MAX Green Line
The MAX Green Line is a light rail service in Portland, Oregon, United States, operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. It connects Portland State University, Portland City Center, Northeast Portland, Southeast Portland, and Clackamas Town Center. The line is long and serves 30 stations between the PSU South stations and Clackamas Town Center Transit Center. The Green Line is the only service that shares parts of its alignment with the four other MAX services. It shares the Portland Transit Mall with the Orange Line and the Yellow Line, and the Banfield segment of the Eastside MAX with the Blue Line and the Red Line. Southbound from Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center, the Green Line exclusively operates a segment along Interstate 205 referred to as the I-205 MAX. Service runs for approximately 21 hours daily with a headway of 15 minutes during most of the day.
Planning for the first light rail services to Clackamas County began in the mid-1980s with the announcement of two separate lines, of which one was envisioned between Portland International Airport and Clackamas Town Center via I-205. Feasibility studies conducted in the early 1990s eventually shifted plans away from I-205 and culminated in the South/North Line proposal. This plan failed to secure voter-backed funding over several ballot measures, resulting in its cancellation in 1998. In 2001, regional planners developed the South Corridor transportation project, a two-phased revision of the initial proposal that sought the addition of light rail to I-205 and the Portland Transit Mall in its first phase. With the support of local governments and residents, the project was approved in 2003. Light rail construction began in early 2007 and Green Line service commenced on September 12, 2009. The line is the third busiest in the system, carrying an average of 20,640 riders per day on weekdays in September 2018.
In the future, TriMet plans to extend MAX to Southwest Portland, Tigard, and Tualatin with the Southwest Corridor light rail project. If local funding is approved by voters in November 2020, the extension would begin construction in 2022 and open in 2027 with service from the Green Line.
I-205 history
Early proposals
In the mid-1980s, Metro regional government announced plans to introduce light rail to Clackamas County with the proposal of two lines: one between Portland International Airport and Clackamas Town Center via I-205, and the other between downtown Portland, Milwaukie, and Oregon City via McLoughlin Boulevard. A panel of local and state officials, known as the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation, affirmed their endorsement of an I-205 line in 1987 with a request to start preliminary engineering for light rail in lieu of an originally planned busway. Their preferred alignment had been the I-205 Transitway, an unfinished, grade-separated transit right-of-way built during I-205's construction in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As plans to extend MAX, the region's existing light rail system, westward to Hillsboro in Washington County took priority for federal funding, TriMet called on local businesses and governments in Clackamas County to subsidize the proposed $88 million I-205 route.A dispute between Washington and Clackamas county officials followed, with Clackamas County vying for additional federal assistance, including $17 million in excess funds sourced from the partially realized I-205 Transitway. In January 1989, in an effort to settle the dispute, Metro approved a 10-year regional transportation plan in which it reasserted the westside line's priority and commissioned preliminary work on the I-205 line, as well as a study for a line to Milwaukie. The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations approved a financing package in September, which provided $2 million to assess both segments. At the behest of Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield and Washington Senator Brock Adams, who were members of the committee, a segment further north to Clark County, Washington became part of the proposals.
Initial studies examined extending the proposed I-205 line further north across the Columbia River to Vancouver Mall or the Clark County Fairgrounds. As the studies analyzed various alternative routes, however, support eventually shifted to an alignment along the busier I-5 and Willamette River corridors. A route from Hazel Dell, Washington through downtown Portland to Clackamas Town Center called the South/North Line was finalized in 1994. Estimated to cost around $2.8 billion, Portland area voters approved a $475 million bond measure on November 8, 1994, to cover Oregon's share. A Clark County vote to fund Washington's portion, which would have been sourced through sales and vehicle excise tax increases, was subsequently defeated on February 7, 1995. TriMet later sought funding for various scaled-back revisions of the South/North Line that generally followed a route between North Portland and Clackamas Town Center, which voters rejected in 1996 and 1998. In 1997, an unsolicited proposal from engineering company Bechtel led to a public–private partnership that built an extension of MAX to Portland International Airport using much of the northern half of the I-205 Transitway; this extension opened in 2001 with service from the Red Line.
Revival and funding
In May 2001, a Metro planning committee convened to discuss renewed light rail plans to downtown Milwaukie, as well as to revisit the idea of running MAX on I-205 from Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center to Clackamas Town Center. The following month, the committee announced the $8.8 million South Corridor transportation study, which evaluated both options. In 2002, a supplemental draft environmental impact statement based on the original South/North Line EIS was published. Metro narrowed down five alternatives in January 2003; these included building both light rail lines, a combination of one light rail service and one improved bus service, bus rapid transit, and dedicated bus lanes. The study's task force recommended both light rail options; they proposed a two-phased development plan, starting with the addition of light rail to I-205 by 2009, followed by the completion of a Portland to Milwaukie line five years later. The existing I-205 Transitway right-of-way and the potential for no new taxes were two factors that led to the selection of the I-205 corridor for the first phase. With the approval of local residents, affected jurisdictions each endorsed this proposal by April 2003. An amendment to include adding tracks on the Portland Transit Mall as part of the first phase was prepared the following October. TriMet published the final EIS in December 2004 and began land acquisition for park and ride facilities in November 2005.The combined I-205 MAX and transit mall revitalization project was approved by the federal government on February 7, 2006. The project was budgeted at $575.7 million, of which approximately $355.7 million went to I-205. TriMet negotiated a local match of 40 percent, or $197.4 million of total funding in July 2004. Federal funding, which covered the remaining 60 percent, or about $345 million, was approved in February 2006 under the New Starts program. The head of the Federal Transit Administration signed the full-funding agreement in Portland on July 3, 2007. In May 2009, the project received $32 million in federal stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, an amount already committed to the project by the federal government but made available so that TriMet could retire debt earlier. The City of Portland provided $15 million in bonds paid off by raising parking meter fees, $17 million from a local improvement district, and $6.3 million from systems and utilities charges. Around $36 million came from Clackamas County urban renewal funds, collected from property taxes within the Clackamas Town Center urban renewal district. TriMet contributed $20.5 million, and the Portland Development Commission provided $20 million. An additional $15.3 million was spent by downtown businesses to improve retail spaces along the transit mall.
Construction and opening
TriMet awarded the construction of the I-205 MAX to South Corridor Constructors, a joint venture composed of Stacy and Witbeck, F.E. Ward Constructors—both of which had worked on the preceding Interstate MAX project—and Granite Construction Company; it was granted through a design–build contract in February 2004. Construction commenced in February 2007. This marked the start of a 2-year closure of sections of the I-205 Bike Path. A new mixed-use path linking Clackamas County to the South Park Blocks in downtown Portland was paved as a permanent alternative. Preliminary work involved erecting light rail bridges over Southeast Johnson Creek Boulevard and Southeast Harold Street, and excavating light rail underpasses below Southeast Stark and Washington streets. Crews were at work along the, two-station segment within Clackamas County by November 2007. The line was over 70 percent complete by November 2008, with tracks laid from Gateway Transit Center to. TriMet ordered 22 Siemens S70 cars to serve the expansion. Referred to as Type 4, the first car was delivered in 2009; it made its first test run in March and entered service on August 6, 2009. The line's first end-to-end test run, attended by local and state dignitaries, occurred in July 2009.Green Line service commenced on September 12, 2009. The two extensions added a total of of newly constructed light rail tracks. The I-205 section accounted for —the Portland Transit Mall section,. Opening day festivities, paid for by sponsors and donations, were held at Clackamas Town Center and PSU. As many as 40,000 people showed up to ride the trains, which were free that day. To address its $31 million budget deficit, TriMet simultaneously eliminated four bus routes and implemented service cuts to 49 other lines.
Transit mall revitalization
A north–south light rail alignment through downtown Portland had been considered as early as the 1980s. In 1991, following recommendations made by a citizen advisory committee, the Portland City Council commissioned a feasibility study for a potential subway line beneath the 1977-built Portland Transit Mall on 5th and 6th avenues, then served only by buses. During the planning stages of the South/North Line in 1994, government planners introduced a surface light rail alternative, which was later favored by the project's steering committee when it concluded a $250 million tunnel would be too costly. Following the cancellation of the South/North Line, the city reserved revitalization efforts for the transit mall amid proposals to rebuild it to allow curbside parking in 2002.In 2003, TriMet planners began to reconsider the addition of light rail to the Portland Transit Mall. Planning for the second phase of the South Corridor transportation study, which aimed to extend MAX south to Milwaukie, revealed that a fourth service on the existing tracks along Southwest Morrison and Yamhill streets, served already by the Blue, Red, and Yellow lines, would push the downtown alignment to maximum capacity. Additionally, Portland business leaders pushed for the construction of a new bridge that would lead to the southern end of the transit mall instead of using the Hawthorne Bridge, fearing the latter would form a traffic bottleneck. A study conducted subsequently by TriMet proposed stations on either the left, right, or middle lanes of the transit mall, and planners selected a hybrid center-lane travel with right-side boarding option in April 2004. Local governments approved the revitalization plan by the following month, combining it with the first-phase construction of the I-205 MAX. Consisting of seven stations per split on 5th and 6th Avenues, the project extended the existing transit mall from 44 to 117 block faces between Portland Union Station and PSU. It also added a continuous travel lane for private vehicles, which had not been present in the corridor's original bus-only design.
The contract was awarded to a joint venture of Stacy and Witbeck and Kiewit Pacific. Preparation work began with the rerouting of 17 bus lines to 3rd and 4th avenues, six lines to Southwest Columbia and Jefferson streets, and one line, the 14–Hawthorne, to Southwest 2nd Avenue. Construction commenced on January 14, 2007, with the corridor's temporary closure. Owing to techniques learned from the Interstate MAX project, businesses were kept open while blocks were closed off in three- to four-block sections from north to south, minimizing disruptions. The original transit mall had been built with mortar-set bricks, which proved difficult to maintain. In the reconstruction, TriMet experimented with sand-set brick paving as recommended by British civil engineer John Knapton, who studied road building methods used by the Romans. Tracks were laid into the surface street, while water pipes and sewers were buried to underground. The last section of rail on the transit mall was installed in May 2008. From June to August 2008, the upper deck of the Steel Bridge was closed to connect the existing MAX tracks with the new tracks.
5th and 6th avenues reopened to vehicular traffic in July 2008, two months ahead of schedule. TriMet began line testing in January 2009, initially with light rail cars hauled by a truck, then with the system's new Type 4 trains. Bus service returned to the transit mall on May 24, 2009. Three months later, on August 30, 2009, the light rail portion opened with inaugural service from the Yellow Line, which was rerouted from its original downtown alignment with the Blue and Red lines on First Avenue and Southwest Morrison and Yamhill streets. Green Line trains began serving the Portland Transit Mall during the opening of the I-205 MAX on September 12, 2009.
Planned Southwest Corridor extension
A planned expansion of MAX, referred to as the Southwest Corridor light rail project, would add 13 stations over a new track extension. It would connect downtown Portland to Southwest Portland and the cities of Tigard and Tualatin. The line would start at the PSU South stations on the southern end of the Portland Transit Mall in downtown Portland. It would head south over I-405, run between Marquam Hill and I-5, and proceed southwest beyond Capitol Highway to connect with Barbur Transit Center. Two bridges would take the line over I-5 into the Tigard Triangle. It would traverse a fourth bridge over Oregon Route 217 and proceed towards Tigard Transit Center, which would connect it with WES Commuter Rail. Adjacent to the SW Hall Blvd station would be a newly constructed rail yard built to house rolling stock and maintenance operations. The line would continue down beside the old Oregon Electric Railway right-of-way before terminating at Bridgeport Village.Much of the extension would run along the center of Southwest Barbur Boulevard, a part of OR 99W. It is being designed to connect riders to the upper campus of OHSU via pedestrian link and PCC Sylvania via shuttle bus. End-to-end travel time would take approximately 30 minutes. At an estimated cost of $2.6 billion to $2.9 billion, the project will be included in a regional transportation funding measure that will be voted on in 2020. If approved, the extension is expected to open in 2027 and serve approximately 43,000 riders by 2035.
Project history
A segment of OR 99W, between Portland and Sherwood, was identified as one of the region's next high capacity transit corridors in Metro's 2035 Regional Transportation Plan adopted on June 10, 2010. The FTA granted Metro $2 million in January 2011 to begin studies for this area, which was formally called the Southwest Corridor. The funds focused on the assessment of various alternatives, including light rail, commuter rail, streetcar, and bus rapid transit. The Southwest Corridor Plan officially launched on September 28, 2011, integrating the individual land use plans begun by each of the involved communities and initiating the development of a unified transportation network.In June 2013, Metro released the corridor's high-capacity transit analysis, in which it selected light rail and bus rapid transit as the main alternatives. Citing a lack of present and future demand, the analysis eliminated further planning using the alternatives to Sherwood. A streetcar line and a high-occupancy vehicle lane on I-5, among other previously considered options, were also abandoned. In response to local opposition to the removal of automobile lanes from OR 99W in Tigard, the steering committee recommended rerouting the proposed alignment through the Tigard Triangle. A refinement recommendation was announced in June 2014 selecting a preliminary route from the southern end of the Portland Transit Mall in downtown Portland to just east of Tualatin station in downtown Tualatin; this was later shortened to terminate at Bridgeport Village. Proposals to serve OHSU on Marquam Hill, Hillsdale, and PCC Sylvania with tunnels were dropped from the plan because they would be costly, have severe construction impacts, and attract few new transit riders. Connecting OHSU to a surface transit line through elevators or escalators is being studied.
In May 2016, light rail was chosen as the preferred mode alternative over bus rapid transit. Tigard voters, after passing a measure requiring voters to approve the construction of any high-capacity transit built within city limits, approved the light rail extension the following September.
In light of a budget gap of $462million, planners proposed reducing lanes on Barbur Boulevard and shortening the line's route to terminate in downtown Tigard. Both proposals were rejected in November 2019. Private negotiations, as well as Metro's approval to increase the project's requested budget by $125million in the 2020 ballot measure, has reduced the budget gap to around $100million.
Route
The Green Line is long; it serves three distinct segments of the MAX system: the Portland Transit Mall, Eastside MAX, and I-205 MAX. The line's western termini are the PSU South stations at the southern end of the Portland Transit Mall within the PSU campus. Tracks along the transit mall are split between 5th and 6th Avenues; trains travel northbound on 6th Avenue and southbound on 5th Avenue. From the PSU South stations, the line traverses the length of the transit mall, which ends near Union Station. Along the way, it crosses with the Portland Streetcar near the PSU Urban Center stations and with the east–west MAX lines on Yamhill and Morrison streets near the Pioneer Courthouse and Pioneer Courthouse Square. A wye connects the tracks near the intersection of Northwest 5th Avenue and Hoyt Street. The line continues southeast onto the Northwest Glisan Street Ramp and across the Willamette River via the Steel Bridge.On the east end of the Steel Bridge, the Green Line joins the Eastside MAX alignment, serving the stations between the Rose Quarter Transit Center and Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center. On this segment, it runs at-grade along Holladay Street at the Rose Quarter and Lloyd District, and then along the northern edge of the Banfield Freeway.
Beyond Gateway Transit Center, the Green Line proceeds south, entering the I-205 MAX segment to the east of I-205. Throughout most of this stretch, the line is grade-separated as part of the I-205 Transitway, running either above or below roadway intersections. The exception is an at-grade crossing at Southeast Flavel Street. Much of this segment also parallels the I-205 Bike Path. Between Southeast Lincoln and Grant streets, the tracks enter a tunnel beneath the freeway, exiting on the opposite side just north of Southeast Division Street. Above Johnson Creek Boulevard, it travels on a -long overpass, the longest new structure on the alignment. South of Southeast Fuller Road station, the line dips under the Otty Road and Monterey Avenue overpasses before terminating at the Clackamas Town Center Transit Center, near Southeast Sunnyside Road.
The Green Line shares its northbound alignment on the Portland Transit Mall with Yellow Line trains, which diverge towards the Expo Center in North Portland after crossing the Steel Bridge, and southbound with Orange Line trains, which continue beyond PSU South/Southwest 5th and Jackson station for Southeast Park Avenue station in Milwaukie. The Green Line also shares a portion of the Eastside MAX with Blue Line and Red Line services between Rose Quarter Transit Center and Gateway Transit Center, being the newest to serve the alignment in 2009.
Stations
The I-205 MAX, which the Green Line serves exclusively, consists of eight stations between Southeast Main Street and Clackamas Town Center Transit Center, occupying a segment of the I-205 Transitway south of the I-5 and I-205 interchange. The Portland Transit Mall, which the Green Line serves along with the Orange Line and the Yellow Line, consists of seven stations per direction. Green Line trains serve 30 stations total, of which the remaining eight are between Rose Quarter Transit Center and Gateway Transit Center, shared with the Blue Line and the Red Line.The Green Line provides connections to local and intercity bus services at various stops across the line, the Portland Streetcar at four stops in and near downtown Portland, and Amtrak via Union Station.