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Project Title & Location
Pt. Defiance Bypass-Phase 1, Pierce Co., WA
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Project Description
Constructs and upgrades part of the mainline tracks along a 20-mile corridor for passenger service. Results in 6-minute reduction in Seattle-Portland schedule.
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Contractor/Consultant
Sound Transit, Seattle, and Tacoma Rail, Tacoma
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Recent Progress
WSDOT and Sound Transit will collaboratively construct improvements that will allow Amtrak Cascades trains to use the bypass route without being delayed by freight or Sounder commuter trains. WSDOT and Sound Transit are also coordinating on efforts to identify additional funds for the D St. to M St. segment of the Lakewood Extension project. Without this segment, neither commuter trains nor Amtrak Cascades trains can reach Lakewood.
As previously reported, due to the shortfalls in both the D St. to M St. segment and the Pt. Defiance Bypass segment, WSDOT is limiting the WSDOT-funded construction to about $9.2 million in areas where the WSDOT improvements and the Sound Transit improvements conflict so that reconstruction in the future by WSDOT is minimized. This work was advertised and bids were opened March 12th by Sound Transit. The work, including the WSDOT funded portion, came in about 10 percent under the engineers estimate. WSDOT will have to wait for the contractor and Sound Transit to work out a schedule and spending plan before adjustments to the Pt. Defiance project budget came be made.
The remainder of the WSDOT-driven improvements will be built in a later stage once the Sound Transit funding shortfall for D St. to M St. is filled. The completion is being delayed until 2015 to await funding for the Sound Transit project between D St. and M St. in Tacoma and to help alleviate the Transportation Budget issues, increasing the total cost to $99.9 million.
If additional "High Speed Passenger Rail Corridors" funds from the recently passed federal stimulus package are made available to this project and the project is accelerated from completion in 2012, the total costs would be reduced to nearly $74.6 million.
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Design Construction Impacts
The impacts to rail transportation during construction will be minor, as three day work windows are planned for, allowing freight operations four days per week as is typical today. As grade crossings are upgraded, some road restrictions and closures will be required. In advance of these closures, the contractor and construction office will coordinate with WSDOT's Olympic Region, the cities of Tacoma, Lakewood, and DuPont, as well as Fort Lewis and Camp Murray, to ensure restrictions and closures are well planned and minimize impacts to traffic.
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Environmental Impacts / Compliance
A NEPA Categorical Exclusion has been completed. Some minor noise impacts to surrounding residences are expected, due to increased numbers and the speeds of trains, as well as from train horns at the grade crossings.
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Impacts to Traffic
With the removal of passenger trains from the congested main line around Point Defiance, freight rail traffic on that route will see fewer congestion delays. More trains passing over the grade crossings in south Tacoma, Lakewood, and DuPont, will cause minor delays to motorists which will be mitigated by improved traffic signal coordination.
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