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The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) recently announced it will conduct a project-level environmental assessment for the $91 million Port Defiance Bypass project.

The project, which is being funded through the High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail program, calls for rerouting passenger trains from a freight route along the coastline to an existing rail line along the west side of Interstate 5 through Tacoma, Lakewood and DuPont. The project will enable WSDOT to run more frequent and reliable passenger-rail service between Seattle and Portland, Ore., and free up the congested freight-rail line.

The environmental assessment will identify and evaluate potential environmental impacts that could result from rerouting the passenger trains. To be submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration, the assessment will update a previous analysis conducted in 2006 in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration.

Washington, Oregon and British Columbia are continuing to work together on a long-term plan to improve and expand the Amtrak Cascades service and provide more reliable passenger-rail travel between Eugene, Ore., and Vancouver, B.C. Earlier this year, the Obama Administration announced WSDOT will receive $590 million in high-speed stimulus funding to complete a series of passenger-rail improvements along the Pacific Northwest corridor.