had happened? so i wasn t involved at all in the run-up to this, just to be clear in that regard. there were actually mixed feelings about it because there have been what turned out to be some tragically clairvoyant voices expressing concern that the increased speed of this particular amtrak service would present some real public health considerations, and it turned out to be the case the very first day. can you tell us any more about that? it is a train that used to take a route along the water to the east of where it is and they rerouted it to this after making some substantial track improvements which will be called into question now by the national transportation safety board as they begin to examine the evidence as to why this happened, and they literally were running this train between 60 and 80 miles at grade through the city of lakewood and the
engines and then train, and 13 pieces. all but one of the 14 pieces left those tracks and many of them jumped over the side of the trestle and onto the southbound lane of interstate 5. killing at least six people and injuring dozens and dozens of others. this was a highly controversial project. this real project cost $181 million to create a new route. a high-speed train from basically tacoma to portland, and it was all intended to shave roughly 10 to 15 minutes off a passenger train trip from the city of seattle down to portland. and frankly, the people in lakewood, the mayor of lakewood, he sued to block this entire project, and it was unsuccessful. just two weeks ago in a public meeting, he said, it was only a matter of time before somebody was killed in this high-speed train, because it cuts through a
along i5, 80 miles an hour, you have to have some kind of barrier barricading so the train can be kept away from the traffic and kept away from people. that was his big concern. it did not just our last week. the city of lakewood sued the washington state department of transportation back in 2013 tried to get this whole thing stopped. it did not work, because the train was going today. the washington state department of transportation issued a statement saying, this train, this route, is being tested now for several weeks. today was the inaugural, the first time passengers were on board, but this route has been tested for several weeks. the tracks are not brand-new. they have been re-modified, and the amtrak train can go on. if you look at the history of this thing like dan was saying earlier, the 501 would have gone along the puget sound. this saved 11, 15 minutes.
used to google my name or worse yet having some of the camera crew showing up before i did the interview before the job was a challenge that most people didn t have to face when they were looking for work. but now you landed a job. tell me about that. yeah, i work in the city of lakewood, florida, in palm beach county, and it is a progressive and open and endearing community. it is fantastic and i have been there for almost a year. i am loving every day of it. we are doing good things for each other. and your relationship with your wife. you talked about the fact that you guys are best friends and maybe this is me reading into this, but do you ever wish you could be back together as a couple? well, yes and no. i mean, donna needs to go find her way and i am going to be
those that have been evacuated directly to hospitals, i don t have any accurate information on that. the mayor of nearby lakewood dawn anderson raised the alarm about needing more safety protocols for this train. he told komo news, and i m quoting him now, this project was never needed and endajs our citizens. do you agree? i know don anderson well. when that issue came up, my city joined the city of lakewood in a lawsuit to try to stop it. that was not going to happen. the issue is that there are several at grade crossings in the city of lakewood and one at grade crossing in dupont, so you bring a 79-mile-an-hour train through the center of population centers. there will be concerns. was it a needed move on the