Tacoma, Wash. - The Economic Development Administration (EDA) has placed the final piece in the funding puzzle for Tacoma's D Street Overpass, announcing it will provide a $4 million grant for the $28 million project. The economic impact of the overpass - including increased rail and truck freight capacity through the Port of Tacoma - served as the key reasons the EDA selected the Freight Action Strategy for the Seattle-Tacoma Corridor (FAST) project for federal funding.

The D Street Overpass in Tacoma will separate train and motor vehicle traffic by raising the roadway over the railroad tracks. Image courtesy of Port of Tacoma

East D Street is a major corridor for rail and truck freight and for people wanting to access the revitalized Thea Foss Waterway. Once completed, the D Street overpass will separate train and motor vehicle traffic by raising the roadway over the railroad tracks.

The overpass will provide for realignment of the railroad tracks to ease the curve around the end of the Thea Foss Waterway, allowing train traffic to move at a higher speed. Vehicle traffic, which includes trucks, will no longer need to wait for the trains that presently close off D Street to traffic.

The funding sources for the project include:

• Burlington Northern Santa Fe/Union Pacific ($1.25 million)
• Port of Tacoma ($2.85 million)
• City of Tacoma - Transportation Improvement Board ($5.18 million
• City of Tacoma - Surface Transportation Program ($3.1 million)
• Federal transportation funding ($6 million)
  
• Economic Development Administration ($4 million)
• Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board ($6 million)
  

BBL Monitoring Cleanup Of Superfund Site

Seattle - Environmental consulting firm Blasland, Bouck & Lee Inc. has been selected by contractor ACC-Hurlen to fill a significant monitoring role during cleanup of the Marine Sediment Operable Unit at the Pacific Sound Resources Superfund site on the south shore of Elliott Bay.

The site, now owned by the Port of Seattle, has long been a source of hazardous substances associated with former wood-treating operations and was placed on the USEPA's National Priorities List in 1994. The primary contaminants of concern are creosote, pentachlorophenol, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metals. Cleanup actions over the next three to five years will include removing about 700 treated wood pilings, dredging 10,000 cu. yds. of contaminated nearshore sediments, and placing a clean sediment cap over about 58 acres of contaminated sediments.

BBL will support the construction effort by closely monitoring water quality during dredging and cap placement to ensure compliance with conditions of the permits issued by the Corps of Engineers. To protect marine resources, these permits establish permissible levels of total suspended solids during construction. The work plan calls for initial baseline sampling to determine ambient conditions as well as the collection of multiple water quality samples daily or weekly, as required. BBL will write the water quality monitoring plan, mobilize a vessel and personnel for field sampling as frequently as six days a week, and coordinate laboratory analysis of the samples and independent validation of the resulting water quality data.

In addition, BBL has been selected to conduct verification sampling to confirm the integrity and thickness of the engineered cap that will be placed over 58 acres of contaminated sediments.