Boeing Field for Trails from Rails

King County Executive Ron Sims and Port of Seattle CEO Mic Dinsmore announced a deal today under which King County would transfer Boeing Field to the Port of Seattle and the Port of Seattle promised to buy 47 miles of rail right-of-way running east of Seattle from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and transfer it to King County.

The underrused rail corridor would be transformed into a trail and recreation area.

The deal is still preliminary, but sounds like a very interesting proposal to deal with the issue of competition between Boeing Field (owned by King County) and the airport at SeaTac (owned by the Port of Seattle) as well as the possible sale of property with excellent recreation potential to developers.

U.S. Senator Murray (D-WA) said that the scheme “represents the kind of forward thinking that will help secure a brighter future for our region.”

It sounds intriguing, but I am certain that the details and the costs will cause this swap to be a political football for a long time to come.