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  #3061  
Old Posted Dec 28, 2011, 8:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maccoinnich View Post
I think people are aware that these are diagrams, not scale drawings.
Exactly. To be useful, the map can't be to scale. Draw it to scale in any way and it won't be portable or user friendly. I think this map is excellent.

Don't get me wrong... the scale here is almost comical, but the map itself is quite useful. Is it even a map? Maybe it's more of a diagram?

One thing it clearly shows is the problem of using colors for the streetcar. There's a light green streetcar and a green MAX. If anything, purple would be a better color since it doesn't conflict with the MAX.
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  #3062  
Old Posted Dec 29, 2011, 6:36 AM
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First, this is a diagram, not a map. It's meant for showing the general layout and orientation of all the lines and stations in a clear and concise manner. Correct scale is not necessary.

Second, while I like the overall look, I think the streetcar lines could be depicted much simpler and not take up so much space in the central area. Do we really need to see every station on the streetcar lines when they're only 2-3-4 blocks apart? That should be evident by the nature of the service, just as it is with buses. The downtown area could be half the size if the streetcars were shown as simple lines. That would also establish a heirarchy between MAX and Streetcar, which isn't obvious looking at this diagram.

Regarding colors, the streetcars can be shown as the same color once they figure out what letter and/or number combination they want to use to differentiate them. And the actual line on the diagram should be noticeably thinner than the MAX and WES lines, again to establish heirarchy.
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  #3063  
Old Posted Dec 29, 2011, 6:39 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 65MAX View Post
First, this is a diagram, not a map. It's meant for showing the general layout and orientation of all the lines and stations in a clear and concise manner. Correct scale is not necessary.

Second, while I like the overall look, I think the streetcar lines could be depicted much simpler and not take up so much space in the central area. Do we really need to see every station on the streetcar lines when they're only 2-3-4 blocks apart? That should be evident by the nature of the service, just as it is with buses. The downtown area could be half the size if the streetcars were shown as simple lines. That would also establish a heirarchy between MAX and Streetcar, which isn't obvious looking at this diagram.

Regarding colors, the streetcars can be shown as the same color once they figure out what letter and/or number combination they want to use to differentiate them. And the actual line on the diagram should be noticeably thinner than the MAX and WES lines, again to establish heirarchy.
Oh yeah, and get rid of the zones. They don't need to be shown here.
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  #3064  
Old Posted Dec 29, 2011, 6:41 AM
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Bump... for reference.

Quote:
Originally Posted by maccoinnich View Post
I like this. Map of Portland's passenger rail network, including future lines that are either under construction or in advanced planning.



Designer is Cameron Booth.
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  #3065  
Old Posted Dec 29, 2011, 6:56 AM
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Quote:
The famous London tube map, the grandfather of almost all transit maps, suffers from the same problem. Compare and contrast the iconic tube map with a geographically accurate map
Thanks maccoinnich, I'd never looked at the London Tube map and diagram side by side -- fascinating.
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  #3066  
Old Posted Dec 31, 2011, 8:07 PM
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D.C. awards $8.7M deal for two streetcars (Washington Business Journal)

Apparently OIW is actually manufacturing streetcars!
Originally posted in the main transportation thread by 202_Cyclist:

D.C. awards $8.7M deal for two streetcars

Washington Business Journal
By Michael Neibauer
Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Quote:
"The District has struck an $8.7 million deal with a Portland, Ore., firm to supply two 144-passenger streetcars for D.C.'s 2.2-mile H Street/Benning Road NE line.

United Streetcar LLC, a subsidiary of Oregon Iron Works Inc., won the deal to design, test, manufacture and deliver two streetcar vehicles plus parts. The contract is now before the D.C. Council and will be deemed approved Dec. 18, unless a member of the council moves to disapprove it.

The winning bid was selected over one from Inekon, the manufacturer of D.C.'s first three streetcars. Inekon, of the Czech Republic, offered to build the two new cars for $9.5 million. Its first two cars ran $10 million for three..."
http://www.bizjournals.com/washingto...l-for-two.html
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  #3067  
Old Posted Feb 8, 2012, 4:46 PM
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Transportation bill jeopardizes fate of bike, pedestrian programs
POSTED: Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 04:04 PM PT
BY: Lindsey O'Brien, Daily Journal of Commerce
Tags: bikes, Congress, federal funding, Peter DeFazio, transportation spending

A new federal transportation bill unveiled by House Republicans last week elicited resounding opposition in Oregon.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s chairman, John Mica, R-Fla., last week introduced the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act. It’s a $260 billion proposal to repair U.S. infrastructure, reauthorize transportation programs for five years and increase opportunities for domestic oil drilling.

But in a committee vote last week, every Democrat and even one Republican opposed the bill. Lawmakers, however, are expected to search for a compromise before the present law expires on March 31.

Opponents have a slew of objections to the nearly 900-page bill, including its emphasis on new highway construction, the elimination of money dedicated for projects to aid bicyclists and pedestrians, and reduction of long-term planning for public transit.

“This bill says it’s a waste to spend highway trust dollars to protect cyclists, pedestrians or children, (and that) all of that money should just go into highway projects,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who represents Southwest Oregon and is a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “It takes us back to pre-1980 in terms of the federal government’s participation in transit. It’s quite radical stuff.”

The bill would eliminate the Transportation Enhancements program, which requires states to set aside a percentage of federal money for bike and pedestrian programs. Instead, those allocations would be left entirely up to each state.

Mica and the bill’s supporters hail the proposal for cutting red tape and addressing critical transportation needs without earmarks.

But Travis Brouwer, federal affairs advisor for the Oregon Department of Transportation, said that even without mandated spending, Oregon is likely to continue investing a portion of its federal money in biking and pedestrian programs now being paid for via Transportation Enhancements.

“(The bill) wouldn’t have a major impact on bike and pedestrian projects,” Brouwer said. “We’d have to modify our Transportation Enhancement program, but we’d still be allowed to continue funding those projects.”

Andrew Cotugno, a policy advisor for Metro, is not as optimistic that active transportation would trump other infrastructure projects for funding if federal mandates were eliminated.

“There is a strong level of support in Oregon around a comprehensive transportation system, but we don’t know if it would remain once new flexibility is provided,” Cotugno said. “In other parts of the country that are antagonistic toward these programs, advocates are saying that spending on bike and pedestrian programs will go away in an instant.”

Supporters of public transportation investments also are concerned about potential impacts of the bill.

“If transit is not part of the highway trust fund, it seems like a very dangerous place to be,” said Alan Lehto, director of planning and policy for TriMet. “My concern is that there wouldn’t be as much federal funding available at all, no matter how forward-thinking we are about what kinds of infrastructure we need.”

While states would have more power to decide how to spend federal money, some programs would be eliminated entirely. The bill, for instance, would prohibit federal money from being used on the Safe Routes to School Program, which provides infrastructure improvements, education programs, and safety training to encourage kids to bike or walk to school.

Oregon receives an annual allocation of approximately $2 million, according to Brouwer.

“I’ve visited a number of schools in my district that participated. The parents are thrilled; the kids are away from dangerous intersections … it’s a great success nationwide,” DeFazio said. “That program was created when Republicans were in charge … but this is a much more mean-spirited bunch.”

By a narrow 29-27 margin, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week voted against restoring money for Safe Routes to School and Transportation Enhancements.

The bill is expected to go to the House floor for a vote by the end of the month, although if it were to pass in its present form, it likely would not be signed into law, according to DeFazio and several others.

The Senate drafted a transportation reauthorization bill with bipartisan support, and a temporary extension of the present law likely would pass in order to allow more time for negotiations.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...=83367&page=95
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  #3068  
Old Posted Feb 8, 2012, 4:47 PM
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Cyclists’ perspective on House Resolution 7

“This bill reverses decades of progress we’ve made to create safe routes to school and encourage safety on our streets for all users of the roadway,” said Gerik Kransky, advocacy director for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, a Portland-based nonprofit.

“It’s time to kill House Resolution 7,” he said. “It eliminates dedicated funding for biking and walking, slashes funding for transit services, and the way we see it – will actually make streets less safe.”

According to Kransky, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said last week that the highway spending plan is “the worst transportation bill” he’s seen in decades.

The bill would eliminate the Transportation Enhancements program, which sets aside money for pedestrian and bicycle projects not normally required on highway or transportation projects. The program, since its creation in 1992, has generated 190 Oregon projects worth a total of $97 million.

Projects approved in last year’s Transportation Enhancements program were awarded a total of $15.99 million in federal money. Including local matches, $19.13 million was spent on Oregon projects. They included:

Completion of The Dalles Riverfront Trail – $1.55 million federal award;
Pedestrian access to Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood schools on Southeast Holgate Boulevard and Ramona Street in Portland – $1.48 million federal award; and
Construction of the second phase of the Middle Fork Willamette River Path between Springfield and Eugene – $1.6 million federal award.

http://djcoregon.com/news/2012/02/07...rian-programs/
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  #3069  
Old Posted Feb 24, 2012, 6:14 PM
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Morrison Bridge work to be completed earlier than expected
POSTED: Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 04:09 PM PT
BY: Reed Jackson Daily Journal of Commerce
Tags: Conway Construction, Morrison Bridge

In the wake of a delay last summer, the $4.2 million project to replace open steel grating on the Morrison Bridge is finally close to completion.

In fact, David Conway of Conway Construction, the project’s contractor, said it would be “done in the next two to three weeks if weather permits.”

Multnomah County spokesman Mike Pullen was a little less optimistic, but he acknowledged that construction is in its final stages.

“Weather is the biggest factor; some of the work can’t be done if it’s too cold,” Pullen said. “The safest prediction is we’re off the bridge by the end of March – only a week or so difference from David’s prediction.”

If the safety improvement project were to wrap up next month, it would be delivered nearly three months after the date targeted originally. Construction was delayed for two months beginning last July, when tarps being used by crews to contain debris blew off during a storm. The debris “allegedly” – as emphasized by David Conway – put the Willamette River’s water quality at risk.

At that point, county officials were unsure whether the bridge work would even be completed by May, in time for the Rose Festival, and rumors grew that city officials were going to terminate Conway’s contract midway through the project.

But Conway, which has handled numerous bridge projects in the past 30 years, presented a new and more “traditional” containment system – plywood deck areas – and the project got back on track.

“Everything is now going very well; Conway Construction and the county are getting along well,” Conway said.

Crews are now working on the bridge’s fourth quadrant. They completed the second and third quadrants twice as fast as the first, which required three months. When asked why the pace has increased so much since construction resumed in September, Conway said only that it was a result of “ingenuity and hard work.”

Pullen had a more expansive theory.

“There was a learning curve,” he said. “Each of the bridge’s four quadrants is very similar; once the first steps were learned and the containment system was put in place, they gained speed.”

Although construction is in its final stages, Pullen said a significant amount of work remains; some calls for installing some of the lightweight fiber-reinforced polymer panels that will give the bridge more traction.

Since opening in 1958, the Morrison Bridge has caused problems for drivers because of its slippery-when-wet steel lift section. In 2005, for example, a woman driving an SUV slid off the bridge and into the river; she barely survived the incident.

Pullen said that increasing driver safety has been well worth the setbacks the project has faced.

“The project definitely took longer to accomplish than planned, and it was definitely a challenge,” he said. “But it’s a big safety improvement and the final product will allow drivers to drive more securely, which pretty much sums up how we view this project.”

http://djcoregon.com/news/2012/02/23...than-expected/
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  #3070  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2012, 6:15 AM
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Amtrak gaining popularity among commuters who ride between Portland, Oregon City and Salem

Published: Sunday, March 04, 2012, 2:00 PM Updated: Sunday, March 04, 2012, 5:13 PM

By Joseph Rose, The Oregonian

After an especially taxing day at his corporate communications job in downtown Portland, Dan Anderson was looking forward to the evening train commute to Oregon City.

"It gives me a chance to unwind a little before I get home," Anderson said, settling into a soft leather seat and opening his MacBook. "Free WiFi. I can order a beer. And it sure beats sitting in traffic."

Wait. Comfy chairs? Web-surfing? Brewskis on a dining car? Is TriMet running a Hogwarts Express for Portland area commuters that pulls into a secret MAX station?

Actually, this isn't TriMet. Anderson is part of a small but growing group of Clackamas County commuters spurning the region's transit agency in favor of Amtrak for daily trips in and out of the city.

Last year, daily ridership between Salem and Portland on Amtrak jumped more than 22 percent to 24,146 boardings, making it the rail carrier's fastest growing West Coast corridor. The number of monthly passes on the line, meanwhile, increased by 14 percent.

more.......................
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  #3071  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2012, 5:46 AM
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It's too bad that Amtrak can't effectively serve downtown Woodburn, Albany, Bend, Redmond, and the coast or true high speed rail from Eugene to Vancouver.
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  #3072  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2012, 10:15 PM
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Falling Star?

Wanna get depressed? Read this:

http://www.governing.com/topics/tran...nsit.html#next

The only thing about this article that caused me to crack a smile was the photo of John Charles -- in his car, of course. And the realization that he actually looks a little bit like Sam Adams.
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  #3073  
Old Posted Mar 7, 2012, 1:09 AM
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The same article could have been witten about ANY city that has a large transit system (minus the bogus #1 ranking in US News). It has nothing to do with Portland, per se, as it does the crappy economy in general, and specifically the Republican's crusade to defund as much mass transit in the country as they possibly can.

I can't wait to see the R's go down in flames this November.
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  #3074  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2012, 9:04 PM
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I read that article as well. It's tough out there for all transit agencies. I just hope they don't raise fares so soon. I have a regional transit pass that my employer heavily subsidizes, but my concern is the adverse affect that higher fares and less service has on people, particularly those who have low incomes. I hope the best for transit users.
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  #3075  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2012, 11:39 PM
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from the Portland Tribune:

Washington County next light rail battleground?

The rebellion against Metro planning and MAX light rail in Clackamas County is spreading to Washington County.

Concerns about the potential cost and development impacts of a possible MAX line along Southwest Barbur Boulevard and Highway 99E have been discussed at various gatherings, including a Feb. 22 meeting of the King City Republican Club and an earlier meeting of the Washington County Chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political action committee, in Beaverton.

"There are about a dozen of us that have decided it's time we do something. We're looking at putting some measures on the ballot, like they have in Clackamas County. We haven't set a deadline yet," says Art Crino, a retired Tigard engineer who has gone to some of the meetings.


etc, etc
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  #3076  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2012, 12:35 AM
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Just go ahead and run the next line down SE Powell...problem solved.
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  #3077  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2012, 4:58 AM
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Just go ahead and run the next line down SE Powell...problem solved.
This sounds like a good option.
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  #3078  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2012, 5:18 AM
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Quote:
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Just go ahead and run the next line down SE Powell...problem solved.
I like that idea. As long as we're building a new bridge...
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  #3079  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2012, 11:10 PM
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"They want to get you out of your automobile. I believe in freedom and own an automobile. An automobile gives you the freedom to go where you want when you want.” --Art Crino.

Well, golly gee, it's like it's 1957 all over again! Swell!
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  #3080  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2012, 11:46 PM
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I own an automobile so I can go where I please, but I also ride the MAX in the city since it gets me where I'm going and I don't have to waste gas. Some people just don't get it.
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