Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The proposed Tekoa truck bypass route remains a possibility. Mayor John Jaeger has been discussing a sale price with Union-Pacific for the required railroad-owned property, and city councilman Roy Schulz will meet with members of the state legislature for a 15-minute presentation June 18.
In talks between Jaeger and Kevin Kohler, a representative of the real estate department of Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha, Neb., at issue is how much land the railroad would want to sell to the city and for what price.
The parcel the railroad would like to sell would include the necessary right-of-way land and Iron Horse Arena, the small riding facility next to the right-of-way.
“They don’t want to sell just a portion. They want to sell all of it,” said Jaeger, referring to an area that could encompass 20 acres. “They want $100,000. That’s what they threw against the wall. To see if it would stick. It didn’t.”
Jaeger cites concerns that the land is on a flood plain and could be contaminated from its years of use as part of the railroad. The truck bypass project would require the city to buy the land from Union Pacific. The quarter mile stretch is free of tracks, which were taken out in the 1980s.
In the meantime, concerns have come up.
One is the traffic, or lack of expected traffic from the new McCoy train elevator facility in Oakesdale, as well as what effect a truck bypass may have on Tekoa’s Crosby Street businesses.
“We’re not seeing any additional truck traffic from McCoy,” Jaeger said. “Not yet. The trucks that are coming through are the same trucks that have been coming through here for years.”
While an increase in truck traffic wasn’t necessarily a contingent upon the bypass project, Jaeger said it could lessen the push to make it happen.
All the while, if trucks are allowed on a future bypass, cars would likely use it as well.
“The gal that sells lattes in the morning to people that drive by, with a bypass, they may or may not,” Jaeger said. “If they were to lose 10 percent of their business with this truck route, that might be their profit margin.”
“If people want to stop, they’re gonna stop,” said Councilman Roy Schulz. “If not, they’ll drive on by.”
In May, the city of Tekoa got a call from Steve Gorcester, Director of the state Transportation Improvement Board, who has walked the proposed route.
Gorcester asked if someone from Tekoa could go to Palouse June 18 to do a presentation on the project to members of the state legislature’s joint transportation committee.
The representatives will be in Spokane for an Association of Washington Cities meeting, followed by a trip in which they will tour the Palouse Grain Growers facility.
Schulz will meet them there.
“He’s gotta think enough of the project to be encouraging us,” said Schulz, of Gorcester.
“But they’ve got to get the money on board. He’s only a piece of the pie.”
Meanwhile, the mayor wonders about its importance, compared to the costs involved.
“Since we don’t have any excess truck traffic, is it really necessary?” said Jaeger. “We’re trying to be proactive, but what if it never becomes a (bigger) problem?”
The area of the Iron Horse Arena is not needed to complete a truck bypass, which would create a route for heavy trucks to pass through Tekoa without going up and over Crosby Street (Highway 27) which is the city’s main business strip. Instead, a bypass would be built on one of two routes; the existing Ramsey Street - a block off of Crosby - or the Union Pacific right-of-way along Hangman Creek.
Both routes would veer off at the north end of town and connect at the south end before the bridge.
“Nothing’s gonna happen if we don’t own the land,” Jaeger said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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