Last time I drove to Tillamook, the hiways were wall to wall cars and trucks with the railroad running. Each truck loaded to 80,000 GVW is equal to more than 9250 full sized passenger cars (full sized, Lincoln Town Car, F-150, Suburban) worth of wear on the road surface, pavement gets damaged faster than cement. Taxpayers build roads too, and these days they cost big bucks too!! (Most trucks, either legally or otherwise are loaded to heavier limits---and thus wear more.) I always have mixed feelings about government involvment in railroading, but on the otherhand, 3,000-5,000 cars per year is nothing to sneeze at either. At the same time, if the same flood damage is happening over and over again, some re-engineering is in order to prevent it from happening again, it's stupid to keep building it the way it was the last 10 times it washed out, add culverts, build cement drainage channels, keep culverts clean, drive pilings into the roadbed & etc... But don't just keep putting it back the way it was before, that IS a waste of time and money. How's that for being on both sides of an issue.