Oakesdale agrees to pay half of trestle removal cost

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Jan 18, 20180

Oakesdale Town Council has agreed to split the cost of removing a former rail trestle which was taken out last fall by Whitman County Public Works in order to clear an obstruction causing ice jams on McCoy Creek.

A follow-up project to clear the channel of grass and other obstructions could happen later this year.

County Commissioner Art Swannack visited an Oakesdale town council meeting Dec. 18 to ask that the town pay $4,350 – half of the cost of removing the trestle.

The work was paid for out of the county general funds.

“We didn’t have a benefit in this per se because it was not affecting a county road,” Swannack said. “We thought Oakesdale had some skin in the game and thus made the request to help cover it.”

After Swannack left the Dec. 18 meeting, Oakesdale Mayor Dennis Palmer and council discussed the request and decided to table the matter until their next meeting.

They approved a $4,350 payment to the county at the next meeting Jan. 2.

“I appreciate Whitman County stepping up and doing what they’ve done so far,” said Palmer.

The removal project started to come together last February at a Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) meeting in Spokane. Ninth-district state Representative Mary Dye had talked to WSDOT on behalf of Oakesdale about the matter. She later asked if Whitman County could take out the structure.

Running along the west side of Highway 27, the 50-foot span’s deck and girders were removed with its wood pilings left in place.

The 1940s-50s trestle was located south of the intersection of Hume Road and Highway 27 on a rail right-of-way owned by Union-Pacific.

While the bridge is now gone, work remains to clear out the channel.

“They took the bridge out, that’s all they did. That was just a step in the right direction,” said Palmer.

Oakesdale now plans to clear one-half mile of the McCoy Creek channel.

“There’s so much canary grass, silt. There’s not much of a channel left,” said Palmer.

The result is a continued flood hazard which often sends water onto Highway 27 and into town. Water ran onto the road again two weeks ago.

“It’s going to be a safety hazard before long,” Palmer said.

The land along the channel is a former pasture, now part of the federal Conservation Reserve Program which aims to temporarily remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural use with the goal to prevent soil erosion, improve water quality and shore up wildlife habitat.

Grazing cattle were formerly used to keep the channel grass down.

“There hasn’t been any livestock on there for years,” Palmer said.

The mayor hopes a crew will do the work by late summer. First though, permits will need to be granted – and possibly funded – by agencies such as the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, Whitman Conservation District, Washington State Department of Ecology and more.

“The amount of red tape we will have to deal with on this is unreal,” Palmer said.

Wastewater factor

Clearing the McCoy Creek channel will also aid with discharge from the town’s wastewater plant into the creek in winter. When water levels are high on the creek, the wastewater does not flow like it should.

“It just takes longer,” said Palmer. “If we don’t get the proper drainage, it makes everything messed up. Clearing it will make everything work as it is supposed to.”