A preliminary draft of a feasibility study for a potential purchase of 20 miles of the Tacoma Rail line shows that the numbers don’t “quite pencil out,” Lewis County Commissioner Bill Schulte told The Chronicle.
The study, which began in June, has yet to be finalized and presented, but Schulte said one of the issues is with the floodplain.
The county and Chehalis are jointly considering the $3 million purchase.
“It’s not looking promising,” Schulte said.
The agencies did ask the Portland-based firm conducting the study to consider changes to a few assumptions after seeing the first draft of the study to see if those adjustments change the overall outcome, Schulte said.
“(We) had them make some pretty significant changes,” said Merlin MacReynold, Chehalis city manager.
The county and Chehalis have yet to see if or how all of the requested adjustments affect the feasibility of the purchase.
The study cost $58,350, half of which was funded by a federal grant.
Schulte previously said if the study shows that the purchase doesn’t make sense, the entities will end their pursuit of the line.
However, if it does move forward, he previously told The Chronicle, the agencies would need to secure at least $2 million in grant funding to finalize the purchase.
The county and Chehalis entered an agreement with Tacoma in February 2014 to have three years to pay $3 million for the 20 miles of railroad between Chehalis and Maytown.
