According to Port of Tacoma Commissioner Clare Petrich, the overpass greatly improves freight mobility into and out of the industrial region by separating rail and truck traffic.
East D Street was once a busy at-grade crossing used by dozens of long trains and hundreds of trucks each day, with a nearby tight curve around the South end of the Thea Foss Waterway slowing down trains entering and leaving the Port industrial area.
The completed overpass separates train and motor vehicle traffic by raising the roadway over the railroad tracks. This new infrastructure allowed the realignment of the tracks to ease the curve around the waterway - tripling rail capacity, and vehicle traffic no longer waits for the trains that previously closed off D Street at grade.
The Freight Action Strategy for the Everett-Seattle-Tacoma Corridor (FAST Corridor) is a partnership of 26 local cities, counties, ports, federal, state and regional transportation agencies, railroads and trucking interests.
