Bellingham Comments from Digital Recorder - EISs for the Proposed ...

GATEWAY PACIFIC TERMINAL EIS SCOPING HEARING VOL. I
COURT REPORTER: GWEN BRASS PROCEEDING DATE: October 27, 2012
Page 18
THE SPEAKER: My name is Paul Anderson. I'm a
resident of Bellingham. Thank you for your presence. I work
in Mukilteo, Washington. I commute 67 miles each way, and we
-- and I'm in a vanpool sponsored by Whatcom Transit. And we
have been impacted numerous times by trains passing along the
I-5 corridor backing traffic up from the railroad crossings in
numerous locations in Marysville and also up by Cook Road exit,
and it's caused near collisions several times. We've had --
our vanpool had to slam on the brakes because traffic came to a
halt suddenly because cars were trying to cut into the off --
onto the off ramp that was backed up onto the freeway.
I would like to see a transportation study along the
I-5 corridor that would detail out the cost to the taxpayers
for eliminating these safety hazards that we're experiencing on
I5.
Thank you very much.
MS. HULL: Thank you.
THE SPEAKER: My name John Riggs. I'm a Bellingham
resident just up from the terminal, Whatcom Harbor. I'm a
career marine officer. I went to a merchant marine academy
when I was kid and I've gone to sea my whole life. My whole
life's been on the water with shipping and fishing.
Now, my concern -- there's going to be a lot of
redundancies in sharing out here today and we're going to say
things -- everyone has the concerns, the same concerns. I know