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SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) — Bonner County commissioners are asking federal officials to allow residents to voice their thoughts on a railroad company's plan to build a second bridge across Lake Pend Oreille to handle an expected increase in traffic that includes coal and oil trains.
The northern Idaho commissioners want the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to let people comment on Burlington Northern Santa Fe's bridge plan.
"We want to make sure that the citizens of the county get a chance to get an input at a public hearing on this issue," Commission Chairman Cary Kelly told the Sandpoint-based Bonner County Daily Bee (http://bit.ly/1Oecavv ).
The 109-year-old bridge now at Sandpoint handles about one train every half-hour, a bottleneck for BNSF's busy Hi-Line that connects the Pacific Northwest to the Midwest. Montana Rail Link trains also use the single-track bridge that crosses Lake Pend Oreille where it meets the Pend Oreille River.
Gus Melonas, a BNSF spokesman, said a modern companion bridge made of steel pilings and concrete could be installed by 2018. The current bridge was last graded in 2009.
Some residents worry about noise and potential train wrecks involving volatile crude oil.
Kelly said commissioners made the request out of concern fast-track procedures could speed decisions about building the new bridge.
"Railroad traffic is growing dramatically and the nature of that traffic is changing," commissioners wrote in a letter to Lt. Col. Timothy Vail, commander of the Walla Walla District for the Army Corps. "Instead of mixed freight cars carrying a variety of goods, we are seeing a dramatic increase in lengthy trains that carry volatile substances and block traffic, creating multiple concerns for our community."
Melonas has previously said that if a new bridge is added, trains would run in each direction and reduce the need to have trains slow or stop as they wait for the OK to cross.
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Information from: Bonner County (Idaho) Daily Bee, http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com
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