The third main would help absorb UP traffic after the closure of most of the UP ex-SI main between Spokane and Athol. From Trentwood to just northeast of Post Falls, the SI is riddled with numerous crossings, many of them with little more than crossbuck protection. This very moment, a southbound is honking behind my house, quite frequently in fact because there are no less than six separate crossings in about a half-mile stretch.

It's been said that a connection would be made from BNSF's Coeur d'Alene branch at Grand Junction onto the SI, so that UP's Trentwood Local could continue using a chunk of the SI main from Grand Junction to Coeur d'Alene Junction, to maintain service to the propane dealer at Feeley spur on UP's CdA branch. Another short stretch of SI would also be left intact from Athol south to the lumber mill at Chilco. At least, that's been the plan.

The reason the third main would end at Athol is because a new connection between BNSF and UP would be built there, laid on much of the old NP grade that loops toward the west, running very close to the UP at one point. This grade was built in the 1890s to replace the original 1880s NP route that swung way to the east in its crossing of the deep ravine at the headwaters of Hoodoo Creek. The 1890s route was then replaced in the 1960s by a more direct route which blazed right through the rough country with a series of large cuts and fills.

As someone stated earlier, especially with reference to how little Stampede Pass has been used after all that investment, the current economic outlook has put most of railroad-oriented portions of the Bridging the Valley project on a back burner. All parties involved -- railroads, cities, counties, states, feds -- have been waiting for each other to cough up a share of the cost, to no avail. There's also been some concern from UP's side about having their operations managed across a BNSF corridor. Just getting permission across the BNSF diamond in Sandpoint or over BNSF trackage between Napa Street and UP Junction/Fish Lake during busy periods can be a real challenge. And after the massive resistance BNSF initially faced over building its Hauser refueling facility, it could possibly take another long, loud series of public hearings before they get the OK to launch a major construction project at the Spokane River or begin widening the cuts and fills through the forest between Rathdrum and Ramsey.

Meanwhile, the crossing eliminations continue to move slowly ahead, most recently with the Havana Street bridge, and now coming up with the Pleasant View bridge just east of Hauser Junction. In the long term, the Pleasant View bridge will not only help ease the growing road traffic flow for north-south truckers and commuters who have learned to avoid the minor gridlock of U.S. 95 through CdA, it will also help pave the way toward possible transfer of Parkwater's intermodal ramp to a new facility that at one time was being discussed for the west end of Hauser Yard. Though I've recently heard that other sites are now being considered for such a facility.