Swap meet, how a railroad becomes an airport

As an observer with sometimes jihadist gripes about how the region does not work together, the pending swap between King County and the Port of Seattle reminds us that good ideas can work and government can find symmetry, even with conflicting priorities.

The biggest of all swap meets has produced the skeleton of a plan to turn a railroad into an airport — and in return, pave a trail through the neighborhoods, the factories and the landscape of the Eastside. You know the headlines: The Port of Seattle acquires Boeing Field from King County; the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad relinquishes its right of way that fishes through some lovely Eastside terrain from Renton to Snohomish; and the county engages in the rail-to-trail federal program designed to keep old railways open corridors.

There're other parts to the deal involving Harbor Island near the West Seattle Bridge, an old flour mill that looks like a white elephant, $25 million of state money for an expanded Stampede Pass rail tunnel, and — whew! — a new intermodal transportation/rail site somewhere between Seattle and Tacoma.

Immediately, the questions came forward like marijuana bales popping up in the ocean: Why not keep part of the trail for an industrial corridor? Will the deal be an invitation for Southwest Airlines to renew its interest in Boeing Field? Who pays for all of this?

Asked about the cost of creating the trail, King County Executive Ron Sims said it would not go to the ballot and taxpayers would not be asked to shell out more for the project. Asked if Southwest Airlines executives are now sharpening their pencils for another bid at Boeing Field, Port of Seattle CEO Mic Dinsmore said flatly, "No."

On these opinion pages this past week, a port commissioner and a rail advocate both urged that some commercial use of the railroad bed be saved. Commissioner Alec Fisken wrote ... "the destruction of a key operating rail line — one that could be the transit corridor of the future — is a disastrous mistake."

Al Runte of the pro-rail group, All Aboard Washington, equated the current rail line to the advantages of European cities with their easy rail access. Runte wrote that instead of continually investing in roads, an Eastside rail corridor would save us billions.

Not possible, was Sims' response to that. He says the railroad will not sell its corridor for another rail line, or commuter rail, to inhabit, or if it did, the cost to the county would be prohibitive.

At work here are a lot of the entities and power players that are part of the region's dynamics.

First, don't ever underestimate the power of the bicycle. Cyclists are organized, powerful and politically astute. Cyclist organizations pushed hard for the East Lake Sammamish Trail, and helped win the day; they were part of the Seattle City Council's oddball decision to keep a bike trail alive through industrial Ballard, and they will be a powerful force for a 47-mile corridor for their recreation.

Second, the realignment of Boeing Field into a larger Port operation meets the test of common sense and has the added ingredient of money. While King County struggles to meet its bills, the Port has an untapped reservoir of taxpayer money it can dip into if needed. The Port has been reluctant to raise its taxes, but who knows what Boeing Field might become in the decades ahead, with fast links to downtown and Sea-Tac International Airport?

Sims says Boeing Field operates in the black with general aviation and Boeing's use. But the lineup of King Street Station, the two sports stadiums, Sounder, Boeing Field and Sea-Tac could have a future value we can't recognize now, way beyond the modest role Boeing Field now plays in the region.

James F. Vesely's column appears Sunday on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is: jvesely@seattletimes.com