Transportation in Portland, Oregon
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Like transportation in the rest of the United States, the primary mode of local transportation in Portland, Oregon is the automobile. But Portland's reputation as a well-planned city is due to Metro's regional master plan in which transit-oriented development plays a major role.[citation needed] This approach, part of the new urbanism, promotes mixed-use and high-density development around light rail stops and transit centers, and the investment of the metropolitan area's share of federal tax dollars into multiple modes of transportation. This focus is atypical in an era when automobile use led many areas to neglect their core cities in favor of development along interstate highways, in suburbs, and satellite cities.[1]
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[edit] Mass transit
Portland is well-known for its comprehensive public transportation system. The major bus and rail system is operated by TriMet, its name reflecting the three metropolitan counties it serves (Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington). TriMet has a relatively high ridership[2], and an increasing number of its bus lines come every 15 minutes, seven days a week.
In the heart of downtown Portland is "Fareless Square", within which mass transit rides are free. It consists of two connected sections, the much larger of which is bounded roughly by the Willamette River to the east, Irving Street and Union Station to the north, and I-405 to the west and south. The other section starts at the west side of the Steel Bridge, crosses the Willamette, then continues northeast and then east along a light rail line to Lloyd Center.[3] The square serves as an extended hub for a hub-and-spoke model within which buses from all directions and light rail converge. The core of that hub is the Portland Transit Mall. Due to light rail construction (the MAX Green Line), the Transit Mall is undergoing major changes; buses which used to take advantage of its dedicated lanes now serve temporary stops along 3rd and 4th Avenues. These changes will remain until major construction is complete, which is anticipated in Spring 2009[4].
[edit] MAX Light Rail
Portland's MAX Light Rail (short for Metropolitan Area Express) consists of three color-coded lines:
- The Blue Line is a 33 mile (53 km) east-west route. It begins in Hillsboro, a western suburb, passes through Beaverton and downtown, across the Willamette River through NE Portland and east to the city of Gresham.
- The Red Line incorporates a five mile (8 km) north-south addition between the airport and the Gateway Transit Center near the northeast Portland neighborhood of Parkrose. From that point the line overlaps with the Blue Line, continuing west through downtown, and terminating at the Beaverton transit center.
- The Yellow Line adds almost six miles (10 km) to the system. It connects North Portland's Expo Center with downtown. This line is often referred to as "Interstate MAX" because much of it runs along Interstate Avenue, and parallel to I-5.
A fourth line, the Green Line, is under construction. It will run from Clackamas Town Center near Clackamas, north along I-205, up to Gateway transit center, where the Blue and Red Lines meet. From there, it would travel westwards towards downtown Portland along the existing tracks and then run along a light rail addition to the Portland Mall. The Green Line is projected to begin service in 2009.
Longer term, MAX may be extended south past the Portland Mall as the Orange Line. It would continue through Southeast Portland along existing rights-of-way to downtown Milwaukie. No construction date for this extension has been proposed yet, but would occur after the existing Yellow Line is rerouted to also run on the new north-south Portland Mall tracks.
[edit] Portland Streetcar
The Portland Streetcar runs on a 7.2-mile continuous loop from Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital at NW 23rd Avenue through inner-Northwest and Southwest, including the Pearl District and Portland State University, to the new South Waterfront neighborhood, where it connects to the Portland Aerial Tram.[5]
Area urban planners hope to make use of the right-of-way preserved by the Willamette Shore Trolley to nearly double the length of the streetcar line and reach Lake Oswego[6]. In addition, a line across the river and through the inner eastside and other routes are also being planned.[7]
[edit] Commuter Rail
The Washington County Commuter Rail project, now known as the Westside Express Service, will connect the cities of Wilsonville, Tualatin and Tigard to TriMet's Beaverton Transit Center, where it would tie into the rest of the TriMet system. This line will not operate the electric light rail cars of the existing MAX system, instead using diesel train cars running on existing Portland and Western Railroad freight rail tracks. Railway upgrades are currently under construction. Service should begin in 2008.
[edit] Portland Aerial Tram
A more unusual form of public transportation, the Portland Aerial Tram, is an aerial tramway used to connect the South Waterfront district with Oregon Health and Science University on Marquam Hill above. The tram was opened to the public in January 2007.
[edit] Cycling
Portland has earned multiple "bicycle friendly city" awards, including being awarded gold status by the League of American Bicyclists.
An important milestone in Portland's utility cycling infrastructure was the expansion of the sidewalks of Hawthorne Bridge in 1997, which significantly improved the safety and ease of bicycle commuting across the Willamette River. Other bicycle-friendly projects include blue-painted bike lanes, and the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade. A more recent project will bring covered bicycle parking to the popular southeast Hawthorne Boulevard shopping district[8], and bicycle access to the Morrison Bridge is planned to be improved[9]
Portland is developing a network of bicycle boulevards to make cycling easier and safer. The east side of Portland is particularly well-suited for this technique due to its consistent grid of north/south and east/west streets. The boulevards are defined with a combination of street markings, signs, and better signals for crossing busy intersections.
In 2004, the west side of Portland, including Beaverton and Hillsboro, was linked to downtown Portland for bicycles with the construction of the Sunset Highway (US 26) Bike Path. This path reaches to the top of Sylvan Hill from Cedar Hills. From the top of Sylvan hill, cyclists can travel through Washington Park past the Oregon Zoo or continue along the shoulder of Highway 26. The shoulder of Highway 26 is wide enough for eastbound bicyclists by using the Jefferson Street exit before the Vista Ridge Tunnels. However, the opposite direction is quite narrow at two sections. Cyclists are encouraged to travel through Washington Park going west, or board MAX Light Rail through the Robertson Tunnel.
The Yellow Bike Project, one of the first community bicycle programs in the United States, was started in Portland, Oregon in the mid-1990s. This program, which made free bicycles available for unrestricted use, failed initially due to theft and vandalism of the bicycles. The Community Cycling Center, which helped to operate the Yellow Bike Project, has since developed its Create-a-Commuter program, which provides 375 free bicycles per year to individuals.[10][11][12]
Some of Portland's bicycling advocates have participated in Critical Mass and Zoobomb activities.
[edit] Alternatives
Skateboarding and roller blading are welcome methods for travel around town. Downtown Portland includes signs labeled "skate routes" to aid the urban skater.[13]
Portlanders living downtown or in nearby neighborhoods have car sharing as an alternative, through Flexcar, which acquired Carsharing Portland in 2001. As of 2005, there are over 5,000 members sharing 70 vehicles which are located in neighborhoods such as the Pearl District, Old Town Chinatown, the Lloyd District, Hawthorne, and Brooklyn.
[edit] Airports
Portland's main airport is the Portland International Airport (IATA: PDX, ICAO: KPDX), located in the northeast quadrant, near the Columbia River, and 20 minutes by car from Downtown. PDX is also connected to the downtown business and arts districts by the MAX Red Line.
The Port of Portland's Hillsboro Airport (IATA: HIO, ICAO: KHIO) is an executive and general aviation airport located in Hillsboro, Oregon, and it the second busiest airport in the state. It is connected to the metropolitan area by MAX Blue Line, and is the starting point for many corporate and charter flights, including Nike, Inc. and the Portland Trail Blazers NBA team. Hillsboro is currently being considered for commercial traffic to relieve the increasingly congested PDX.[citation needed]
Troutdale Airport also serves the area. Portland is also served by Wiley's Seaplane Port, a private seaplane base on the Willamette.
Portland is home to Oregon's only public use heliport, the Portland Downtown Heliport (ICAO: 61J).
[edit] See also
- Neil Goldschmidt, a Portland Mayor and U.S. Secretary of Transportation who exerted broad influence on transportation in Portland
- Transportation in Seattle and Transportation in Vancouver for Pacific Northwest comparisons
- Portland Urban Iditarod
[edit] Notes
- ^ Timothy Egan. "FOCUS: PORTLAND; SO LONG CARS, HELLO PEOPLE", The New York Times, May 31, 1987. Retrieved on 2007-12-14.
- ^ Facts about TriMet (PDF). TriMet. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
- ^ Fareless Square Map. TriMet. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
- ^ TriMet: Portland Mall (Transit Mall) Service
- ^ Portland Streetcar: Streetcar History
- ^ Metro: Lake Oswego to Portland Transit and Trail Alternatives Analysis
- ^ Eastside Streetcar Alignment Study. City of Portland Office of Transportation. Retrieved on 2007-01-31.
- ^ Hawthorne Boulevard Project, City of Portland
- ^ Morrison Bridge Bicycle & Pedestrian Improvements, Multnomah County
- ^ Community Cycling Center web page discussing end of the Yellow Bike Project and success of the Create-a-Commuter program
- ^ Yellow Bike Project: Historic information
- ^ "Portland Journal; Where Trust Rides a Yellow Bicycle", December 9, 1994. Retrieved on 2007-12-14.
- ^ [1]
[edit] External links
- City of Portland's Office of Transportation
- Oregon Department of Transportation's TripCheck, including a speed-of-traffic map (in GIF format)
- ODOT's Portland-area projects
- TriMet
- Portland's Bicycle Transportation Alliance
- Portland SHIFT to Bikes
- Multnomah County bridges
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