Amtrak to present bypass plans at Tillicum meeting

By David Anderson, President, Tillicum Woodbrook Neighborhood Association

Amtrak will be the featured presentation at the January 6, 2011, 6:30 p.m. meeting of the Tillicum Woodbrook Neighborhood Association. Due to the large crowd anticipated, the location is being changed to the Tillicum Elementary School gym, 8514 Maple St. SW, Lakewood.

Fliers are being distributed door-to-door along the entirety of the proposed route – through Lakewood, Tillicum and DuPont. The flier will also be attached via email to the hundreds on our database, forwarded on by recipients, and of course this announcement includes the media.

This event is sponsored by the Tillicum Woodbrook Neighborhood Association (TWNA); the Tillicum Action Committee (TAC); and CommunityMattersWeb.com.

The Washington State Department of Transportation proposes to reroute passenger trains from the BNSF Railway main line that runs near Point Defiance and along southern Puget Sound to an existing rail line that runs along the west side of I-5 through south Tacoma, Lakewood, Ft. Lewis, and DuPont.

Cascades High Speed Rail has scheduled several presentations in the past – at Lakewood City Hall; DuPont; and most recently an open house in Tillicum that WSDOT estimates 60 attended. Given the great deal of interest of affected neighborhoods along the proposed route; and as the Lakewood City Council, the TWNA, and DuPont have all passed resolutions in opposition to the plan as proposed; and since it is the desire of representatives of the Pt. Defiance Bypass Project to present their proposal to the widest possible audience, then this forum on Jan.6, 2011 would seem to best facilitate and address the concerns of as many parties involved as possible.