Re: WRIX train in Coos Bay Oregon
Author: Erik H.
Date: 01-11-2020 - 14:31
Coos Bay Wrote:
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> For the millions and millions of public $$$ the
> port has received, it does not seem to be in very
> good shape, would they have been better to abandon
> like the Port of Tillamook Bay did?
At the time the POTB was washed out, the estimate was somewhere around $50 million to repair, with FEMA covering 80% of that cost. Within a year or two, the estimate jumped up to around $80 million, with no additional federal funding.
Even with the "free federal money" FEMA gave to the Port, the prospect of additional freight traffic on the rails was not looking good. Environmentalists are killing any attempt to cut down a tree even in forests that have been long earmarked for logging for decades, and many sawmills have just shut down or are converted to only handling smaller logs from private forests. No way in the world TCCA will touch rail in/out of Tillamook; besides most of their production has moved east to Boardman now. There are literally three potential shippers on the line left and they are all happy as a clam trucking east to Portland and reloading there.
At least the Coos Bay line has more opportunity for freight, but with the Elliot State Forest coming up for harvest and environmentalists and the Democratic Party of Oregon blocking every effort to cut trees on it and instead want it designated as a State Park or something...how long until Coos Bay becomes the next Newport/Lincoln City/Tillamook/Cannon Beach/Seaside/Astoria - just another U.S. 101 tourist trap? Hey kids, graduate from college with a four year degree to make $15/hour working part time at a T-shirt shop selling crap made in China for four months out of the year, and if you're lucky you'll get another part time job at the bike shop fixing those expensive bikes that the tourists bring but you'll never have the chance to afford!
On the plus side, plenty of government jobs for "Planners". Maybe one day there will be a MAX Light Rail line to Coos Bay.