"Imagination" Needed for Seattle's Eastside Corridor

Mike Wussow

Seattle Times editorial columnist Lance Dickie just penned a strong piece about the Eastside Rails and Trails issue -- the 42-mile corridor that connects Seattle's Eastside communities. It's the same corridor that Cascadia Center has been encouraging be used for both rails and trails.

Bruce Agnew, policy director of the Discovery Institute's Cascadia Center, has a ready answer: Rails and trails must be done simultaneously. It is the only way Agnew sees it happening.

He views the Cascadia Center as the neutral broker among a variety of public entities and potential users of the corridors. The center is a longtime proponent of rail from Eugene to Vancouver, B.C., and has actively led discussions and hosted field trips on the possibilities for the Eastside corridor.

Agnew, consultant Thomas M. Jones of TMJ Group, LLC, and Loren Herrigstad, president of All Aboard Washington, have crunched the numbers to find competitive estimates for refurbishing tracks, building and paving a bike trail and developing commuter service.

I'll let the article do the talking. Here it is.