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Collection: The Wrong Side of the Tracks

How Coal and Oil Trains Will Block Traffic: Skagit and Whatcom Counties

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To inform debate over coal exports and oil shipments, Sightline is analyzing public at-grade rail crossings from Sandpoint, Idaho to Cherry Point, Washington.

If fossil fuel companies succeed in shipping the volumes of fuel they have planned, they will—by sheer physical necessity—disrupt vehicle and rail traffic all along the rail route. In our final chapter of the series, we examine the effects in Skagit and Whatcom Counties.

skagit and whatcom_overview

Coal and oil trains—loaded in the interior of North America and bound for the coast—would close off streets for hours each day.

TrainDelays--Mount_Vernon_to_Burlington--120513--150ppiTrainDelays--Burlington_to_Ferndale--120513--150ppi

The list of cities and crossings we analyze here is not comprehensive. Rather, we depict several representative locations in northwest Washington. South of the junction in Burlington that leads to the Anacortes refineries, we estimate that coal and oil trains would close streets by an average of between 49 minutes and 1 hour and 50 minutes, each day. North of the junction, streets would close 43 minutes to 1 hour and 37 minutes daily. At the slower speeds that are typical of urban areas, fossil fuel trains could shut down streets for roughly 3 hours a day, on average.

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How Coal and Oil Trains Will Block Traffic: Snohomish County

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Oil and coal companies hope to dispatch scores of trains across the Northwest each day, bearing fuel to refineries and port terminals. To help the public understand the magnitude of these schemes, Sightline is highlighting key rail crossings from Sandpoint, Idaho, to Cherry Point, Washington, along the main path the trains would take from the interior to the coast.

In this installment we examine communities in Snohomish County, Washington.

snohomish_overview

So massive are the fossil fuel industry’s plans that simple math shows that the shipments would close streets for hours each day as trains pass through at-grade crossings.

TrainDelays--Snohomish_County--120513--150ppiIn Snohomish County, we estimate that coal and oil trains would close streets by an average of between 49 minutes and 1 hour and 50 minutes, each day. At the slower speeds that are typical of urban areas, fossil fuel trains could shut down streets for more than 3 hours every day. That’s over and above current street closures from trains.

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How Coal and Oil Trains Will Block Traffic: King County

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To inform debate over coal exports and oil shipments, Sightline is analyzing public at-grade rail crossings from Sandpoint, Idaho to Cherry Point, Washington.

If fossil fuel companies succeed in shipping the volumes of fuel they have planned, they will—by sheer physical necessity—disrupt vehicle and rail traffic all along the rail route. In this chapter of the series, we examine the effects in King County.

Coal and oil trains—loaded in the interior of North America and bound for the coast—would close off streets for hours each day.

The list of cities and crossings we analyze here is not comprehensive. Rather, we depict several representative locations in King County. In each of these places, we estimate that coal and oil trains would close streets by an average of between 49 minutes and 1 hour and 50 minutes, each day. At the slower speeds that are typical of urban areas, fossil fuel trains could shut down streets for more than 3 hours every day.

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How Coal and Oil Trains Will Block Traffic: Olympia and Tacoma Region

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In recent years, the Northwest has seen a raft of proposals to use trains to transport coal to export terminals and crude oil to refineries and ports. To better illustrate the effects of the plans, Sightline is analyzing rail crossings from Sandpoint, Idaho to Cherry Point, Washington in a special series, The Wrong Side of the Tracks.

oly and tac_overview

Large-scale rail shipping of coal and oil presents a basic physical challenge to the region’s infrastructure. The volume of cargo and the speed of the trains together dictate that coal and oil movements could shut down each street crossing for hours a day as the trains pass over public streets and roads.

TrainDelays-Centralia_to_Tacoma-150ppi-101413

In Thurston and Pierce Counties, the region around Olympia and Tacoma, we estimate that coal and oil trains would shut down streets and roads every day from 50 minutes to 1 hour and 54 minutes, on average, if all the plans were built and operated at full capacity. That’s over and above current street closures from trains.

Please note that our analysis is not a complete account of street closures, but rather a set of examples of public at-grade crossings that would be impacted by coal and oil trains.

In our last installment, we examined street-rail interfaces in southwest Washington from Vancouver to Centralia. In this chapter we look at the next leg of the journey as trains roll into Thurston County and reach the town of Bucoda.

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How Coal and Oil Trains Will Block Traffic: Southwest Washington

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The Northwest has lately been inundated with plans to ship huge volumes of coal and oil on trains to ports and refineries. To demonstrate the impact that these rail shipments would have on the region, Sightline is analyzing places where rail lines intersect public streets in communities along the main railway route from interior to the coast.

In this chapter of our series, we examine localities in southwest Washington from Vancouver to Centralia.

overview_sw WA

The fossil fuel industry’s plans are so massive that simple math shows that the shipments would close streets and roads for hours each day as trains pass through at-grade crossings.

TrainDelays-Vancouver_to_Longview-150ppi-101413

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How Coal and Oil Trains Will Block Traffic Along the Columbia River

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Oil and coal companies hope to dispatch scores of trains across the Northwest each day, bearing fuel to refineries and port terminals. To help the public understand the magnitude of these schemes, Sightline is highlighting key rail crossings from Sandpoint, Idaho to Cherry Point, Washington along the main path the trains would take from the interior to the coast.

In this installment we examine communities along the Columbia River from Benton County to Vancouver, Washington.

Columbia_overview map image

So massive are the fossil fuel industry’s plans that simple math shows that the shipments would close streets and roads for hours each day as trains pass through at-grade crossings.

Sightline_coal and oil street closures

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How Coal and Oil Trains Will Block Traffic in Eastern Washington

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Coal and oil companies hope to use rail cars to ship massive quantities of their product through the Pacific Northwest. To gauge the impact of these plans, Sightline is analyzing public at-grade rail crossings from Sandpoint, Idaho to Cherry Point, Washington.

We’ve already looked at northern Idaho and Spokane County. In this installment, we examine eastern Washington.

overview_eastern wa

Traveling from fossil fuel deposits in the interior of North America to port terminals and refineries on the coast, coal and oil trains will close streets and disrupt vehicle traffic for hours each day.

Sightline_coal and oil street closures

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How Coal and Oil Trains Will Block Traffic in Spokane County

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As debate heats up over coal exports and oil shipments, Sightline is analyzing public at-grade rail crossings from Sandpoint, Idaho to Cherry Point, Washington.

If fossil fuel companies succeed in shipping the volumes of fuel they have planned, they will—by sheer physical necessity—disrupt vehicle and rail traffic all along the rail route. In the first installment in this series we examined street closures in northern Idaho. In this chapter, we visit Spokane County, Washington.

spokane overview

Coal and oil trains—loaded in the interior of North American and bound for the coast—will close off rural roads and city streets alike for hours each day.

Sightline_coal and oil street closures

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How Coal and Oil Trains Will Block Traffic in Idaho

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The Northwest stands at a crossroads. If coal and oil companies are permitted to ship the staggering volumes of fuel they have planned for the region, they will—by sheer physical necessity—disrupt vehicle and rail traffic all along the rail route.

To make clear the magnitude of the impacts, Sightline has analyzed public at-grade rail crossings from Sandpoint, Idaho to Cherry Point, Washington. Note that all images throughout this series can be clicked for enlargement. In this first installment in the series, we examine crossings in the portion of Idaho designated by the red box below:ScreenHunter_91 Jul. 29 13.50

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The Methodology Behind “The Wrong Side of the Tracks” Series

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To calculate street closure times, we estimate that trains are an average of 7,000 feet long, and that an average train carries 13,750 tons of coal with 110 tons of coal in each of 125 rail cars. In the case of coal trains bound for Cherry Point only, we estimate a smaller number of long … Read more

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