Port of Longview moves forward with ongoing storage, rail projects

LONGVIEW — Port of Longview made progress on various construction projects, including the building of an overpass to complement the ongoing Industrial Rail Corridor expansion.

Port Chief Executive Officer Dan Stahl told commissioners they selected Northwest-based OTAK Inc. for the overpass because of their experience with civil structural work. The contract with OTAK comes out to $300,000, Stahl said.

A contractor was also selected to build a new covered storage warehouse at the port, Stahl said. The $250,000 project will be completed by Smith Monroe Gray Engineers after what Stahl said was a competitive selection process.

“Our warehouses are essentially full, and we did the hard work of understanding where would a new building go that doesn’t interfere with the development of our rail track,” Stahl said.

The port also adopted the updated Cowlitz County Hazard Mitigation Plan on Wednesday, which allows the port to be eligible for federal hazard mitigation grants.

The plan was last updated in 2013 and includes the port’s emergency plan. Under it, the port can get Federal Emergency Management Agency grants for projects like flood mitigation and erosion control.

The decision comes ahead of the port’s plans around its own climate action strategy, which will ramp up starting next year.