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Breaching Cost on Washington Roads WHEAT LIFE April 1999

Washington (state) legislators received some disheartening news recently regarding the impact to Washington's roads, should the four Snake River Dams be breached in an attempt to increase salmon numbers. A growing list of legislators is expressing concern with the impacts of lost navigation on the state's highways illuminated in a recent report by the Legislative Transportation Committee.

Impacts were classified two ways; infrastructure -- roadways, rails, and bridges -- damaged by weakened soils; and highway and/or rail facilities that must be built or upgraded to accommodate increases and shifts in traffic. The report contains a detailed list of bridges, road sections, rail sections and elevator facility needs, coupled with cost estimates. The nearly one-half billion-dollar price tag has a range of costs with the greatest variability due to the uncertainty over geo-technical conditions of nearby soils, and the cost of soil stabilization.

Highway costs are between $84.1- to $100-million with an increase of 169,000 one-way truck trips per year. Roads most seriously impacted are U.S. 395 from Tri-Cities to Ritzville, S.R. 124 / U.S. 12 from the Tri-Cities to Clarkston, and S.R. 16 / Pasco-Kahlotus Highway between the Tri-Cities and Colfax. Rail costs range from $182.4- to $214-million with the largest impact on the shortline railroads. Soil stabilization costs run from $48- to 192-million.

The price tag and the ripple effect potential is having a sobering impact on legislators struggling to find ways to fund existing transportation needs. Especially worrisome is the fact that the impact on county roads is not accounted for in the study. With the Corps of Engineers now looking at the potential of breaching McNary and John Day on the Columbia River, legislators could see the infrastructure costs spiral with navigation reduced to the short distance between Portland and The Dalles Dam.

bluefish notes: Most recently, a congressional panel estimated 223 more trucks passing through Tri-Cities if the lower Snake Dams were breached. (See disputes). 81,385 more trucks/year.