No reason to keep old railroad tracks that divide Palmer

Town officials in Palmer have been trying to decide the future of the railroad tracks that divide the city from north to south.

There are those who see historical significance of the tracks as representing one of the milestones in the town’s history and feel they should be kept.

Others believe the tracks should be repaired and put to use bringing visitors from Anchorage and beyond.

On the other side of the argument are residents who think the tracks sever the town socially. People in Palmer definitely live on the other side of the tracks pretty much everywhere in town.

Recently, there had been talk of tearing up the tracks as part of an ongoing effort to create a trails system that would extend from the Matanuska River to the Alaska State Fairgrounds.

Others just want the tracks ripped so it’s easier to get across town from the main drag to the where the center of government is located: Mat-Su Borough headquarters, the court system and Mat-Su Pre-Trial jail, school district headquarters and training facilities.

Sentiments aside, there’s no practical reason the tracks should stay. Besides the overt symbol and actual division of the town, why would Alaska Railroad officials consider fixing the decrepit tracks and begin serving downtown Palmer?

It makes absolutely no sense.

Can anyone imagine a train coming to town and choking off access from east to west or vice versa?

And wasn’t the South Palmer rail station at the fairgrounds built explicitly to on-load and off-load passengers? When was the last time anybody saw a train stop there? Only during the state fair in recent years.

Alaska Railroad has no reason to fix those tracks. Railroad leaders have larger projects to work out, namely a route to Port MacKenzie that would benefit a lot more people throughout the Valley than a handful in Palmer.

Certainly, a case could be made to leave a small section of track next to the depot downtown to leave the image of a working railroad town.

Palmer is a great town. The tracks are another eyesore, like the old Matanuska Maid property, that needs to be razed and replaced with something future residents can be proud of: walking and bicycling paths and a civic center that will bring far more visitors than any train will ever do — even if the railroad people would consider it.