Metro staff recommends light-rail for Southwest Corridor Plan

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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Staff of Metro, the Portland metropolitan planning organization, recommended light rail as the best kind of high-capacity transit to connect Portland and Bridgeport Village, Ore., for the Southwest Corridor Plan.

 

Additionally, the staff recommends that a proposed light-rail tunnel to directly serve Portland Community College’s Sylvania (PCC Sylvania) campus should be dropped in favor of continuing to study alternatives that could also improve transit access to the school.

Despite light rail’s higher up-front construction costs compared to bus rapid transit- around 44-percent higher – project staff recommend it for the Southwest Corridor for several main reasons including the ability to accommodate projected ridership growth (staff analysis projects that bus rapid transit would be at capacity during rush hour by 2035, just 10 years after opening. Light rail would be better able to serve a growing population and new jobs in the corridor after that, as well as possible line extensions); better transit performance; better integration into TriMet’s existing MAX system and the downtown Portland transit mall, preserving capacity for future transit service and higher level of public support in polls, surveys and community engagement.

The recommendation states that light rail would be better than bus rapid transit at “serving the existing and projected transit demand in the corridor, improving transit service reliability in the corridor, improving transit travel times and providing transit service that is cost effective to build and operate with limited local resources.”

Metro staff recognize that while a tunnel would provide fast, direct transit service to the Sylvania campus, it would cost as much as 21 percent more than a light-rail line that sticks to SW Barbur Boulevard. Such a cost increase could mean the line would end in downtown Tigard instead of reaching Bridgeport Village, negating any increase in ridership from serving the campus.

“PCC is an important partner and the Sylvania campus is a high-profile destination that needs to be well-served by transit for the Southwest Corridor Plan to be successful. A tunnel would clearly succeed in growing transit ridership to the campus,” the reccomendation stated. “The significant cost of constructing a tunnel and potentially high neighborhood impacts would not be commensurate to the ridership benefits and would jeopardize construction of a cost-effective project that includes station connectivity projects and local pedestrian, bike and roadway investments.”

A range of alternative concepts have been floated for improving transit access to PCC without a tunnel, including reconfiguring bus routes in the corridor, shuttles from the nearest light rail stations and improving access for people walking or bicycling from the nearest station. If the steering committee agrees with the staff recommendation, these concepts would continue to be explored in the months ahead.

The Southwest Corridor Plan’s 12-member steering committee, which is made up of elected representatives from seven cities, Washington County and Metro, plus top officials from the Oregon Department of Transportation and TriMet, will act on the recommendations on May 9. After that, Metro staff will bring together a final ‘preferred package’ for the corridor, including the final preferred high-capacity transit route and mode, as well as related roadway, bicycle and pedestrian projects.

 

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