Port of Quincy's $16.2 million funding request gaining support

QUINCY The Port of Quincys request for $16.2 million in state transportation funding to expand intermodal rail terminal has received widespread support.

Port Commissioner Curt Morris states that the proposal received widespread support with dozens of shippers and organizations sending letters to the Washington state Legislature in support of the request.

The Great Northern Corridor Coalition, an organization formed to promote shared regional cooperation, planning and project implementation to improve rail freight movement across the Great Northern Corridor between Seattle and Chicago, supports the funding.

The Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal is a cross-country rail mainline. It runs near Interstate 90, which is convenient for trucking operations to the intermodal terminal. The terminal is located in one of the largest irrigated agricultural and food processing regions in North America.

In 2011, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) Railway designated Quincy an official intermodal terminal on its national intermodal map.

Morris cited a recent study of 29 western US and Canadian locations with intermodal connections that found Quincy to be the lowest cost location for operating a distribution center or warehouse.

As proposed, a state-funded project would expand the infrastructure at the Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal to meet unit train requirements of BNSF and help eliminate congestion on the Great Northern Corridor Rail Line at Quincy, according to Morris.

The expansion project would include installation of three additional intermodal tracks to increase the capacity of the ports terminal to be able to simultaneously load or unload longer intermodal container trains. It would include a new longer siding track and set-out and pick-up tracks allowing longer trains to pull off of the BNSF mainline in Quincy for arrival and departure in one piece.

The project would involve expanding the surface area of the Quincy intermodal terminal to allow for more storage of containers.

A bridge across the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation West Canal near Quincy would be constructed.

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Port of Quincy's $16.2 million funding request gaining support