Railroad properties, including but not limited to rights-of-way, land held in fee and used for railroad operations, bridges, tunnels, and other facilities, are declared to be suitable for public use upon cessation of railroad operations on the properties. It is in the public interest of the state of Washington that such properties retain their character as public utility and transportation corridors, and that they may be made available for public uses including highways, other forms of mass transportation, conservation, energy production or transmission, or recreation. Nothing in this section or in RCW 64.04.190 authorizes a public agency or utility to acquire reversionary interests in public utility and transportation corridors without payment of just compensation.
RCW 64.04.180
Railroad properties as public utility and transportation corridors—Declaration of availability for public use—Acquisition of reversionary interest.
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case 107 Wash. 2d 444 - Lawson v. State (1986)
Most recently applied in Miami County Board of Commissioners v. Kanza Rail-Trails Conservancy, Inc. (June 2011)
1988 c 16 s 1; 1984 c 143 s 22.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.