BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Upgrades to the railroad crossing on Pine Street have received funding.
Bellingham City Council approved a $950,000 grant provided by WSDOT’s Rail-Highway Crossings Safety Program on Monday, June 1. An additional $227,544 was awarded to Bellingham Public Works through Carbon Reduction funds provided by the Whatcom Transportation Policy Board.
The project will update the crossing to quiet zone standards, upgrade utilities and provide a multi-use crossing that improves pedestrian and bicycle access.
A quiet zone is a section of railroad track at least a half mile long where the Federal Railroad Administration does not require trains to sound their horn at public crossings—except in emergencies.
“One more ahead of us [is] getting knocked off the list so that we don’t have to hear trains. I hear them in my bedroom and I’m on the other side of Sehome hill so [I’m] looking forward to this,” Councilmember Lisa Anderson said during a committee meeting earlier in the day.
Public Works estimates the total project cost of the Pine Street crossing will be upwards of $2 million and expects the design to be completed and construction bidding to take place by the end of 2026. Additional funding will come from the city’s Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) funds and the Transportation Fund.
Upon completion, this crossing will become the fourth addition to the Waterfront Quiet Zone project, with two more crossings on Central Street and Cornwall Avenue awaiting further assessment.
My Bellingham Now previously reported on the completion of a five-crossing quiet zone in Fairhaven in March of last year.
