Date:  Thursday, October 28, 2010

Contact: Chris Tams, WSDOT Project Engineer, 360-759-1310 (Vancouver)
Abbi Russell, WSDOT Communications, 360-905-2058 (Vancouver)
Melanie Coon, WSDOT Cascades High Speed Rail Program, 360-705-7905 (Olympia)

Bridge helps advance rail projects and connect neighborhoods in west Vancouver

VANCOUVER – The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and the City of Vancouver next week will celebrate completion of the first of four projects to help make passenger rail a more viable alternative for travelers up and down the I-5 corridor.

The $11 million Vancouver Rail – Rail Bypass and W. 39th Street Bridge project built a two-lane vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian bridge that takes W. 39th Street up over seven sets of railroad tracks in the Vancouver rail yard.

The bridge was a crucial piece of WSDOT’s plans to improve rail mobility through Vancouver; it had to be built in order for BNSF Railway to construct two additional bypass tracks that will allow passenger trains to avoid rail yard congestion.

Bypass tracks are the second project in the four-project series. In the coming years, WSDOT plans construction of a new main track and southern connections to Pasco and Portland, Ore.

“The 39th Street Bridge in Vancouver is one piece of a larger strategy of investing in rail-mobility improvements in the Amtrak Cascades corridor," said Washington Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond.

Washington this year received $590 million in Recovery Act high-speed rail funds. The money will be used to improve rail corridor infrastructure, add additional Amtrak Cascades service and reduce rail-line congestion.

The Port of Vancouver also received federal grant money this year to improve the movement of freight trains and vehicular traffic in and around the port.

WSDOT, the City of Vancouver, other partners and local community members will cut the ribbon on the new W. 39th Street Bridge at 11 a.m. Nov. 3; the bridge officially opens to all traffic at 2 p.m.

For more information on how WSDOT is improving rail corridor infrastructure, adding additional Amtrak Cascades service and reducing rail-line congestion, please visit http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/freight/passengerrail/.

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WSDOT's mission is to keep people, businesses and the economy moving by operating and improving the state's transportation systems. To learn more about what we're doing, go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/news for pictures, videos, news and blogs. Real time traffic information is available at www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic or by dialing 5-1-1.

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