By Karen Robes Meeks
The Port of Vancouver USA recently dedicated its $251 million West Vancouver Freight Access Project. This concludes the decade-long rail project that officials hope will ease congestion and bring efficiency to users by improving rail movement of freight through the port and along the BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad mainlines that link the Pacific Northwest to hubs in Chicago and Houston, and from Canada to Mexico.
“It’s hard to overstate the importance of the West Vancouver Freight Access Project,” said port CEO Julianna Marler. “Whether we’re talking about how the project reduces rail congestion on the mainline and expands our capacity to 400,000 rail cars per year, or how it supported thousands of family-wage jobs during design, engineering and construction – as well as jobs for the future – this has been a critical project with far-reaching benefits for our community, region and nation. We’re very proud to celebrate WVFA’s completion today with our staff and contractors, and many of the partners who helped us make this project and its benefits a reality.”
The project is already inspiring private investment from port tenants and neighbors such as United Grain Corp., Great Western Malting and Farwest Steel.
Over $200 million in private funds have been spent to modernize facilities and equipment, and capitalize on the increase of rail capacity, according to the port.
