Featured speeches given by County Executive, Ron Sims
Rails to Trails Conservancy Biennial TrailLink Conference
Smith Memorial Student Union
Portland State University
August 9, 2007
(Introduced by Peter Goldman)
Thank you Peter and thank you Rails to Trails Conservancy for inviting me here today. I am excited and honored to be part of TrailLink 2007.
This conference and the Rails to Trails Conservancy are designed to arm us with information, insight, tools and resources to mobilize our communities for the 2010 Campaign for Active Transportation. With each of us actively participating in the workshops, we will leave here better prepared to inject fire, soul and passion into local and national advocacy for the active transportation movement and the everyday use of trails, biking and walking for transportation.
As active transportation advocates, robust regional trail systems that create seamless networks of accessible trails, sidewalks and on-road bike facilities is a goal that we can never lose sight of. These are crucial elements of any healthy and sustainable community.
In 21st Century urban America, our challenge is to make a transformation from rails-TO-trails to rails-AND-trails. We must preserve these parallel tracks, if we are to win.
In the era of global warming, old freight lines, especially those in densely populated urban areas, should be replaced by trails and when funding is available, new light rail or new commuter lines. As active transportation advocates, we must demonstrate our commitment to dual use and lead in advocating for transportation choices that include both trail and commuter rail use.
We need to link people to cities through both trail and rail. We need to link urban to rural areas using rail and trail. Advocating for increased mobility options means we must challenge ourselves to remain open and true to the concepts of preservation that the federal railbanking program affords us in our efforts to acquire rails for trails.
Railbanking allows rail lines and their easements to be preserved through interim conversion to trail use. At the same time, railbanking preserves the line’s future for the possibility of restored rail use.
We know that active transportation should be included in a wide variety of mobility options. We know that trail links are critical infrastructure, especially when connected with mass transit.
It is clear that we cannot rely on the federal government to invest in active transportation. The real progress in building active transportation systems, and for combating global climate change, is happening at the local level where communities can successfully develop policy and take action.
The good news is that making the case for public trails is becoming easier thanks to significant attention to the growing research on and public awareness of global warming, healthy communities, smart growth and the way the public uses trails. The public now expects services and investments from its local government to address these urgent issues.
The communities that thrive in this new century will be the ones that take action now in response to the growing body of scientific evidence about global warming and its cause. And the best way to protect the people, economy and environment of King County and beyond is to take specific actions to reduce greenhouse gases and invest the money needed to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Certainly, transportation – passenger vehicle use – is the largest source of greenhouse-gas emissions in our county and elsewhere, and has the most potential for reducing emissions. We must get people out of their cars and onto their feet, onto their bicycles, and onto our trails, as well as onto systems of rapid transit. Extensive Trail systems are a catalyst for an active, more healthy lifestyle. And that’s what we’re encouraging in King County.
King County spans over 2,100 square miles. Over 1,600 square miles is rural unincorporated land, and 460 square miles within our urban growth boundary containing 39 cities. With more than 1.8 million people, King County ranks as the 14th most populous county in the nation.
Like Multnomah County, we have a rich history of investing in trail development and rail corridor acquisition. I have long been a proponent of expanding and linking our trail system and we are making great strides at King County. We have one of the best trail systems in the nation comprising 175 miles of trails for hiking, biking and walking.
Our trail network spans from Bothell in the north to Auburn in the south, from Seattle in the west to Snoqualmie in the east, from mountains to Sound and from urban to rural.
The majority of our regional trails are “rail trails,” both in number and in overall distance. Eight of King County’s major trails are based on rail corridors totaling more than 100 miles of facilities, and more rail trail miles are planned.
Our rail trails include the popular Burke-Gilman Trail, linking Seattle’s neighborhoods with cities and regional parks on the eastside of Lake Washington; the Interurban Trails north and south of Seattle that follow the historic route of the early 20th Century electric passenger rail cars; the rural Snoqualmie Valley and Cedar River Trails that cross diverse landscapes and historic bridges and trestles; the Issaquah-Preston and Preston-Snoqualmie Trails developing east through the Mountains to Sound Greenway; and the new East Lake Sammamish Trail, which provides a beautiful lakeshore walking and biking experience. In addition, a new rail trail is being planned with the City of Enumclaw to link our urban areas with Mount Rainier National Park.
Our goal is to create an effective, connected regional trail system for both recreation and mobility. I have pledged that in the years to come, King County will continue to plan, acquire, develop, and maintain a trail network that will expand to more than 300 miles. Rail trails represent a key element in sewing together a community’s active transportation system and must continue to play a strong role in this effort.
Our biggest trails accomplishment of the past decade involved the opening of the 11-mile East Lake Sammamish Trail last year. The trail links the communities of Redmond, Sammamish and Issaquah and ties in to King County's vast public access network for cyclists, walkers and runners.
Peter Goldman was among those instrumental in helping make the trail possible. The trail opened after more than five years of detailed environmental review, public debate, litigation and construction for the trail, which was built along railroad corridor that was purchased by King County back in 1998.
A bigger rail trail success may be around the corner. King County is currently working on a creative blockbuster proposal that may result in a trail that dwarfs the East Lake Sammamish Trail.
We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to preserve for public use BNSF’s 40-mile long Eastside Rail Corridor, which runs north-south from Renton, in the south end of Lake Washington, through six suburban cities in King County and into City of Snohomish. The acquisition would place a trail within a half-mile of 500,000 people. It would also include a seven-mile spur line running between the cities of Woodinville and Redmond.
Called “Connections for our Future,” this effort will unite the nation’s best urban regional trail system with a backbone that is one of the nation’s longest rail preservation projects. It will prevent a priceless 100 year old corridor from being lost forever.
In 2005, after being studied and rejected as a priority by every significant transportation agency and each adjoining city for its continued use as a passenger and freight corridor, I proposed that King County would find a way to acquire the corridor. I began negotiating a purchase price with BNSF. In 2006, working in partnership with the CEO of the Port of Seattle, we proposed a complex asset swap that would bring the corridor into public ownership without having to go to the ballot to raise taxes for the acquisition.
It’s an old, infrequently used rail line that when a trail is constructed along it, will link together … in one fell swoop… the neighborhoods of six suburban cities, and will connect over 125 miles of existing regional trails in our system. By linking existing trails together, this one corridor creates a spine that connects a “seamless network of accessible trails, sidewalks and on-road bike facilities” for mobile and more healthy communities.
I want to bring this corridor into public ownership. I want to construct an interim trail along it for active transportation. At the same time, our region is keen on the future use of this corridor for transportation of commuters and freight when funding is available.
As we’ve been out talking about our proposal, we’ve heard cries. Cries that “once you take up the rails and construct a trail… the rails will never come back.” I am a strong advocate of maintaining transportation choices, I hear these concerns. The rails and ties in the corridor that we’re talking about are old and need to be replaced in order to provide for 21st Century light rail or commuter transit needs.
Across the board, stakeholders in our region are clear that securing the corridor under public ownership must happen. So the discussion right now should be about “how” to finance the acquisition in an era of scarce resources and competing priorities.
Instead, the discussion is being derailed by the question, “should the corridor become a trail or should it remain rail?” While some are sincere in this concern, others have used this concept to oppose the deal. Businesses and homeowners along the line are using it to prevent a trail. The argument is deceptively simple and diabolically clever. The answer of course, is that it should be both trail AND rail.
To combat this trend, we must evolve to a rails and trails strategy. The fight between rails and tails has helped stymie this acquisition for nearly a year.
As an advocate of smart growth and as a leader on growth management, transportation and mobility issues, I recognize that my proposal to acquire the eastside rail corridor under federal rail-banking legislation, allows rail easements to be used as public open space. But it also preserves the corridor for future potential rail use.
In order to address the fears of some of our opponents, we brought together both trail and transportation advocates to develop a set of principles in support of dual-use, or Trails AND Rails.
When our region has the funds to build commuter rail, we’ll have the political will to shift the trail. Under any scenario, the existing rails and ties need to come up. In the interim, let us actively use the corridor as a trail.
We must work with those who will work with us.
We must stand up to those who oppose us. Do this thoughtfully and with intention and you will succeed. Stay flexible, stay creative, keep trying and you never lose sight of the goal: sustainable communities plan for and create seamless networks of accessible trails, sidewalks and on-road bike facilities.
We must take risks.
Public leaders must be willing and able to stay the course. We must be willing to endure the lawsuits. We must be willing to do retail politics… to negotiate the small issues to achieve the larger goal.
Private approaches must find helpful elected officials, civic leaders and supportive candidates.
Just as Multnomah County has, we have accomplished much in King County. But we can accomplish so much more. Through grass roots efforts, innovation and creativity, voter support, public and private partnerships, we have a lot of options and many paths to achieve success.
In the era of global warming the case for increasing investments in trails and infrastructure for active transportation systems is undeniable. Multi-modal regional corridors are like multi-vitamins. They increase mobility and mobility options, provide for healthier living, enhance the environment and improve overall quality of life.
Your attendance here today demonstrates your commitment to addressing the need for active transportation. Developing regional trails is rarely simple and rarely easy, but always worth the effort because of their positive impact on our health, prosperity.
Thank you.