Since I moved here in 1993 Vancouver has been in constant change both on the community front and the railroad front. One of the most important projects the city has wanted to get involved with is reconnecting downtown with the water front. With most of the industry that previously occupied the prime waterfront real estate moved elsewhere or closed the water front is ready for development…that is if you can get to it.
6th Street is now closed at Grant St. Soon though something better will be in place.
A few years ago the Waterfront Access project was born. Its purpose is to bust holes in the railroad berm that separates downtown from the Columbia River and let the flow of people move easily between the former Boise Cascade site and the Esther Short Park area. This will be accomplished with two under passes through the berm at Grant and Esther streets. If you are interesting in what this will look like in a few years I recommend looking through the conceptual plans. This certainly looks like it will handle the reconnection!
The railroad impacts seem to be…
1. The Fallbridge sub will be on a shoofly from 8th Street to Columbia Street for around a year while the underpasses are constructed. This shoofly will use the grade built for the West Side Freight Access Project. Near the end of the first phase the track will be back in its current location on top of the new bridges.
2. In the second phase of the project when the road work is completed several changes will be made including the closure of the grade crossing sat 8th and Jefferson Streets. This will leave 11th St. and the Grant St. underpass as the best bet for getting to the Amtrak station.
3. I’m just guessing here but I’ll bet that the 8th St. plant is reconfigured for the east side bypass in conjunction with this work. Why not, the place will be torn up anyway.
In total this project covers about 3 city blocks but should provide a big impact for the city. I think the next few years should be interesting as the project unfolds and work progresses.
