User:Truflip99/sandbox/Archive 1

Background
In a 1955 report that laid out the freeway development plan of the Portland metropolitan area, the Oregon State Highway Department proposed the construction of the Mount Hood Freeway. The freeway was planned to run along Division Street and Powell Boulevard, connecting Interstate 5 from the Marquam Bridge to east Multnomah County. With over 1,700 Southeast Portland homes occupying its intended path, strong local opposition to the proposal surfaced in 1969. In 1972, a citizen-led coalition called Sensible Transportation Options for People (STOP) was formed to advocate replacing the project with alternative transportation improvements, including building a light rail line to serve the eastside. That same year, Neil Goldschmidt was elected mayor of Portland with freeway opposition at the center of his campaign platform.

In 1973, an environmental impact study declared that the Mount Hood Freeway would reach obsolescence by the time it was completed and would only add more traffic to downtown Portland than the surface streets could handle. Then, in February 1974, district judge James M. Burns formally rejected the plan, ruling that the corridor-selection process failed to follow the proper procedures. Amidst mounting anti-freeway sentiment and the project now delayed, in July 1974, the Portland City Council voted 4 to 1 to cancel the Mount Hood Freeway, with county and state authorities following shortly after.

Residents in Northwest Portland also fought a similar battle against Interstate 505. In 1971, organizers from the Northwest District Association sued to halt the construction of the new freeway following a suspect environmental impact study. After three years of drawn-out litigation, the city council decided to abandoned the proposed route.

Banfield Light Rail Project
Around the time the Mount Hood Freeway and I-505 plans collapsed, the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973 allowed state governments for the first time to transfer federal funds from canceled highway projects to other transportation options, including mass transit. In May 1973, Governor Tom McCall assembled a task force to determine potential alternative uses for the Mount Hood funds, and in April 1974, released a preliminary draft listing light rail and buses as modes under consideration. Meanwhile, Goldschmidt persuaded the Columbia Region Association of Governments (CRAG) board to channel the transfer funds towards improving access to downtown.

With the freeway plans dead, $500 million of federal funds became available and were used on other transportation projects throughout the region, including the Banfield transit corridor. Originally conceived to be a busway, support for light rail on the corridor grew following an environmental impact study in 1977. In 1978, the cities of Portland and Gresham, Multnomah County, CRAG, Oregon Department of Transportation, and TriMet adopted a resolution supporting a combined Banfield light rail and highway expansion plan. In September 1980, the Banfield Light Rail Project received federal approval for construction.

Conceptual designs were completed in November 1981. On March 26, 1982, the groundbreaking ceremony took place at Ruby Junction Yard with U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield, Governor Vic Atiyeh, and officials from the Urban Mass Transit Administration in attendance. The original line spanned 15.1 miles (24.3 km) and comprised of 27 stations. In order to minimize costs, light rail and freeway work were done at the same time.

On September 5, 1986, the $214 million (equivalent to $ in dollars) Banfield light rail—now MAX, for Metropolitan Area Express—began revenue service. Its new name, selected through a public contest, was won by TriMet designer Jeff Frane who attributed inspiration from his son, Alex.

Westside MAX
As early as 1979, planning for restored services between downtown Portland and Hillsboro—formerly served by the Oregon Electric Railway in the first half of the 20th century—began with an initial proposed route terminating at 185th Avenue and Walker Road. In 1983, Metro and local jurisdictions selected light rail as the preferred mode alternative and UMTA released funds to begin preliminary engineering work later that year. The project, however, was suspended by TriMet to make way for the Banfield light rail's construction and further planning did not commence until 1988.

By the time the project was restarted, significant changes in the Westside corridor warranted a re-evaluation of the previously adopted plan. In particular, between 1980 and 1984, 3,000 acres of vacant Washington County land had been converted into mixed-use urban areas, spurring new development in Hillsboro that stood well above the regional average. In 1985, Hillsboro mayor Shirley Huffman began lobbying for the line's extension to downtown Hillsboro, traveling frequently to Washington, D.C. to persuade Congress directly and infamously making a "stern" phone call to the head of the Federal Transit Administration in 1990. As a result, a supplemental study was prepared in 1991 and the revised plan extended the route 6.2 miles (10 km) west, bringing the new total distance of the extension to 18 miles (29 km). In 1990, voters approved a $125 million ballot measure to fund the project.

In July 1993, excavation began on the west end of the three-mile (4.8 km), 21-foot (6.4 m) diameter West Hills tunnels. Frontier-Traylor, a joint-venture of Frontier-Kemper Constructors and Traylor Brothers and the project's general contractor,

In 1993, construction began on the three-mile (4.8 km), 19-feet (5.8 m) diameter West Hills tunnels which took 17 months to complete. At present, Washington Park station is the only underground station in the MAX rail system, holding the record as the deepest transit station in North America at 260 feet (79.2 m) below ground.

The “golden spike” of the Westside extension was driven on the Main Street Bridge in October 1997, and passenger service for the $964 million (equivalent to $ in dollars) project began on September 12, 1998. The line drew strong ridership, beating 2005 ridership projections less than two years after it opened.

Stations
The original section between Gresham and downtown Portland was built with 27 stations. The Mall and Southwest 4th & 5th stations were added along with the opening of Pioneer Place in March 1990, followed by the Convention Center station in September. The Westside MAX opened in two stages due to delays in construction. The first two Goose Hollow stations, Civic Stadium—now Providence Park—and Kings Hill/Southwest Salmon Street, opened in August 1997. The remaining 18 stations opened during the extension's inauguration in September 1998. The newest station is Civic Drive which opened in 2010.

Nearly all stations along the Blue Line are at-grade. The exception is Washington Park station, the only underground station occupying the Robertson Tunnel, holding the record for the deepest transit station in North America at 260feet (79m) below the ground.

Fares
MAX stations do not have ticket barriers and rely on rider proof-of-payment. On all of its services including MAX, TriMet employs an automated fare collection system through a stored-value, contactless smart card called Hop Fastpass, which is also available virtually on Android devices. The physical card can be purchased from retail stores for $3. Alternatively, chip-embedded, single use tickets can be purchased from ticket vending machines located on or near station platforms. Smartphones with a debit or credit card loaded into Google Pay, Samsung Pay, or Apple Pay can be used as well.

Prior to each boarding, riders must tap their fare medium to a card reader found at every station. Fares are flat rate and are capped based on usage. Riders may transfer to other TriMet services, C-Tran, and the Portland Streetcar using Hop Fastpass.

Ridership
The Blue Line is the busiest of the five light rail lines, carrying 18.9 million total passengers in 2015 and averaging 55,360 riders on weekdays in May 2018. However, ridership on the entire MAX system has fallen and leveled at just over 77 million since peaking at around 80 million in 2012. In the first three months of 2017, the Blue Line recorded an average 55,233 rides per weekday, a drop of 2.9 percent from the same period in 2016. TriMet attributes the drop in ridership to lower-income riders being forced out of the inner city by rising housing prices.

Accessibility
Stations on the original line were initially built with wheelchair lifts to accommodate riders with disabilities on the high-floor trains. The lifts were installed on station platforms in anticipation of potential malfunctions that could delay service. Increased use of the lifts ultimately became the cause for delays. Before the start of the Westside expansion project in 1992, TriMet opted to procure low-floor cars following a study of European systems, the first its kind in North America.

In 2011, TriMet began upgrades on the Blue Line to improve pedestrian safety and compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act standards. In 2013, pipe barriers were installed at Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center platform crossings to force pedestrians to slow down and face oncoming trains before crossing the tracks. Other improvements included sidewalk realignments, pedestrian crossing sign installations, and tactile paving upgrades.

Southwest Corridor light rail project
The Southwest Corridor light rail project is a planned light rail extension of the MAX Green Line in Portland, Oregon, United States. It will add 13 stations over a new 12-mile (19.3 km) span, connecting downtown Portland to the cities of Tigard and Tualatin. The extension will start from the existing Green Line terminus at Portland State University and travel southwest, running through the center of Southwest Barbur Boulevard and terminating at Bridgeport Village.

Voters approved the light rail extension in a 2016 ballot measure. At an estimated cost of $2.6 billion to $2.9 billion, the project will be submitted in a regional transportation funding measure that will be voted on in 2020. If approved, it is expected to begin service in 2027.

South–North proposal
Plans have called for light rail on the Portland Transit Mall since 1978 when the corridor first opened with dedicated bus lanes. In 1983, Interstate 205 (I-205) was completed with a transitway tunnel between Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center and Division Street, initially to accommodate a future busway.

Metro began studying a north–south light rail line in January 1992. Early proposals projected a route to run from Vancouver and Clark County in Washington south to Clackamas Town Center and Oregon City. Tri-Met formally named the porposal South–North line; a gesture to acknowledge Clackamas County's support of the region's past light rail projects. In September 1994, Metro recommended building the line's termini at Clackamas Town Center and 99th Street in Hazel Dell, Washington; it did not immediately establish whether the line would run through McLoughlin Boulevard or Interstate 205 (I-205). The following November, Tri-Met introduced a $475-million ballot measure to fund the line's share in Oregon which received 63-percent support from voters. Clark County voters subsequently rejected Washington's portion in February 1995, prompting Tri-Met to downsize the plan and abandon the Clark County and North Portland segments up to the Rose Quarter. In August 1995, the Oregon House of Representatives approved a $750-million transportation package that included $375 million for the scaled-back light rail line, but opponents forced a statewide vote that defeated it in November 1996.

Despite its statewide defeat, surveys conducted with local leaders in December 1996 revealed that the region remained in support of light rail. A new proposal followed, placing the line between Lombard Street in North Portland and Clackamas Town Center. In early 1997, Metro and Tri-Met proposed building the line without contributions from Clark County or the state. Instead, local funding would be sourced from Clackamas County and Portland. The proposal drew opposition from Milwaukie residents and forced a campaign that recalled the Milwakie mayor and city council in December 1997. In August 1998, Tri-Met voted to place another ballot measure to reaffirm voter support for the originally-approved $475-million funds. A new proposal envisioned building the South–North line in three phases: from Rose Quarter to Milwaukie, from Milwaukie to Clackamas Town Center and from Rose Quarter to Kenton, and finally from Kenton to Vancounver. The measure failed by 52 percent in November 1998. In 1999, North Portland residents asserted their desire for what remained of the light rail project, prompting officials to move forward with the Interstate MAX project that completed the Yellow Line in 2004.

Project revival and funding
In May 2001, Clackamas County officials re-approached Metro and Tri-Met proposing a light rail line along I-205 just as planners had been considering busway and bus rapid transit options for the south corridor. The proposal became a part of two light rail studies—the other being a Portland–Milwaukie alignment that would become the Orange Line—conducted by Metro in late 2001. Both plans were selected by a Metro sub-committee in February 2003, then approved by TriMet and Metro the following March and April, respectively. In December 2003, the Portland City Council unanimously voted to support upgrading the Portland Transit Mall with light rail.

Early beginnings


In the mid-1970s, Tri-Met began a study for light rail using funds intended for the canceled Mount Hood Freeway and Interstate 505, which were made available by the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act in 1973. The proposal became known as the Banfield light rail project, named for the Banfield Freeway—a segment of I-84—that part of the alignment followed. The Tri-Met board approved the project in September 1978. Construction of the 15.1 mi route started in March 1982, and the system opened on September 5, 1986. Of the project's total cost of $214 million (equivalent to $ in dollars), 83 percent was funded by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (now known as the Federal Transit Administration). Less than two months before opening, Tri-Met adopted the name Metropolitan Area Express, or MAX, for the new system following an employee contest.



As the planning of a second light rail line to the west side gained momentum in the late 1980s, the original MAX line came to be referred to as Eastside MAX, so as to distinguish it from the Westside MAX project. Early proposals called for the westside extension to terminate at 185th Avenue, just west of the border between Hillsboro and Beaverton. Staunch lobbying by Hillsboro and state officials led by Mayor Shirley Huffman pushed the line further west to downtown Hillsboro in 1993. Construction of the 18 mi line began in August 1993. The extension opened in two stages: from downtown to Kings Hill/Southwest Salmon Street station in 1997, and then to Hatfield Government Center station, its present western terminus, the following year. The resulting 33 mi line began operating as a single, through route on September 12, 1998. It became known as the Blue Line in 2001, after Tri-Met adopted color designations for its separate light rail routes.

South–North proposal


Metro began studying a north–south light rail line in January 1992. Early proposals projected a route to run from Hazel Dell and Clark County in Washington south to Clackamas Town Center and Oregon City. Tri-Met formally named the porposal South–North line to acknowledge Clackamas County's support of the region's past light rail projects. In November 1994, Tri-Met introduced a $475-million ballot measure to fund the line's share in Oregon that received 63-percent support from voters. Clark County voters subsequently rejected Washington's portion in February 1995, prompting Tri-Met to downsize the plan and abandon the Clark County and North Portland segments up to the Rose Quarter. In August 1995, the Oregon House of Representatives approved a $750-million transportation package that included $375 million for the scaled-back light rail line, but opponents forced a statewide vote that defeated it in November 1996.

Despite its statewide defeat, surveys conducted with local leaders in December 1996 revealed that the region remained in support of light rail. A new proposal followed, placing the line between Lombard Street in North Portland and Clackamas Town Center. In early 1997, Metro and Tri-Met proposed building the line without contributions from either Clark County or the state; funding would be sourced from Clackamas County and Portland instead. The proposal drew opposition from Milwaukie residents and forced a campaign that recalled the Milwakie mayor and city council in December 1997. In August 1998, Tri-Met placed another ballot measure to reaffirm voter support for the originally-approved $475-million funds. The measure failed by 52 percent in November 1998, effectively canceling plans to build the proposed line.

Later extensions
In 1997, Bechtel submitted an unsolicited proposal to design and build the planned light rail extension to Portland International Airport in exchange for development rights to the Portland International Center—later renamed Cascade Station. The Airport MAX project commenced in June 1999 and opened as the Red Line on September 10, 2001. In 1999, North Portland residents expressed their desire for what remained of the South–North plan, prompting officials to move forward with the Interstate MAX project that completed the Yellow Line in 2004.