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April 25, 2006
FTA not Sympathetic to AORTA Request
A week or so ago, there was a small blurb in the Tribune that the Federal Transit Administration had rejected AORTA's call for an independent review of the Transit Mall LRT project.
Portland Transport requested a copy of the FTA response from TriMet. Here's a scan of the letter (PDF 1.1M). Cutting to the bottom line:
We have not seen any compelling justification in your recent letters that would cause us to ask the Metro Council to reconsider the planning decisions they have made, change the design parameters that TriMet is now using to complete their final design for the I-205/Portland Mall project or cause FTA to supplement the completed environmental review process or its New Starts project evaluation.
Posted by Chris Smith at 6:53 AM
Comments
April 25, 2006 9:14 AM
torridjoe Says:
I'm sure Fred Hansen did a little victory dance in the executive washroom when he read that one...!
April 25, 2006 3:36 PM
Jason McHuff Says:
LOL at torridjoe...
Seriously, as much as I dislike the whole mall project, I don't think that its not going to work. I have serious doubts about how well it's going to work, but I don't think that its going to fail.
If there really will be a need to run the amount of service to the westside that AORTA claims, any Blue Line trains that won't fit on the Steel Bridge could be turned back at 1st/Morrison (this appears to be done now), using Bob R's waterfront proposal if a layover location is needed. Also, I have never been comfortable with the belief that there will be capacity for the Green Line and other trains on Morrison/Yamhill.
Overall, there really should be a tunnel thru downtown since it would keep the system simple, save gobs of operating expenses and attract cross-region ridership. However, I admit that it may not be feisable.
April 25, 2006 11:46 PM
Ray Whitford Says:
I have had this feeling about the surface rail lines in use now or on the planning tables that are built for light rail will be made into streetcar lines once the system becomes too clogged with trains coming into the city center from seven directions (seventh spoke is Barbur Blvd.).
Then the plan will be to move to a subway for the core area. The success of the system will require it.
Ray Whitford
