Ritzville Warehouse building road to speed up loading

RITZVILLE – The Ritzville Warehouse is building a road at their Templin Terminal, to speed up access for trucks to wheat stores.

“It will give them access to all the piles in there when we have a train sitting there loading or unloading,” Ritzville Warehouse CEO Brian Gordon said Friday, Jan. 8.

Gordon said construction began last fall, after harvest. Construction of the road over the railroad tracks is being done by Connell Sand and Gravel, and Haskins out of Spokane.

“We’ve already got the culvert in, so we can receive trains now, but they still have work on the road,” Gordon said, adding he expects it to be complete in the spring.

“We’re also adding two scales, for a total of four, so trucks can get in and out quicker during harvest without having to wait in line.” Gordon said.

The Templin Terminal is located on the BNSF mainline, a few miles east of Ritzville. The terminal, which began operations in 2002, allows quick access to Columbia River export facilities.

Ritzville Warehouse Co. is a farmer-owned grain cooperative that formed in 1893 by a small group of Ritzville-area farmers. It has merged with several other cooperatives since 1970, and now has grain operations in five counties in Eastern Washington.