Portland Transit | TriMet/Mass Transit News

[pdxstreetcar]

As far as I know the Hawthorne line is nothing past the idea stage. Its probably in the long term plans though. Last I heard was the Hawthorne business district envisioned a streetcar line down Hawthorne. If a line was to be built down Hawthorne it would have to at least make it down to 39th Ave if not further and probably then it would in addition to the 14-Hawthorne bus line and not a replacement. Also if the Hawthorne streetcar line happened there would be some question as to whether the line would cross the Hawthorne bridge into downtown or go over the proposed Caruthers Street MAX bridge.

[pdxstreetcar]

Could a Streetcar Free the Funds for Sellwood Bridge Replacement? - Sellwood Bee (August 2005)

[pdxstreetcar]

Portland Streetcar Minutes: Aug 2005

Hollywood District Streetcar Line under discussion

Possible conversion of SE Grand Ave to 2-way street (SE 7th would be the new northbound street). Eastside Streetcar line would possibly operate 2-way on Grand.

Funding for the extension of the Streetcar to Lowell Ave. (in South Waterfront) is underway with 85% of the funding identified. Question over how the South Waterfront streetcar loop will connect back into the existing trackage with the Zidell barge factory and Tram Station on Gibbs.

Also under discussion is the return route from Lowell on Bond as to where the alignment will return to Moody to continue northbound.
Project staff has recommended SW Gibbs, but conflicts have arisen with the tram landing area. Work will continue to reach a resolution. TriMet has agreed to fund their portion of operations to Lowell.
The portion of track between SW Gibbs and SW River Parkway will remain single track until Zidell Company chooses to relocate.

Streetcars have begun testing on the new track to Gibbs.

[urbanlife]

I love seeing the streetcar take off ten-fold. We are going to have one hell of a transit city. I can see these streetcars being packed with people who have opted not to drive to get around town.

[edgepdx]

I'd love to see a streetcar down the NE/SE 42nd/41st/39th coridor between SE Hawthorne, Hollywood and NE Freemont. That whole axis of the city always seemed to need some sort of structured transit. You could meet up with the MAX or the future Hawthorne or Broadway streetcars, just imagine.

[pdxstreetcar]

LRT on Transit Mall construction timeline:
-Final Design: Oct 2005 to Sep 2006
-Private Utility Location: Jan 2006 to Dec 2006
-Buses Move Off the Mall: Jan 2007
-Public Utility Location: Sep 2006 to Feb 2008
-Construction: Jan 2007 to Nov 2008
-Buses Move Back to the Mall: Spring 2009
-LRT on Mall (and I-205) Opens: Sep 2009

By the way, September is MAX month: Banfield MAX opened September 1986, Westside MAX opened September 1998, Airport MAX opened September 2001, Interstate MAX was supposed to open September 2004 but was moved up to May 2004.

It appears that the old firehouse at Glisan & 3rd and the RR Signal Tower at Hoyt & 4th will be demolished for the light rail tracks.

There will be a gated crossing on the west approach to the Steel Bridge so the trains can cross from the center of the bridge roadway to the north side of the bridge (along the railroad tracks by Union Station).

[cab]

THose are both great looking buildings. I have to say with the added auto lane down the transit mall and these building getting trash, I really feel this projects negatives outweigh the positives. With the crisscrossing tracks and buses and the loss of pedestrian space its going to be a huge disaster. We can do better then this.

[pdxstreetcar]

^
I agree completely

I wonder what rail transit experts not involved with the project feel about the criss crossing tracks, I doubt they think they are a good idea

[Dr Nevergold]

Maybe its slower because its sharing commuter traffic with commercial freight? Are they building it to be a multi-lane traffic rail or will it be a single rail line shared between both directions? If so, that would increase travel time to the 37 minutes or more.

Of course when factoring in that commuter rail isn't like light rail in that the trains tend to stay stopped for longer intervals, that also explains a lot.

The official webpage says it is going to be 27 minutes, so maybe 37 is a typo?

[pdxskyline]

I don't know about how effective criss-crossing tracks are versus how throughput-crippling they are. The only example I can thin of is in Los Angeles on the Blue Line there. There's a section in Long Beach where the tracks cross because of the one-way grid. Seems to work fine for them, but that's only a one-line alignment. The same could be said for the Portland Streetcar...

The Portland Transit Mall section, once the full extensions will be built out, will have, at the mos optomistic of my projections, three MAX lines on it. There'd be two cross overs at each end (One at Union Station in the north, another near PSU at Lincoln Street in the south for the Milwaukie extension, and another south of PSU if the Barbur Blvd. line is ever built).

They should have done a subway. Its too bad that the money isn't there to do such a thing, but I think a subway downtown is going to be needed much sooner than 50 years from now as Fred Hansen claims. Ever see a train during rush hour on the current MAX alignments??? Libertarians and anti-transit conservatives obviously have never seen the trains when they say nobody uses the MAX.

[Dr Nevergold]

Many of us will never understand anti-transit advocates. The amount of money invested into what the interstates alone in Portland have become are in the many billions upon billions of dollars since they were created in the 1950's.

If Libertarians and certain conservatives are against basic infrastructure, they should be against riding on the interstates as much as sitting on a MAX train.

But aside from that, its great that Portland is a city building suburb-to-suburb rail. You can't control the fact that suburbs exist and people want a single family home, what you can do is control quality. And it sounds like Portland sprawl will be of far higher quality then the average city.

Sounds like Portland is going to have Canadian-style sprawl akin to Toronto or Vancouver in the commuter corridor.

Now just hope the powers at be are planning a few highrise condos and apartments show up at each station with retail all over.

I've not been reading details, are there plans to build a transit-accessible and car friendly mall/shopping center around any of these stops? Housing developments in the works?

[pdxstreetcar]

^
Not really, there has been some talk of density along the route but the reality is there wont be much of this development since there would only be a few trains a day. However Metro (the regional govt in charge of regional planning) has their Regional Centers and Town Centers planning strategy to concentrate development in existing suburban downtowns, already established regional centers (like major shopping malls) and at transit & highway crossroads. Washington Square Mall will have a station but will be a bit of a distance from the rail line (and on the other side of a freeway).

Re: MAX subway:
I really wanted to see a subway and sent an email to TriMet in support of it but I've been thinking about it and there are a lot of questions and options, suppose a subway does get built, what route would likely be chosen? I am assuming that they would only build one downtown subway line due to cost and disruption. Would it follow the transit mall or the existing "Cross-Mall" MAX alignment through Old Town, Skidmore District, PGE Park area? The transit mall subway alignment would make sense being that that is the main core of downtown but the cross mall route connects with the streetcar downtown and serves PGE Park which are definately important destinations on a MAX line. How might the Westside line connect in if there was the Transit Mall subway alignment, via Jefferson or similar to now going north on SW 18th to Morrison or Yamhill? Also would the subway start on the west side of the river or the east side by the Lloyd or Rose Quarter?

I am wondering if a downtown subway is intended to be built sort of as a "grand finale" for the MAX system after all the other MAX lines are built. That time there will be no question on the need for a subway because of traffic and congestion with the many lines running into downtown. Also perhaps they are holding off until building more lines out to the suburbs because of fear that huge problems will arise in building a subway which would prevent future lines from being built because of cost over-runs and construction delays similar to what happened in LA building the subway and now it is almost impossible for LA to build another mile of heavy rail subway.

[Tim the Enchanter]

Record-high diesel prices affect TriMet's budget & fares

TriMet continues to fight rising fuel costs by improving mileage on buses, maximizing service efficiency and conserving resources. Thanks to our skilled mechanics and operators, TriMet's bus fleet is now believed to be the most fuel-efficient in the nation.

TriMet buys 6.5 million gallons of diesel every year. For every 15-cent increase in diesel, it costs TriMet an additional $1 million. Since July 2005, we're averaging about $0.60 a gallon over the budgeted figure of $1.50 per gallon. This price is lower than what you pay at the pump because TriMet pays no taxes on diesel and gets a price break for buying in bulk. But these record-high prices have created a budget gap of more than $4 million just since July.

We're taking several steps to mitigate these increases:

* We're creating a corrective action plan that will more quickly respond to rising prices—including, but not limited to, fare increases. Fares pay for about 25 percent of the operating cost of a ride.
* TriMet will continue to operate its service more efficiently to reduce diesel use. Efficiency efforts over the past two years have cut diesel consumption by 500,000 gallons.

The TriMet board will adopt a Diesel Cost Response Policy at its September 28 meeting, and will consider a fare increase of 10 or 15 cents at its October 12 and 26 meetings. A fare increase would take effect on either December 1, 2005, or January 1, 2006.

http://www.trimet.org/promotions/diesel.htm

[pdxstreetcar]

I-205 light rail heads to next stop: Buying land
Transit The extension to Clackamas Town Center is on track to open in September 2009

Monday, November 14, 2005
STEVE MAYES

The Interstate 205 light-rail extension south to Clackamas Town Center is moving from lines on paper to tracks on the ground.

TriMet will start buying land this month for park-and-ride stations along the 6.5-mile route south from the Gateway transit center. Most of the land needed for the tracks, which parallel the freeway, was set aside decades ago.

The federal government, which is supplying 60 percent of the money to build the line, gave the green light to property acquisition last month.

TriMet expects federal approval of a final design next year and to open the Green Line on schedule in September 2009, said Elizabeth Davidson, a spokeswoman for the transit agency.

"The big hurdle for us has been the federal (approval) process," Davidson said. "We're really happy with this project."

The I-205 project coincides with the rebuilding of the downtown Portland transit mall, at a combined cost of $557 million.

Over the next 12 months, Tri-Met will buy 33 parcels for park-and-ride lots. More than half the properties are at the Johnson Creek Boulevard interchange near what will be the Fuller Road light-rail station and park-and-ride. The purchase of the homes and rental properties will require several households to relocate.

Most of the Green Line's park-and-ride spaces will be in Clackamas County -- 630 spaces at the Fuller Road station and 750 spaces in a parking garage at Clackamas Town Center. The mall's transit center will be on the ground level of the garage.

Clackamas County officials hope the new transit service will spur additional development along Southeast 82nd Avenue. Part of the Clackamas County portion of the light-rail line borders a neighborhood that for years has battled crime and drugs.

The county plans to include the area in a new urban renewal district, which could add affordable housing and fight the blight along 82nd Avenue. Some developers already have homed in on the area.

Reliance Development, a Portland firm, plans a 276-unit condominium project north of the mall. Land south of the Town Center station is zoned for high-rise office buildings, said John Rist, Clackamas County's light-rail project manager.

Rist said he expects that light rail will stimulate developers' interest in the site.

TriMet expects the Green Line to carry at least 33,000 riders daily by 2025.

The Clackamas park-and-rides will attract residents from Happy Valley and the sprawl of new subdivisions east of I-205, Rist said. The line also will be within walking distance of low-income neighborhoods and apartment projects west of the freeway.

The mall will be a major destination for southbound passengers. Commuters headed to downtown Portland -- a 38-minute trip -- will have an appealing alternative to the rising costs of gas and parking, Rist said.

"I think once it opens, it's going to be at capacity pretty darn soon," Rist said.

Steve Mayes: 503-294-5916; stevemayes@news.oregonian.com

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/orego...390.xml&coll=7

[DubbaG]

I know I said I'd post this a long time ago, so here it finally is.

Here's what I've done. It's all the current rail and streetcar lines and my estimates on the alignments of future lines.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD GOOGLE EARTH KML FILE

[bvpcvm]

Originally Posted by pdxstreetcar

I-205 light rail heads to next stop: Buying land
Transit The extension to Clackamas Town Center is on track to open in September 2009

Last night, out of sheer, utter boredom (wife's in school, friends busy) I read the minutes from the last citizen's advisory committee for the I-205 line. If you need a sleeping aid, try this. It's not nicely summarized like the minutes for the streetcar. Basically, the only thing interesting - actually, I hesitate to call it interesting - was that basically TriMet is done with its part (for now), and until just about next summer nothing much will happen while the FTA reviews the EIS.

[pdxstreetcar]

Streetcar's route in South Waterfront is tight fit
Development - The extension isn't paid for, but the plan meshes with the tram and bicycle lanes

Wednesday, November 30, 2005
FRED LEESON

Squeezed in places by a bike lane and the aerial tram, the Portland Streetcar now has a route for its next extension in the South Waterfront district -- but no budget or target opening date.

Full Article

[pdxstreetcar]

Latest on Washington County Commuter Rail:
As of late November 2005, the design work was 75% complete

Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2006
Operation is scheduled to begin in Fall 2008 (probably Sept since TriMet likes to open new lines in Sept)

5 DMU(diesel multiple unit) rail cars have been purchased from Colorado Railcar, 3 of which will be powered, the other 2 will be unpowered "dummy" cars which couple onto the powered cars

A request for $59 million has been submited to the FTA awaiting a positive response which is very likely now.

[designpdx]

This is good news. I can't wait to see the line operational.

[PacificNW]

I like the look!