Chelatchie Prairie Railroad - Trail Planning Project -

Past Notices and Events

October Open House Press Release

Thank you for your interest in the project

Overview
The proposed rail-trail planning project follows the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad right-of-way. This existing rail line, also known as the Lewis & Clark Railroad, extends 33 miles diagonally through Clark County from Burnt Bridge Creek at Fruit Valley Road to the site of an old paper mill a few miles from Yale Reservoir. Preliminary planning work is underway to identify options for placing a trail adjacent to the rail line. A final plan will be completed by summer of 2008. For more information, please see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) link on the menu bar.

Five Meetings Completed
Last summer, evening open houses were held in Brush Prairie and Yacolt on July 10 and 11, 2007. In all, about 50 citizens attended at Prairie High School and almost 30 citizens attended at Yacolt Elementary. Open houses were again held in the fall, drawing over 60 people to two events in Yacolt (Oct. 2,) and Brush Prairie (Oct. 4.).

Approximately 110 people attended the February 26, 2008 open house where project staff displayed information about the corridor and the recommended trail alignment for public review and comment. Additionally, attendees were asked to vote for their preference for a first segment of trail to be developed. Feedback gathered at the public meeting will assist project staff to refine the trail alignment and first segment to construct recommendations. There is still opportunity to comment on the proposed project. It would be helpful to receive your comments by March 14, to include your input as we continue to refine the plans.

The plan will be refined and finalized through the spring of 2007 for approval by the Board of County Commissioners in summer 2008.

We Want To Hear From You
We would like to thank all the people who took the time to come meet with our project team. A great deal of information was collected from meeting attendees that will assist us in moving forward. Collecting information from stakeholders and concerned citizens will be on-going. If you are not able to attend the open houses and you would like to provide comments, please provide your comments through the online survey available on this site. We kindly ask that each individual provide only one (1) survey response (electronic or paper).

Thank You
Again, the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad-Trail Planning Project team would like to thank the individuals who attended our open houses and provided input thus far. We hope to see all of you back at the September meetings. Your participation and interest in the project is critical for its success! Additionally, if you know others that may be interested in attending, please direct them to this website

Other Events...

Clark County High Capacity Transit System Study

The Clark County High Capacity Transit System Study held a Sounding Board Meeting February 26, to review their draft findings. As of February 2008 the draft recommendation for the Chelatchie Prairie Rail corridor is to plan for future commuter rail service (preserve the corridor). Identify commuter service needs and do not preclude trail and freight rail service. This corridor has been proposed as a long term High Capacity Transit study (beyond 20 years).

Visit the study website: http://www.rtc.wa.gov/hct/.