Tri-Met Long Term Transit plans and my proposals -- 2040 plan (Portland: sales, construction)

[DarkWolf]

I took all the long term Light Rail and Streetcar proposals and put on the same map with my proposals.... Some side notes , MAX should never left the core of Portland , that should be the job of buses and Regional Rail. Portland needs to densfifly its Transit corridors , compared to other cities there empty.... Get rid of or reduce the number of parking lots in Downtown.....to get more ppl to use Transit like they've done in other cities.

Tri-Met Plans
MAX Eastside / Red line
Portland Streetcar loop
Portland streetcar loop 2
Portland Streetcar loop 3
MAX yellow line extension to Vancouver
MAX green line extension to Milwaukee

My proposals
Mc Minnville / Washougal Regional Rail line
Salem Extension of WES
Oregon City Regional rail line
Forest Grove MAX extension

Portland Long Term Rail / Transit Plans and proposals and my proposals - Google Maps

Current Tri-Met System
WES / Light Rail and Streetcar 68 miles
added miles of Light Rail : 23
added miles of Streetcar : 70
added miles of regional Rail : 129

Compared to other cities....

Philly

Current system : 117 mi
added miles of Light Rail : 57
added miles of Streetcar / Tram : 52
added miles of Metro / Subway : 21

Urban Jersey

Current system : 78 mi
added miles of Light Rail : 214
added miles of Streetcar / Tram : 0
added miles of Metro / Subway : 28

Northern Virgina

Current System : 29 mi
added miles of Metrorail : 52
added miles of Streetcar : 89
added miles of Bus Rapid Transit : 41

[Ryant]

I didn't see the proposals on the map link. I'm not sure if you're coming at this from a NJ standpoint? There isn't as much use for regional rail. It's not like the east coast with many larger towns/cities in a small area. The population of Oregon is 1/2 to 1/3 of NJ and Oregon is a much larger state. I use the light rail from the burbs, I think that's how it should be.. It's just one metro area here and it's not very big in terms of square miles.

Maybe they should run the max into the SE area some more, the SW, and Vancouver..

[philwithbeard]

Sorry, ain't going to happen.

Have you seen this link:
TriMet: How TriMet is Funded

The wider the service area, the wider the payroll tax will be spread, and the greater the anti-tax revolt will be to starve TriMet of any and all funding. Like bland and boring cookie-cutter suburbia everywhere, suburbanites won't pay for Mass Transit because they live in CAR-IS-KING land and want roads for their cars, not mass transit (because it services the Masses??? maybe?).

As far as expanding WES, WES is now in danger of being canceled at the end of the contract commitment. Take a look at these charts:
TriMet: Performance Dashboard

Only TriMet's handicap paraplegic service (Lift) is a bit more expensive operating cost per passenger than WES. (Lift is almost a poor-man's wheel chair medical nonemergency ambulance / doctor appointment service. Call it a medical transport door-to-door Taxi service.) The remainder of TriMet services aren't even on the same chart because of the gap. No, WES may die, but I may be wrong as I cannot predict the future.

The big issue is right-of-way. Current MAX rails outside the city center runs on what was easy to acquire land to lay the tracks.

There is very little funding for current TriMet operations budget overruns nor current capital improvement. Don't expect much additional capital improvements due to lack of funding outside of the Portland city limits until way past the end of the Great Rescission; in fact, expect a drop in Federal Funding currently pledged to Mass Transit nation wide due to GOP efforts in the US House.

I will gladly revise by gloomy predictions when both the new Sellwood bridge construction begins and the new Orange Line Bridge (Caruthers Bridge??) constructions also begins.

[DarkWolf]

Well the WES has been a disaster....but what about Streetcars and Light Rail....they seem to building 2-3 lines a decade.....

[philwithbeard]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Well the WES has been a disaster....but what about Streetcars and Light Rail....they seem to building 2-3 lines a decade.....

Like I mentioned before, the building (or completion) of the Caruthers Bridge across the Willamette River will become the rail growth bellwether for the future. No bridge, no rail line growth.

If you get bored, and want some background:
Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project: Planning and Design - Multi-Use Transit Bridge

And here is a 118 page PDF file of a PowerPoint presentation on the bridge:
http://trimet.org/pdfs/pm/wrbac_meet...n_11_17_10.pdf

[Leisesturm]

I'm not sure what I am missing but Trimet does not look all that bad in the comparisons. But where does someone advertised as an east coast resident get off being so impassioned about what Trimet should or should not do with its vision? Move here and run for office. You've got my vote.

H

[EnricoV]

Yeah, other than the laughable aspect of running anything through Vancouver, who have notoriously refused to support light rail. That's why the Yellow line stops at the Expo Center. I guess it's easier to assume it'll happen when you don't really know the situation.

[mobilemindstationaryreality]

Originally Posted by EnricoV

Yeah, other than the laughable aspect of running anything through Vancouver, who have notoriously refused to support light rail. That's why the Yellow line stops at the Expo Center. I guess it's easier to assume it'll happen when you don't really know the situation.

Uh, Enrico, let me give you a little history lesson on Vancouver and MAX. In 1995, Clark County voters turned down a light-rail extension north of the river. Notice "1995" and "Clark County." That was 16 years ago and all polls from what I've read have Vancouverites in support of MAX extensions. Clark County on the other hand as a whole I'm sure would still be against it, but Vancouver is for it. Problem is that in order to raise money, sales taxes must be raised and that is usually best done on a county-wide basis. I see problems with that down the road.

[EnricoV]

Thanks, but I need no history lesson. Word I've always heard is that it's a no-go for them unless they use I-205. It's the I-5 connection they object to. And the Yellow Line went in much more recently than 1995. That's only when the discussion began.

Personally, I've always thought it had more to do with the city/county's ridiculous notion that they are NOT a part of Portland, but are a stand-alone city that just happens to be nearby. But that's just my theory.

[DarkWolf]

Has Tri-met considered putting there light rail in a Tunnel downtown?