PORT OF VANCOUVER, WA - WEST VANCOUVER FREIGHT ACCESS TRENCH

摘要

This presentation and paper will provide a summary of the Port of Vancouver, WA - West Vancouver Freight Access Trench Project. This project conceived, designed, permitted and constructed an unusual solution to deliver more trains to the Port of Vancouver USA without the cost of lost capacity on BNSF's Portland-Seattle main line, which handles eight passenger trains and more than 80 BNSF and UP freight trains daily. The previously existing Port lead crossed the BNSF Railway Portland-Seattle main line utilizing a low-speed, at-grade diamond railway crossing. Steady increases in main line freight traffic, high speed passenger rail service and Port traffic made continued use of this lead impossible. An overhead structure was impractical due to the much lower elevation of the Port relative to the main line. Urban development and major highways immediately parallel to the rail lines made this option unfeasible as well. Instead, BNSF, the Port and the HDR/BergerABAM team conceived of a new lead that descended under the BNSF Portland-Seattle main line, through a pile-supported concrete trench constructed partially below the Ordinary High Water elevation on a narrow bank of the Columbia River and beneath the BNSF's Columbia River swing span bridge.