Entries Tagged 'TriMet Planning & Proposals' ↓

In a follow-up to his plea to put back the north end of Westmoreland / Harold Street light rail station in the Southeast light rail plans, Eric Norberg gives us more insight into TriMet’s thought process to exclude a light rail station in that particular area. His conclusion?

A one minute delay.

Apparently TriMet’s computer model calculates a delay of one minute if there was a Harold Street light rail station in the plans.

One minute.

Eric sums up his feelings (and I’m sure just about everyone elses on this matter):

“Think about it: A substantial number of Clackamas County commuters — says the computer — would be discouraged from taking a direct trip downtown on light rail — and presumably would turn back to their cars to make the trip, with $4 a gallon gas and all the delays commuters encounter on S.E. McLoughlin Boulevard — simply because of that “unacceptable” 60-second delay.”

Adding a station at Harold Street would only cause more ridership, an ease of congestion at a location that experiences it tremendously, a more cost-efficient means of transportation for public transportation riders around the area & more.

But yeah, that extra minute of commute time if it was planned? Yeah, so totally inconvenient…

Come on TriMet, wise up. This is getting a little ridiculous, don’t you think? Why are they so against building a station in an area that so desperately needs a light rail station? And one that was already figured into the plans in the first place and was taken off for who-knows-what-reason at some point of time.

Want to hear first-hand about TriMet’s plans on the I-205 / Portland Mall Light Rail & WES (Westside Express Service) Commuter Rail projects? Well, this month’s your lucky… month because TriMet is having a couple of open house meetings for us, the public, to attend.

Monday, May 19, 2008, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Portland Mall Information Center
519 SW 6th Avenue
Portland, OR 97204

Monday, May 19, 2008, 4-7 p.m.
Public Works Building, Richard Brown Auditorium
8777 SW Burnham St.
Tigard, OR 97223

Tuesday, May 20, 2008, 4-7 p.m.
OIT Conference Center
7740 SE Harmony Rd.
Milwaukie, OR 97222

More info about these meetings and, if you can’t attend but wish to get the lowdown on what went down, you can view the resources that will be at the meetings online right here.

Eric Norberg, editor of THE BEE (Portland’s Inner Southeast neighborhood newspaper since 1906), wrote a heartfelt & informative letter addressing getting the Harold Station back into TriMet’s Inner Southeast light rail plans. Simply put, the Inner Southeast light rail plans have been on again off again so much in the last 10 years that it puts typical celeb couples to shame. Unfortunately, when plans were being brought to the table, the Westmoreland neighborhood rezoned itself back in the 90’s to accommodate these new light rail plans.

Well, fast forward nearly ten years from then and the Inner Southeast light rail plans are apparently ‘on’ again… with the north end of Westmoreland /Harold Street Station nowhere to be seen. Eric has an idea why the station was mysteriously not included in the updated plans:

“It is our (THE BEE’s) suspicion that this planned station vanished from the plan because of the cost of building the long and high footbridge over six lanes of McLoughlin Boulevard at that point.”

Eric goes on about how the light rail plans - after making sure TriMet knew that a station was planned for that area way back when they first were made - now include a station in the area.. but with an twist. He states:

“So now, the Harold light rail station IS back on the map — with an asterisk. It is not yet safe from disappearing from the plan again. We understand a final decision on whether or not it will be included “will be made in June”. So now, it is again time for us to make our case for it.”

The main point that he hammers home is that TriMet shouldn’t think of this as ‘adding’ a station on Harold Street… it is “it is simply restoring what was planned there from the beginning.” Eric ends with a very well-written summary of the letter & some requests:

“So, since apparently it is still officially uncertain, THE BEE now once again politely demands that the Harold Street station be made a permanent part of the Inner Southeast light rail plans as they go forward. A 1-1/2 mile gap between stations at that particular point is contrary to the neighborhood zoning, and would preclude the north end of Westmoreland, the Reed neighborhood, and Reed College from having practical access to a vital transportation link.

Attention TriMet and the City of Portland: Please include the Harold Station, build the footbridge over the Union Pacific tracks at Reedway, and upgrade the Harold Street light for responsiveness to pedestrians and vehicles and to for improved safety.”

Reading through the letter and seeing the kinds of things the Westmoreland area has done to accomondate light rail near their area… and seeing as how plans to include a station were originally in the light rail plans that were made back in the 20th century… I think not putting a station with an included walkway / footbridge and upgrading the Harold Street light would be a major disservice to Inner Southeast Portland and a missed opportunity of expanding affordable public transportation throughout Portland.

Didn’t know the Vancouver light rail plan discussion lit so many “blog fires”! Read a new blog called MaxRedLine and thought this post about the Vancouver light rail project had some good opposing viewpoint thoughts on the matter.

I don’t necessarily agree with the post or all of the points, but it’s good to look at other viewpoints from time to time.

TriMet has a computer-generated video of how the MAX Green Line will look when completed in 2009.  As someone who rides by this construction everyday (you can get a peek at how it’s going between the Gateway Transit Center and 102nd), it looks like things are really coming along quite nicely.

Why not have a little music being played during the video?  I wouldn’t even mind a little “Never Going to Give You Up” being played (note: if you click that link, you will be rickrolled…).

Spotted this over at the City of Portland Commuter Central blog.

Read a really informative blog post over at Southeast Max blog about the proposed Harold Street Station MAX stop. Mike is taking reader suggestions about whether or not individuals would use such a station if TriMet were to plan on building that station.

Personally, I think penciling in more stops to the plan would be a better solution than not. In this circumstance, Mike posts some hard numbers which suggests that it would be beneficial to get a Harold Street Station. However, whenever I’ve gone to or from the Airport station, I’ve never had someone get on or off on the Cascades and Mt. Hood Avenue stops. Now, of course these two are located in “up-and-coming” places with developments popping up around them.. but still.