PASCO -- On a recent blustery October afternoon, the parking lot at the St. Vincent de Paul food bank in Pasco was bustling.

Men and women loaded boxes filled with fruit, vegetables, breads and nonperishable food into their cars, while others lined the side of the building waiting to get inside to collect boxes of their own.

The food bank serves 2,000 to 3,000 families each month, sometimes more than 700 in a single week.

Volunteers and board members worry about continuing that service if the building has to be removed to make way for a street overpass sometime in the future.

The food bank is on Lewis Street next to a tunnel that runs under a railroad line. The city plans to replace the crumbling, 72-year-old tunnel with a new overpass, but that will mean the food bank and some other businesses must find new locations.

Pasco City Manager Gary Crutchfield said the city would buy property along two blocks of Lewis Street to make way for the overpass, which is needed to prevent a possible tunnel collapse that could block a major rail shipping line serving the Northwest.

The tunnel runs under the BNSF Co.'s primary freight rail line from Seattle to Chicago, Crutchfield said.

"The overpass makes more sense," Crutchfield said. "It's safer and would eliminate much of the hazard."

But to build to current transportation standards, the city needs more space than the tunnel occupies, and that means buying property along Lewis Street.

The city would hire a consultant to negotiate the real estate purchases and make sure each property owner gets a fair price, Crutchfield said.

But it could be months or years before that happens because the city doesn't have the entire $25 million to $30 million needed for construction.

The city expects a $3 million grant will pay to design the overpass and start acquiring rights of way and hopes Congress will appropriate some money in a pending highway bill.

That leaves the board members overseeing St. Vincent de Paul's food bank in an uncomfortable state of uncertainty.

Board President Bob Wlaznak said the board knows the food bank will have to move, but it doesn't know when or how much the city might offer for the existing building.

That makes it challenging to look for another property, and the board needs to have a piece of land before it can start raising money for a new building.

"It's not like we're a rich organization," Wlaznak said. "If we're going to do fundraising, that's cumbersome and it takes time and we've got to get started early to make sure we've got enough."

The goal is to have a new facility ready to open as soon as the old one closes so service doesn't have to stop, he said.

"We're not in a position where we could shut down and reopen," Wlaznak said. "It would be really self-defeating. The challenge for us is to make a transition that is reasonably smooth."

Wlaznak recently met with a real estate agent to start looking for land or an existing building that meets the food bank's needs, including plenty of space for parking and access to public transportation.

An existing building would need a large freezer and refrigerator and food storage space.

The new location also must be within Franklin County, and preferably within Pasco, because St. Vincent de Paul is the designated Franklin County agency for the state's emergency food assistance program.

In the meantime, the agency has put off repairs to its more than 50-year-old building because it doesn't want to spend money on a building it will have to abandon.

"Right now we're just waiting to see what the city is going to do," Wlaznak said. "I'm sure there are other businesses going to be affected too."

-- Michelle Dupler: 582-1543; mdupler@tricityherald.com