Local pushes for rails-to-trails path in CAP corridor

PULLMAN - Pullman local Rich Wesson has been working for almost eight years to move forward a rails-to-trails project that would put a walking path along the South Fork of the Palouse River in the rural areas between Colfax, Albion, and Pullman.

Wesson stated that the State of Washington owns the rail corridor, also known as the CAP corridor.

He further explains that around 2014, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) reportedly determined that rebuilding a trestle was not economically feasible and started seeking ideas of what to do with it.

Wesson reports that he has been working on getting the trail, the location, close to his front door.

As a former Pullman Civic Trust (PCT) member, Wesson states that he wrote letters and attended gatherings where he could talk to people about the project, organizing events to inform and educate decision-makers and the public.

He says that early on, when the loss of the corridor looked like it was going to happen. They collected several thousand signatures to support the CAP trail.

Wesson resigned from the PCT but still seeks the CAP trail near his home, writing letters to commissioners and attending meetings.

"I want to emphasize that I speak only for myself as a citizen advocate and as an adjacent landowner along the CAP rail corridor," he wrote in a letter to the Whitman County Commissioners.

Wesson states that surveys and public meetings have shown interest in the project.

"A trail makes economic sense if you look at the studies of how bike paths enhance local economic prosperity, tourism, job creation, and employee and business recruitment," he tells the commissioners in his letter.

Wesson is determined to pursue the project further, trying to get local legislature, the Port of Whitman County, and County Commissioners on board.