Author: jhowell

  • What If the SW Corridor Started on the East Side?

    click map to view full size Extending the Yellow Line south to Tualatin should be considered in the SW Corridor Plan. It would provide a north-south rapid transit alternative to I-5, which is becoming increasingly congested. The line would extend 19-miles between Vancouver WA and Tualatin with at least 24 stations providing connections to rest…

  • Should Streetcars Run on the Transit Mall?

    Are streetcars a better fit for the transit mall than light rail trains? Streetcars are smaller, slower and more appropriate for downtown, frequent-stop, circulator service. They would be safer than long light rail trains, intermixed with buses and private vehicles, which will also run on the mall when it reopens. The current plan is to…

  • Streetcars, MAX Trains and Buses – Three Modes – One System

    click image for full size view The streetcar system, promoted as a development tool, is supposed to be a local circulator with frequent stops and yet it will run without a stop for two-thirds of mile, across the Broadway Bridge between the Pearl District and the Eliot Neighborhood. On the other hand, light rail is…

  • A Hosford-Abernathy-Brooklyn (HAB) Railroad Cut

    As the planning for the Milwaukie light rail line is refined, those responsible should consider other long range improvements that might be needed in the corridor so as not to require costly and disruptive changes to the line in the future, otherwise known as “Strategic Planning”. From SE 3rd to SE 17th Avenues, the proposed…

  • Three Line Streetcar Service

    Jim Howell has an alternate notion of how to operate the Streetcar Loop. He’s paired it with a Hawthorne Bridge crossing, but I don’t know why it couldn’t work with a more southernly crossing, or indeed, before the crossing is created. If streetcars were routed over the Hawthorne Bridge and south to Harrison, as I…