SANDPOINT, Id. – The Idaho Department of Lands approved Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s request to build a second rail bridge over Lake Pend Oreille in Sandpoint.
The second rail bridge will run parallel to the existing bridge and would allow train traffic to flow in both directions simultaneously.
The request to build the bridge received a combination of support and criticism from the residents in the area when the bridge was first proposed earlier in the year.
Some initially argued that the bridge would help ease congestion, saying that an additional bridge would reduce train traffic jams and move freight traffic more efficiently.
Others argued that it could be an environmental hazard, adding that the new bridge might encourage more train traffic through Sandpoint.
In a public meeting in May, BNSF leaders said that they doubt it will encourage more train traffic.
“There’s absolutely no basis to that assumption,” Pierre Bordenave of BNSF said at the meeting.
Officials stressed that they only sought to build the bridge to meet existing needs.
