Light Rail construction is currently underway along the city's downtown transit mall on 5th and 6th Avenues, between the Steel Bridge, Union Station and the Portland State University campus.

It is costing $150 million to add light rail to the transit mall. We should ask ourselves:

• Is this a serious mistake?
• Would this limit the potential for improving transit service in the future?
• Will we have to tear up downtown for light rail again in another decade?
• Are there better and less expensive options for revitalizing the transit mall?

We need a comprehensive analysis to look at the long-term impacts and needs of light rail in downtown Portland as MAX grows into a truly metropolitan rapid transportation system.  

What are the goals of the Portland Mall Revitalization Project?

TriMet, Metro and the City of Portland, the project's partners, have outlined its goals:

• To enliven the Transit Mall and make it a great public space;
• To renovate it;
• To improve transit service;
• To support downtown retail commerce;
• To design and construct the Transit Mall, on schedule, within budget and with minimum impact.

Is it necessary to put light rail on the Mall in order to achieve these goals?

No. We can meet these goals without it. In fact, light rail on the mall could degrade transit service rather than improve it. We would have to eliminate half the bus stops in order to fit light rail and additional automobile traffic there. This will double the distance between bus stops. The primary reason light rail is included in this project is to extract up to 60 percent of the cost from the Federal Transit Administration.

Would the Federal Transit Administration fund a refurbished, bus-only mall?

Probably, but if not, the bus-only project would cost significantly less, and would likely cost less than the local match required for the light rail proposal.

Authorities claim that additional downtown rail capacity is needed for the I-205 light rail project to proceed. Is this true?

No. The current downtown light rail alignment would accommodate all the trains from the existing routes plus the new Interstate Avenue route and the I-205 route for at least a decade after we complete the I-205 project in 2009.

Will putting light rail on the mall increase train capacity downtown?

No. The Steel Bridge and the numerous track crossings needed to run light rail on the mall will actually limit downtown train capacity. In fact, because of likely delays caused by inbound and outbound trains having to cross paths as they proceed through downtown, we will be able to operate fewer east-west trains on the existing Morrison and Yamhill Street alignments during peak hours.

Did we seriously consider other revitalization options for the mall that did not include light rail?

No. We have considered only light rail since 1993.

Is it necessary to have automobile traffic on the mall to revitalize it?

No. Denver, Colo., for example, has a vehicle-free transit mall. It is an extremely vital, pedestrian-friendly public space with evening retail activity. This is largely because free buses operate every five to 10 minutes, stopping at every block and operating late into the evening. This service provides safe access to downtown venues and convenient connections to the city's downtown light rail corridor, which crosses the mall in the heart of the central business district.

Narrowing sidewalks and adding continuous automobile lanes on the Transit Mall, as some have suggested, will not support downtown retail business and enliven the area.

The primary reason is that Portland's mall is not a lively public space with retail activity is because frequent, reliable transit service is not available during evenings and weekends.

Other reasons include a lack of adjacent housing; buildings with few or no entrances facing the mall; few small retail stores or restaurants on the mall; a lack of people-attracting street fixtures; and a concentration of large office buildings that close at the end of the business day.

Our first step in revitalizing the mall could be to simply run frequent shuttle buses on the route between the PSU campus and the Pearl District during off-peak hours, when regular bus service is infrequent. This would allow MAX passengers, who already enjoy frequent evening and weekend access to downtown destinations along its route, to conveniently reach many other downtown destinations.

How long will it take before light rail, operating on downtown streets, can no longer meet passenger demand?

If light rail ridership continues to grow at its current rate, the existing east-west corridor could become seriously overcrowded within 15 to 20 years. Putting light rail on the mall would not address this problem because the mall alignment would not serve westside passengers and would, as previously explained, actually reduce east-west capacity.

Operating light rail on downtown streets will create a huge bottleneck to the regional light rail system as we add new routes and attract more commuters.

Short street blocks in downtown Portland limit station size, train lengths, speed and frequency. As a result, capacity is limited to about 6,000 passengers an hour in each direction, far less than we will require in the near future.

Most transit experts agree that we will have to grade-separate light rail through downtown Portland, either on an elevated structure or in a subway, within the next 20 years.

If a downtown light rail subway is needed within the next 20 years, will we have to tear up the transit mall again?

Most likely. The most logical subway alignment through downtown is a north-south route serving the central business district from Union Station to PSU. This would place it under either 5th or 6th Avenues.

Would we have to remove the existing downtown light rail tracks and stations if we build a subway?

No. Although TriMet would probably route all the regional light rail lines through the subway, we could use the existing surface route for streetcar service.

The first subway in the U.S., in fact, was built to remove streetcars from city streets. The Park Street Subway in Boston, opened in 1897, continues to carry MBTA Green Line light rail trains under downtown Boston today. In Philadelphia, Pa., SEPTA light rail trains reach into downtown from the city's western neighborhoods via a tunnel shared with the system's Market-Frankford subway-elevated line.

Here is what a subway could do for downtown Portland:

• Turn a slow, streetcar-like operation into high-speed rapid transit.
• Save money by lowering operating costs -- up to $10 million a year.
• Attract more riders.
• Speed suburb-to-suburb travel, cutting downtown travel time in half.
• Require construction along only one street, rather than two.
• Provide six times the capacity of a surface alignment, allowing for future growth.
• Reduce the need for future downtown light rail construction and disruption.
• Reduce long-term construction costs.
• Free up the surface for pedestrians, bicycles, buses and other vehicles.
• Reduce conflicts between light rail trains and other traffic.
• Bring new life to downtown businesses.

Would a subway cost too much? This is the wrong question.

AORTA believes that a cost-benefit analysis of surface versus subway would lead decision-makers to conclude that a subway is the only reasonable solution for downtown light rail.

While subway construction would result in higher initial costs, it would also attract more family-wage jobs and stimulate the Oregon economy. Increased capacity and speed would attract more drivers away from their automobiles. This would increase the probability of substantive federal funding.

A subway would reduce the travel time through downtown by about 12 minutes. This alone would result in about $10 million in annual savings on operations. Why? Because reducing travel time reduces the cost of labor, maintenance and capital. System capacity would increase without the need for additional trains.

A subway would have approximately six times the capacity of a surface alignment. Trains could operate faster, closer together, and at longer lengths (imagine trains of four to eight cars instead of the two-car trains currently operating). This would lower labor costs even further!

Placing light rail underground, as previously stated, frees up surface space for pedestrians and other transportation modes. The increased capacity means that we could add new rail corridors, such as the proposed I-205 and Milwaukie lines, and future alignments such as Barbur Boulevard, without the expense and disruption of another downtown surface alignment.

A downtown light rail subway, as envisioned by AORTA, would begin east of Lloyd Center; tunnel under the Lloyd District and the Willamette River; run underneath either 5th or 6th Avenues; and emerge west of I-405 near the existing Goose Hollow/SW Jefferson station.

Underground stations would include Lloyd Center; the Rose Quarter; Union Station; Burnside Street; a Central Station beneath the existing surface light rail corridor, which would become part of the Portland Streetcar system; and Portland State University, which would become one of the most significant traffic generators on the MAX system. Another portal south of PSU would allow trains from future routes into southwest and southeast Portland to reach downtown.