Washougal’s 32nd Street rail crossing to now be overpass

A big change is coming to Washougal’s 32nd Street rail crossing project, which was conceived as an underpass but will instead move forward as an overpass.

“I think this change has really caused the project to pick up some good momentum and reenergized the project team,” said Jason VanAalsburg, the city’s senior management analyst. “We now have a clear direction on which way we’re going.”

City officials have spent the past several months evaluating two possible designs for the project — an undercrossing that would route travelers through a tunnel beneath railroad tracks and an overcrossing that would carry travelers over the tracks by bridge. As part of the review, the city conducted a risk assessment, analyzed potential impacts to rail operations and conducted subsurface investigations — including drilling, soil and rock sampling, and geophysical testing — to better understand conditions around the crossing.

The analysis, completed with assistance from BNSF Railway, found that constructing a tunnel beneath the active rail line would involve higher and less predictable risks.

Officials estimate that the undercrossing alternative could cost up to $18 million more than the overcross design, according to a news release.

“The risks were potentially putting the project out of reach,” VanAalsburg said. “There’s obviously still some risks involved with an overpass, but those risks are more easily understandable, and ultimately, we determined they were more manageable and the overpass was the only viable option to keep the project moving forward.”

VanAalsburg said the change won’t significantly impact the timeline of the project, which is on track to finish design work by the end of 2026 and begin construction in the first half of 2027.

“Much of the preliminary investigative work that we were doing for the underpass is able to be applied to the overpass,” he said.