YAKIMA, Wash. – A proposed renovation on Yakima’s Sixth Avenue is set to upgrade the road’s infrastructure. However, the future of the Yakima Valley Trolley rails remains uncertain.
The trolley route has been a fixture for 111 years, running from Yakima to Selah. Ken Johnsen, president of Yakima Valley Trolleys, expressed the critical importance of this project to the trolley system.
“It’s life and death for the trolley railroad,” Johnsen said.
The city has not decided whether to include the trolley rails in the rebuilding plans. Johnsen emphasized the potential closure of the trolley system without the Selah route.
“If the Sixth Avenue track is lost, the Trolley railroad will shut down. We can’t survive without going to Selah, both financially and in terms of what we’re becoming,” he said.
Yakima Valley Trolleys is a historic system, currently undergoing the process to be added to the National Historic Landmark program.
“The railroad began in 1907, and it’s been running ever since. And for the last 50 years we’ve had these trolleys that we run now as a kind of a tourist thing,” Johnsen said.
To maintain its interurban status and secure landmark designation, the trolley system needs the route to Selah. The city will host an open house seeking public input on the project.
The public meeting will take place at Garfield Elementary on Thursday, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Engineers and representatives from the trolley association will be in attendance to discuss the project and gather feedback.
“If we lose our line to Selah, that’s the end of the railroad. So, this is important. And we just need people to tell the city that they believe in the railroad, and they want to see it continued,” Johnsen said.
The session aims to gather community thoughts and potentially save the long-standing trolley system.
