PERMIT ISSUED FOR WARREN SLOUGH RAIL LINE REPAIR

After a lengthy delay, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has given the green light for repair work to the washed-out railroad line at Warren Slough north of Knappa, Clatsop County officials learned Wednesday.

The county, along with Portland & Western Railroad, the Oregon Department of Transportation, local landowners and other parties, has been attempting to untangle a snarl of regulatory and ownership issues surrounding the site since the grade was breached in a storm in November 2006.

The damage washed out a section of the Portland-to-Astoria rail line and exposed several acres of adjacent pastureland to daily flooding during high tides. That high water in turn has jeopardized the nearby Ziak-Gnat Creek county road.

The Corps notified Portland & Western Railroad by letter Wednesday that it is issuing a permit authorizing the repair work. Portland & Western leases the rail line from the ODOT Rail Division, which owns the railroad grade itself ? the two entities will share the cost of the repair project. Representatives of the company and the state agency met Wednesday afternoon to finalize plans for the work, which may begin within the next two weeks.

The work will include repair of the grade and rail line, and the installation of a 72-inch-wide culvert and tidegate to better control water flow into the adjacent pastureland. Two other existing pipe/culverts with tidegates located near the wash-out site will also be repaired.

The goal of the culvert/tidegate work will be to return the area to the same amount of tidal water flow that existing before the wash-out. This allowed some flooding of the pastureland in the winter and lesser amounts of water in drier months, but protected adjacent roads.

The rail line was first washed out at Warren Slough during a winter storm in December 2005. The resulting flooding also destroyed the bridge over Ziak-Gnat Creek Road, which lies approximately a quarter-mile south of the rail line. Because the wash-out of the bridge cut off access to several nearby residences, the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners declared an emergency and authorized the county Road Department to launch immediate repairs to the railroad grade to prevent further flooding.

Because the 2006 event, which took out a section of railroad grade immediately east of the 2005 wash-out site, did not pose as great an immediate threat to the Ziak-Gnat Creek Road, the county did not declare an emergency. But efforts to obtain the necessary permit from the Corps of Engineers for the repair work became bogged down by questions over the ownership of the grade, including the discovery of a long-dormant diking district that owned a levee near the railroad grade.

The Corps has jurisdiction over all in-water work in the Columbia River system.

While it has no authority over the railroad line or grade, Clatsop County took the lead in coordinating the permitting process in make sure nearby county assets like Ziak-Gnat Creek Road are protected, said Ed Wegner, Transportation and Development Services Director. During very high tides, the inflowing water often rises up to the edge of the roadway.

“We facilitated it to preserve our roads and protect our citizens,” he said.