Gov. Inslee Includes $15MM in 2023-25 Budget for Connell Rail Interchange Project
Written by Carolina Worrell, Senior Editor
Photo Courtesy of the Connell Interchange Coalition.
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee announced Dec. 16 that nearly $15 million in funding is being included in the recently released 2023-25 Budget for the Connell Rail Interchange Project, following nearly 40 letters sent from various counties, ports, cities, railroads, EDCs, companies and other entities to the governor, the Office of Financial Management, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and various legislators in support of the infrastructure project.
According to the Connell Rail Interchange Coalition, the $15 million in funding includes $10 million already appropriated by Legislature in 2015, plus an additional $5 million in the 2023-25 biennium for a total of $14.5 million in funding that would be available, reflecting the approximately $500,000 in funds that have already been expanded for design and engineering since 2015. The $14.5 in funding (if approved by Legislature) would fully complete the project.
The Connell Rail Interchange, built nearly 100 years ago, is a key rail interchange in eastern Washington where the Columbia Basin rail line intersects with BNSF Railway’s Lakeside Subdivision line, which runs between Spokane and Pasco, Wash. The Columbia Basin rail line goes through the heart of the Columbia Basin in eastern Washington and serves Moses Lake, Wheeler, Schrag, Warden, Othello, Royal City, Bruce, and Connell in Grant, Adams and Franklin Counties.
Over the past several years, the Connell Rail Interchange Coalition says, “a significant amount of economic development and growth has been occurring in communities on the Columbia Basin rail line, especially in Grant and Adams Counties.” Consequently, the Columbia Basin rail line has become “one of the busiest rail short lines in Washington State, hauling thousands of loads of various agricultural, industrial commodities and other cargo annually for 60 active rail shippers in the Columbia Basin, which employ nearly 7,000 people in Grant and Adams Counties,” the Coalition added.
Now “outdated and inefficient,” the interchange “needs to be upgraded and improved to accommodate current and future growth in rail cargo that is flowing to and through Connell,” said the Connell Rail Interchange, adding that, as a result, it “urges Washington State Legislature to support Gov. Inslee’s budget request for nearly $15 million for the Connell Rail Interchange Project in the 2023-25 biennium.”
As the track and infrastructure design for the Connell Rail Interchange Project is 100% completed, the Coalition says this “important infrastructure project is ready for construction.”
