New rail route sparks hopes for job growth

AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Though dozens of planes fly overhead, an industrial strip south of Airway Heights still depends on the steel lines of the railroad.

Manufacturing companies along McFarlane Road between the Spokane International Airport and Fairchild Air Force Base use the Geiger Spur line to transport as many as 300 rail cars of freight each year.

Local lawmakers and developers hope spending $7 million to redirect the line will provide potential service for as many as 1,150 carloads a year, according to a July 2007 study from the Washington state Department of Transportation.

Steel destined for Metals Fabrication Co. makes up more than two-thirds of the current rail traffic. Co-owner Dan Weaver said the company cannot continue to expand unless the spur is redirected around security at Fairchild and kept open.

“Our company is pretty well totally dependent on (the Geiger Spur line),” he said.

Continuous rail service is essential to Metals Fabrication Co. and a handful of other companies on the spur, Weaver said. Approximately 400 manufacturing jobs rely on using the line.

Spokane County economic development director Steve Harris said redirecting the line will open up many opportunities for the area. New industries will have a transportation infrastructure for opening up along the spur or expanding current companies.

“We’re going to get some jobs here,” Harris said.

Future development along the new line could create more than 5,000 new jobs and an additional $77 million a year in local and state tax revenues from the project, according to the WSDOT study. The potential economic impact could total more than $770 million.

“It’s huge,” Harris said.

Carloads currently run from the end of the spur on McFarlane Road, turn north along Fairchild and then west to the BNSF Railway Co. main line as needed, according to the study. The spur operating company, Western Rail Inc., also transfers loads to the main line once a week.

Spokane County took over the line in 2004 when BNSF deemed the spur unprofitable. The line’s passage through Fairchild was also considered a security risk, and the county agreed to remove it by late 2008.

“We have an agreement to get off (Fairchild),” Harris said. “This is a homeland security issue.”

The new line is planned to run from McFarlane and Craig Road almost four miles south to the Palouse River and Coulee City line near State Route 902.

The old line running through Fairchild will be removed.

Ed O’Hara, with Railroad Industries Inc., said designing and engineering for the line is “all but completed.”

“We have the blueprint to build the railroad in hand right now,” he said.

Harris said 10 of the 12 right-of-way parcels have been bought and the county hopes to acquire the last two soon.

Construction should last 90 to 120 days, O’Hara said. The completion date for the new line was initially set for the end of this month. That date is inching toward next year as the project waits for a release on funding.

“We’re behind the curve on our original schedule,” he said.

Once the next funding allocation is approved, the county can start taking construction bids, O’Hara said. As that process gets closer to winter, it may get more difficult.

Contractors may be busy and cold weather could slow construction, he said.

The state also hopes to put in a transloader facility to help transfer freight from trucks to trains, Harris said. Four potential locations have been identified, but finishing the rail line is the first priority.

In the meantime, manufacturing companies are preparing for the new line, Harris said. Some are expanding buildings, and others are buying additional property along the spur.

“They’re all gearing up for the future,” he said.