Let's see, 12,000 trucks added to the road (at current business levels) per year. I assume this is 12,000 loads, which means an equal number of empty returns (or back hauls if there are any). That's 24,000 trucks a year passing a given point on the highway that serves the area (Wilson River Highway I presume).

Using a M-F model, that's about 100 trucks a day coming and going.

Using a 7 day/week model, that's about 65 trucks per day coming and going.

Great for jobs if you are a trucker. Hell for the highway and residents. 24,000 trucks a year added to the highway ain't gonna' be free to taxpayers either. Sadly once these lines are embargoed and ripped out, they are thousands of times more expensive to put back in, if it's even possible at all. Some day the highway will be at capacity, the residents will be at their wits end and the RR solution will be gone forever. Maybe it's not a good deal to taxpayers now but clearly rail is a viable solution to a lot of our transportation issues due to overall population expansion, which doesn't seem to be slowing down much. Situations like this need to be thought of in 10-25 year terms, not JUST the here and now. Just my 2 cents worth after seeing so many rail lines (in California) that could be put to good use now that were ripped up and are gone forever. It would have been cheaper to keep them in operation or at least bank them for 15 years in some cases than it is to re-acquire the routes now and put them back in.