districts to support bridging the Valley.

West Valley School District has re-routed virtually all of its 45 school buses to cross the BNSF line at Fancher and Argonne, where the roads bypass the tracks.

While it might be more convenient to run buses along Park Road, it’s not as safe, said West Valley school district transportation director Joe Dawson.

The East Valley School District is also concerned about safety. Trent Elementary sits next to a busy BNSF crossing at Pines Road.

“Foot traffic isn’t as much of a concern as people think and bus traffic is more of a conern,” said East Valley superintendent Les Portner.

Millwood Fire Department emergency vehicles were stuck waiting for trains approximately six times last year.

Any delays can be serious considering the few minutes it takes for a heart attack to be fatal or the rate at which homes burn, said Valley Fire District chief Pat Humphries.

Valley Fire has avoided getting stuck at the crossings by using routes that bypass rail crossings, such as Argonne or Sullivan roads, Humphries said. But those routes have become “jam packed” with traffic because other motorists also are using them to avoid rail crossings.

“We have very few bridges. We really need to see if we could get those routes more direct for us,” he said.

The railroads would also like to see the Valley’s crossings bridged or eliminated. The fewer crossings there are, the better the safety for both rail crews and drivers, said Kelley Duryea, a BNSF division supervisor at Yardley.

Union Pacific has been advocating shutting down four crossings in Otis Orchards for the past several years.

Spokane County Commisisoner Kate McCaslin sits on the Spokane Regional Transportation Council board, which is overseeing the study. She said she would strongly oppose eliminating crossings in Otis Orchards.

Closing railroad crossings shifts traffic elsewhere and doesn’t address congestion and safety, she said.

“It would be awful for folks out there. It’s an inconvenience and it’s dangerous,” McCaslin said.

The most constant complaint Duryea said he hears from Valley residents is about the noise of the train horns.

Engineers must blow a train’s whistle as they approach every crossing in the Valley, except University Road, which was exempted by special state regulation.

Many longtime residents of Millwood and Otis Orchards have gotten used to the whistles and noise.

Millwood resident and railroad enthusiast David Emerson lives near the UP tracks. He said the trains create a rhythm that he would miss if UP moved to the BNSF corridor.

“I’d hate to see it go. It’s part of the neighborhood,” he said.

Ivan Ellis, on the other hand, said noise from the trains is something that even ear plugs can’t remedy.

The 29-year-old Millwood resident lives 100 feet off the UP tracks near Argonne Road.

The train whistles are so loud that “it sounds like all my windows are open and the train is in my house,” Ellis said.

“It wasn’t something I thought of when I moved in. Like most people, I assumed the tracks weren’t used very often. I quickly learned I was wrong,” he said.

Occasionally when a train really rumbles by, it sets off his car alarm.

“I’d be really happy if they decide to move it,” he said of the tracks.

The study will take into consideration not only commuters, schools and fire departments but also the needs of Valley businesses. It was the business community that brought the idea for the study to the regional transportation council, through the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber was looking for ways to improve freight mobility for trucks, which are slowed waiting for trains, said former Chamber president Frank Tombari.

Along with considering the impact of the railroads on motor freight carriers, the study will also look at the needs of companies that ship or receive goods by rail.

Building new rail overpasses or underpasses or combining corridors isn’t a cheap or immediate fix.

Spokane County has estimated that bridging the five busiest crossings along the BNSF line would cost $52 million. The crossings with the most traffic are Pines, Park, Barker, Harvard and University roads.

Whatever recommendations come out of the study, due to be completed in December, it will be years before funding comes through for any major improvements. The SRTC has said that funding will have to come from both the Idaho and Washington legislatures as well as the federal government and the railroads.

“This is a very long-term project. We’ll be lucky to have it done in 15 or 20 years,” McCaslin said.

Graphic: Railroad crossings in the Valley