Port of Moses Lake will pay for land for railroad project

MOSES LAKE — Fears that the Port of Moses Lake will simply be taking land as it prepares to build the Northern Columbia Basin Railroad are unwarranted.

“I’ve gotten calls regarding the railroad expansion, and some people are concerned the Port is not buying property, it’s just taking it,” said Commissioner Darrin Jackson.

Port Executive Director Jeffrey Bishop said the Port will follow the law in acquiring land along a roughly 5-mile stretch from Wheeler to the current railroad line to where the existing tracks cross Stratford Road Northeast.

“We will follow the federal highway model,” Bishop told commissioners. “Nobody gets property taken without due process and compensation.”

The $30 million Northern Columbia Railroad is intended to connect the Port of Moses Lake to a short-line railhead in Wheeler, which then connects to a major BNSF line in Connell, bypassing the rail line which goes through the center of Moses Lake.

Bishop said the Port aims to purchase a strip of land about 5 miles long and 100 feet wide between Wheeler and Moses Lake. While the route will largely parallel Wheeler Road Northeast, because it connects to a main line, it will be determined by the Surface Transportation Board in Washington, D.C., which oversees railroad activities.

However, the Port will have to buy more than the 100-foot-wide strip of land in portions where there’s no usable remnant of a parcel left.

“Then we buy the whole thing,” Bishop said.

Work is slated to get started on the project, which is being funded by a combination of state and federal grants, in 2019.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.