“The Yelm City Council paid $300,000 in 1999 to buy an abandoned rail spur to Yelm [from Burlington Northern Santa Fe] at the insistence of former Councilor Don Miller, whose father was Yelm Station-Master for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Miller professed Yelm would be a good connecting point between Olympia and Tacoma for commuter rail passenger traffic and a key destination for rail freight goods to/from future tenants in the Yelm Industrial Park.
“A decade and a half later [2016], the railroad spur’s bridge over the Nisqually River and tracks to Yelm are in major disrepair from lack of city upkeep. The City of Yelm could not afford to restore the line now to operational condition because of their budget constraints, even if a short line railroad desired to serve Yelm, and there are now no tenants in the Yelm industrial area, since Lasco Bathware left the area.”
[The abandoned rail corridor is expected to serve as a bike/pedestrian path to connect to the Yelm-Tenino Trail.] Read more
“City of Yelm-Abandonment Exemption-in Thurston and Pierce Counties, Wash.”
“The City of Yelm (the City) has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR part 1152 subpart F—Exempt Abandonments to abandon an approximately 4.57-mile railroad line that runs between milepost 20.99, near Roy, Wash., and milepost 25.56, in Yelm, Wash. (the Line). The Line traverses U.S. Postal Service Zip Codes 98597 and 98580.[1]
“The City has certified that: (1) No freight traffic has moved over the Line for two years; (2) any overhead freight traffic on the Line can be rerouted over other lines; (3) no formal complaint filed by a user of rail service on the Line (or a State or local government entity acting on behalf of such user) regarding cessation of service over the Line either is pending with the Surface Transportation Board or any U.S. District Court or has been decided in favor of a complainant within the two-year period; and (4) the requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7 and 1105.8 (notice of environmental and historic report), 49 CFR 1105.12 (newspaper publication), and 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(1) (notice to government agencies) have been met,” from the Federal Register. Read more
“Planning study for 4.8-mile trail linking two rural cities”
Published on this blog October 18, 2019.
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2 comments
Use that and build another road and bridge instead. Taxes were just increased perfect place to spend it.
Lasco hasn’t left they merged with Aquatic and took the name Aquatic
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