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Since none of the railroad lines approaching Sandpoint are more than single tracked, except for short stretches to allow trains to pass each other, why all the fuss about a second bridge over Lake Pend Oreille?

And since there have been two fairly recent derailments casing spills, it’s fortunate that neither occurred on the existing bridge.

And since there is no room for a second set of tracks between the existing depot and the Edgewater parking lot, how does BNSF propose to resolve that choke point?

And instead of a second bridge paralleling the existing one, why not cross the Pend Oreille River somewhere downstream where any spills would flush out with the current instead of polluting the lake?

If the second bridge were to be constructed in the vicinity of Springy and Rocky points to allow west bound loaded cars of trains using the Montana Rail Link; the trains of empty cars headed east could use the existing bridge without the danger of a spill polluting the lake. From the new bridge, new tracks would connect with the existing line near Algoma Lake and Kootenai.

This would allow plenty of room for trains to get around each other.

JOSEPH HENRY WYTHE

Sandpoint