EVERETT– The Snohomish County Public Works Department was awarded a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for its Everett Intermodal Yard Curve Improvement project – a $34 million project designed to improve rail capacity and safety while bringing much-needed improvements to the county’s solid waste management system.
The dollars come from the federal government’s Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant funds.
“This vital rail project will improve safety and reliability at the Everett Intermodal Yard while allowing us and our rail partners to continue a sustainable, low-impact operation for residents,” said Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers. “I am grateful for the BUILD award to help move this important work forward.”
Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02), who is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, was pivotal in securing these dollars – which he requested in the federal fiscal 2026 spending bill.
Larsen previously toured the shipyard back in September of 2023, where he saw, firsthand, some of the challenges the county’s waste-by-rail system faced.
“Thanks to the hard work of Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers and Public Works Director Kelly Snyder, Snohomish County has the funding it needs to increase the capacity of its rail yard and reduce delays,” Larsen said. “In Northwest Washington state, infrastructure means jobs. I will continue to support federal investments in roads, bridges, highways and transit in our region that relieve congestion, improve safety and spur economic growth in local communities.”
Each week garbage trucks around Snohomish County pick up residents’ solid waste that end up at one location in north Everett. That waste is then loaded onto freight trains and transported to a landfill in Eastern Washington. However, in recent years, the county has encountered challenges that has its Public Works Department reevaluating the flexibility and efficiency of the waste-by-rail system.
Around January of 2022, the county began to see a shortage of intermodal containers used for waste-by-rail shipments, enough that it led to build up of refuse in its transfer stations. This prompted discussions with waste disposal company Republic Services and railroad company Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF) to get to the bottom of why this was happening and how they could the resolve it. BNSF, at the time, was experiencing staffing shortages for various reasons and was working to resolve this problem. However, time is needed to train a person on how to operate a train.
The county’s contract with Republic stipulates that the disposal company will take the county’s municipal solid waste transported by rail to the Roosevelt Regional Landfill in Klicktat County. Republic Services, in turn, subcontract with railroad company Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF) for transport.
In 2022 a 45-foot of refuse sat inside transfer stations for up to five weeks causing increased health, fire, odor, and vector risks. In April, the Snohomish County Council approved a $2 million short-term emergency contract with Waste Management Inc. to aid Snohomish County Solid Waste in the removal of excess refuse at local transfer stations. The disposal agreement allowed county Solid Waste workers the ability to transport more garbage out of county facilities through the end of October of 2022.
That same year, the county experienced 30 occasions of either delayed rail service or switches containing less than the preferred 60-container capacity. Freight train network congestion at peak intervals also resulted in delays in the movement of solid waste cargo between the county’s intermodal (IM) in Everett, WA and its waste disposal location near Roosevelt, Washington.
Another constraint was the inability to process enough containers through the IM facility due to its limited track length and capacity, requiring switching service type between passenger and freight more than once, and the complexity of BNSF yard operations in conjunction with freight and passenger train movement through BNSF’s Everett Yard limiting the delivery of containers for solid waste.
As a solution, Public Works developed a three-phase project back in August of 2022, for major capital improvements at the IM facility in north Everett. Two phases were proposed at the County IM property and a third phase on the adjacent BNSF property.
The combination of Phase I and Phase II decrease the number of switches required across the BNSF Main Line by 30%, thereby relieving congestion in the Everett area for both passenger and freight priority service.
Phase I, costing $3.15, will install approximately 1,060 feet of working track and associated impervious surface.
Phase II, costing $7.29 million, will install impervious surface and stormwater improvements to gain access to an additional 1,270 feet of working surface.
The $2 million recently awarded to the project will go towards completion of Phase III, which will dramatically increase the clear length of storage track available for County use in the Delta Yard without having to switch between passenger and freight services cross the Main Line.
Phase I and II are still in progress. There is currently no timeline for Phase III other than it is anticipated to take 4-6 years to complete, and is highly dependent on grant funding.
“Snohomish County Public Works is thankful for Congressman Larsen’s support in obtaining a BUILD award,” said Snohomish County Public Works Director Kelly Snyder. “These funds will help improve and expand Delta intermodal yard in north Everett to keep up with safety, efficiency, and growing demand. This BUILD grant is a vital source of funding that will help us continue to efficiently meet the needs of Snohomish County residents and visitors.”
Without funding for the project, the county will continue to face challenges with disposing of the county’s solid waste, the Public Works Department said. Growing amounts of trash with a lack of rail capacity would result in having to haul garbage by trucking containers. A shortage of rail containers in 2022 resulted in a 45-foot pile of refuse sitting inside county transfer stations for more than a month. Such incidents are a health and safety hazard and risk disrupting this vital service.
Rep. Larsen has secured eight BUILD grants totaling $105,906,000 for local communities since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed. In addition to the $2 million grant for Snohomish County, Larsen has helped deliver $25 million for Lynnwood’s Poplar Way Bridge and $4.9 million for the Tulalip Tribes’ Road Safety Project.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
