MarkDaMan
10-26-2007, 04:23 PM
Tigard rail may drive development
Final crossing construction for the Washington County commuter line starts Friday
POSTED: 06:00 AM PDT Thursday, October 25, 2007
BY TYLER GRAF
Daily Journal of Commerce
TriMet’s Washington County Commuter Rail is continuing on track, as final railroad crossing reconstruction will begin Friday and wrap up Monday in Tigard. And for Tigard, the commuter rail represents an opportunity to reinvest in the city.
Set to begin operating in a year, the commuter rail will provide transit service from Wilsonville to points north, including Tigard, Beaverton and Tualatin. Using an existing corridor, the commuter rail will take about 27 minutes to travel from Wilsonville to the Beaverton Transit Center, TriMet says.
“We see all this really helping the core area of (Tigard) and bringing more attention to the downtown,” Phil Nachbar, a Tigard planner, said. “The commuter rail was the impetus for Tigard’s most recent downtown plan. People knew the commuter rail was coming to town, and people started thinking seriously about redevelopment in the downtown.”
Nachbar cites Lake Oswego’s Millennium Plaza as a model for Tigard – with its sculptures, pergola and open fire place, he says, it encourages gatherings and events.
And that’s what Tigard wants. The city is looking for its own gathering place, a focal point for its citizens and visitors. Although the plaza is still three to five years down the road, the city is starting its planning process early to correspond with the commuter line’s completion.
In May 2006, the city passed an urban renewal ballot measure. Since then, it’s progressed, Nachbar said, defining a core area and identifying a location for a new public plaza.
The city is also drafting a master plan for redeveloping a 23-acre park on the edge of town, called Fountain Creek Park. The park and the plaza will eventually be within a block of the commuter rail.
“One of the big issues for our downtown is establishing an identity and a sense of place,” Nachbar said.
He said he believes improved public spaces, developed in conjunction with the commuter rail, will ultimately create distinguishing characteristics for Tigard.
Anne Madden, of Washington County’s Department of Land Use and Transportation, wants the commuter rail to exemplify forward-thinking public transportation initiatives, as there are few similar programs nationally.
“We consider this to be the most creative partnership (involving transit) reuse ever,” Madden said, a point with which Peggy LaPoint of TriMet agrees.
Still, the commuter rail wasn’t an easy sell. The primary source for the project’s $117 million price tag was the federal government – which provided $58.7 million in all.
“We expect that nationally we will be quite the model,” Madden said. “But when the federal government heard about this project, they were quite bemused; it was kind of, ‘Huh, how do you do commuter service?’”
Not everyone in the community is excited about the service. Over the past several years, TriMet has heard complaints concerning the commuter rail from people living in the serviced areas. Steve Schopp, a Tualatin resident, called commuter rail “illegitimate” in an e-mail to TriMet in 2004, complaining the project wouldn’t alleviate traffic congestion. Derek Colby of Tualatin said TriMet had not studied noise issues adequately enough, arguing the commuter rail would run too closely to his house and be disruptive. And residents in Tigard complained that the Oregon Department of Transportation’s plan to prevent left turns on 74th Avenue was bad for local business.
The final track rehabilitation signifies a moving forward – not only for the commuter rail project but also for the region’s public transportation infrastructure. When the service debuts Sept. 12, 2008, it will be 10 years to the day of TriMet’s christening of the MAX westside light-rail service, an event attended by then-vice president Al Gore.
But, if funding projections hold true, the commuter rail will come in at nearly one-tenth the price of the westside MAX, which cost about $963 million for about 18 miles of tracks.
Madden says future expansion isn’t on the boards, but she expects it will be – and she envisions nearly 40 miles of commuter tracks running north to south.
“If this is successful, and I see absolutely no reason why it wouldn’t be, there are sufficient tracks to expand this rail line south to Salem,” she said.
http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDetail.htm/2007/10/25/Tigard-rail-may-drive-development-Final-crossing-construction-for-the-Washington-County-commuter-lin
Final crossing construction for the Washington County commuter line starts Friday
POSTED: 06:00 AM PDT Thursday, October 25, 2007
BY TYLER GRAF
Daily Journal of Commerce
TriMet’s Washington County Commuter Rail is continuing on track, as final railroad crossing reconstruction will begin Friday and wrap up Monday in Tigard. And for Tigard, the commuter rail represents an opportunity to reinvest in the city.
Set to begin operating in a year, the commuter rail will provide transit service from Wilsonville to points north, including Tigard, Beaverton and Tualatin. Using an existing corridor, the commuter rail will take about 27 minutes to travel from Wilsonville to the Beaverton Transit Center, TriMet says.
“We see all this really helping the core area of (Tigard) and bringing more attention to the downtown,” Phil Nachbar, a Tigard planner, said. “The commuter rail was the impetus for Tigard’s most recent downtown plan. People knew the commuter rail was coming to town, and people started thinking seriously about redevelopment in the downtown.”
Nachbar cites Lake Oswego’s Millennium Plaza as a model for Tigard – with its sculptures, pergola and open fire place, he says, it encourages gatherings and events.
And that’s what Tigard wants. The city is looking for its own gathering place, a focal point for its citizens and visitors. Although the plaza is still three to five years down the road, the city is starting its planning process early to correspond with the commuter line’s completion.
In May 2006, the city passed an urban renewal ballot measure. Since then, it’s progressed, Nachbar said, defining a core area and identifying a location for a new public plaza.
The city is also drafting a master plan for redeveloping a 23-acre park on the edge of town, called Fountain Creek Park. The park and the plaza will eventually be within a block of the commuter rail.
“One of the big issues for our downtown is establishing an identity and a sense of place,” Nachbar said.
He said he believes improved public spaces, developed in conjunction with the commuter rail, will ultimately create distinguishing characteristics for Tigard.
Anne Madden, of Washington County’s Department of Land Use and Transportation, wants the commuter rail to exemplify forward-thinking public transportation initiatives, as there are few similar programs nationally.
“We consider this to be the most creative partnership (involving transit) reuse ever,” Madden said, a point with which Peggy LaPoint of TriMet agrees.
Still, the commuter rail wasn’t an easy sell. The primary source for the project’s $117 million price tag was the federal government – which provided $58.7 million in all.
“We expect that nationally we will be quite the model,” Madden said. “But when the federal government heard about this project, they were quite bemused; it was kind of, ‘Huh, how do you do commuter service?’”
Not everyone in the community is excited about the service. Over the past several years, TriMet has heard complaints concerning the commuter rail from people living in the serviced areas. Steve Schopp, a Tualatin resident, called commuter rail “illegitimate” in an e-mail to TriMet in 2004, complaining the project wouldn’t alleviate traffic congestion. Derek Colby of Tualatin said TriMet had not studied noise issues adequately enough, arguing the commuter rail would run too closely to his house and be disruptive. And residents in Tigard complained that the Oregon Department of Transportation’s plan to prevent left turns on 74th Avenue was bad for local business.
The final track rehabilitation signifies a moving forward – not only for the commuter rail project but also for the region’s public transportation infrastructure. When the service debuts Sept. 12, 2008, it will be 10 years to the day of TriMet’s christening of the MAX westside light-rail service, an event attended by then-vice president Al Gore.
But, if funding projections hold true, the commuter rail will come in at nearly one-tenth the price of the westside MAX, which cost about $963 million for about 18 miles of tracks.
Madden says future expansion isn’t on the boards, but she expects it will be – and she envisions nearly 40 miles of commuter tracks running north to south.
“If this is successful, and I see absolutely no reason why it wouldn’t be, there are sufficient tracks to expand this rail line south to Salem,” she said.
http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDetail.htm/2007/10/25/Tigard-rail-may-drive-development-Final-crossing-construction-for-the-Washington-County-commuter-lin
