PCAD - King County, WA, Renton-Snohomish Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Trail Project

Renton, WA

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This trail was to stretch 33 miles between Renton, WA, and Snohomish, WA.

This plan called for the purchase of 33 miles of little-used railroad line from the Burlington Northern Southern Pacific Railway; The Port of Seattle agreed to pay BNSF $103 million for the property and to pay King County $66 million to develop trails on it. The County, in return, was to transfer jurisdiction of the King County International Airport (what used to be known as Boeing Field) to the Port. Additionally, the BNSF, county and port would collectively find a site for a truck/train intermodal transfer site. If this site could be used for handling county refuse, the county will also sell to the port 12 acres on Harbor Island. Finally, the county executives also agreed to favor a request for state budget $25 million in state aid to finance the enlargement of a BNSF rail tunnel at Stampede Pass, WA.

PCAD id: 8346

Publications

Roberts, Gregory, "Port to put up nearly $170 million for rail-to-trail corridor", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, B2, 02/27/2007. Roberts, Gregory, "Friends, critics alike call Sims 'big ideas' man", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, A1, A8, 04/14/2007. Lange, Larry, "Private group bids on rail corridor", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, B3, 07/17/2007.