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By month’s end, the Port of Vancouver USA plans to begin a key rail element of the West Vancouver Freight Access (WVFA) project.

Dubbed “Project 16” and scheduled for completion by Feb. 28, 2013, the work calls for creating a new rail entrance adjacent to Lafarge North America. A rail line into the Vancouver, Wash., port will be configured below BNSF Railway Co.’s and Union Pacific Railroad’s north/south mainline on the Columbia River rail bridge.

“This configuration along the banks of the river will prevent port-bound rail from blocking the north/south rail line, while increasing the efficiency of [port] rail movements,” port officials said in a prepared statement.

Early stages of construction include building a pile-supported, watertight trench to support the concrete foundation for trains entering the port, including the expanding rail yard corridor.

“Innovative methods, including vibratory placement, have been chosen to drive piles into the ground in an effort to minimize audio impacts to neighbors and wildlife,” port officials said.

The work is part of the $137 million WVFA project, the largest capital project in the port's 100-year history that was launched in 2007. To be completed by 2017, the project calls for establishing new dual-carrier rail access into the port (via both BNSF and UP); enlarging the port's rail yard and building a loop track; relocating facilities and utilities to accommodate track realignment; and improving area roadways. The project is designed to reduce congestion on the region’s rail system and triple the port’s rail capacity during the next few years.