Portland - Milwaukie Light Rail (PMLR) | Completed

[Eugenepdx]

So regarding the Tillikum Crossing Bridge, does anyone know at what speeds the MAX is going to travel across the bridge at? I think they cross the Steel around 12mph or less, not really sure. With the MAX having its own dedicated lane, you would think the speeds should be a little faster.

[PDXDENSITY]

Originally Posted by Eugenepdx

So regarding the Tillikum Crossing Bridge, does anyone know at what speeds the MAX is going to travel across the bridge at? I think they cross the Steel around 12mph or less, not really sure. With the MAX having its own dedicated lane, you would think the speeds should be a little faster.

There's stations immediately on either side of the bridge. Not all transit can be rapid, especially not with a bottleneck. I don't think slowing down can be avoided because those stops on either side are necessary.

[maccoinnich]

Portland-Milwaukie MAX: Zavala brothers weld together Orange Line's final rail



After fusing 2,549 seams along about 30 miles of rail between Portland and Milwaukie, brothers Arnulfo and Octavio Zavala on Tuesday connected the final section of TriMet's MAX Orange Line.

"Welding. Grinding. Welding some more. Connecting rails. Building switches," said Octavio Zavala, 50, as a cloud of steam from a molten, orange-and-white weld swallowed him. "We've been doing this for two years."

As America experiences a second urban-train boom, these are the light-rail steelers who are piecing it together. The Zavalas, immigrants from Michoacan, Mexico, have helped build nearly a dozen U.S. light-lines for contractor Stacy and Witbeck over the past 14 years.

...continues at the Oregonian. Given that this story features a) Mexicans working on b) light rail in c) Clackamas County for d) pretty good money, I look forward to reading the comments in a few hours.

[maccoinnich]

New platforms, art, rails and trails: TriMet Orange Line takes shape in Clackamas County (photos)



TriMet's Orange Line is finally taking shape in Milwaukie.

New platforms are visible at Southeast Park Avenue and in downtown. Public art pieces line the improved Trolley Trail. A new bridge stretches over McLoughlin Boulevard, while a large parking structure is nearing completion at the end of the line.

It didn't happen without a few headaches. Last year, downtown Milwaukie was overrun with flaggers and orange cones as rail construction combined with the city's replacement of underground water and sewer lines. The work closed roads and altered commutes. Business owners and nearby residents bemoaned the commotion.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[zilfondel]

Most of the catenary has been installed, it looks like they are in the final stages of it. Some of the station platforms are also almost done, needing the glass for the canopies, ticket machines, reader boards, etc. The line looks really nice from my house! (I can see the max line from my living room)

[hat]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

Most of the catenary has been installed, it looks like they are in the final stages of it. Some of the station platforms are also almost done, needing the glass for the canopies, ticket machines, reader boards, etc. The line looks really nice from my house! (I can see the max line from my living room)

Also, the bike lane is all but complete if you're traveling through the Clinton/11th area. There's a nice path adjacent to the tracks for several blocks as well as a bike signal.

[PDXDENSITY]

I'm excited about this line getting finished. I really hope there is more interest in a SW MAX line since Powell has been completely taken off that list. On an aside, I think BRT on Powell will be done horribly if it is not completely grade separated; which then begs the question, why not a cheaper to maintain rail line.

[davehogan]

Originally Posted by PDXDENSITY

I'm excited about this line getting finished. I really hope there is more interest in a SW MAX line since Powell has been completely taken off that list. On an aside, I think BRT on Powell will be done horribly if it is not completely grade separated; which then begs the question, why not a cheaper to maintain rail line.

Rail is cheaper to operate, but more expensive to maintain than pavement w/rails. The Powell line has ROW for separated ROW from about SE 50th to SE 82nd, then on Division most of the way to Gresham. Routing it along SE 92nd to avoid some traffic has also been discussed.

If it could be grade separated it would be light rail, but the overhead lines, tracks, etc all make rail a more expensive choice if the ROW isn't available for dedicated lanes. The FRA doesn't let you mix light rail with cars, and streetcar just isn't really a good fit for the length of the commute.

Buses with all the features of light rail doesn't seem that bad. The platforms will be like MAX where you're expected to get a ticket before you board, you can use multiple doors to get on/off the vehicle, there won't need to ride for ten stops to go thirty blocks, and buses won't need to just keep going because they're too full. BRT can share stations with local buses. You don't need to build separate waiting areas for rail and bus passengers.

The BRT option isn't perfect, but as long as the keep the local 9 and 4, and let it share stops with the future Powell BRT I'll have no complaints.

Light rail and streetcar have good uses, but on a major state highway like Powell BRT seems like a pretty good compromise. Without a tunnel/elevated structure there was no reasonable way to connect light rail from about SE 39th to the Powell/Orange Line overpass.

Oh, and from the meeting I went to it could be open by 2020, whereas light rail under the same optimistic outlook would take until about 2026 to open. I live near Powell, and I'd love to have light rail. Right now we might as well preserve the ROW we have (parking lanes/areas on Division and Powell) for transit use even if we can't install rails yet.

I bet in 50 years people will appreciate that more than adding more highway lanes.

[maccoinnich]

Portland's Tilikum Crossing light rail bridge comes alive during lighting test (Photos)



By Randy L. Rasmussen | rrasmussen@oregonian.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on December 06, 2014 at 10:35 AM, updated December 06, 2014 at 11:07 AM

Testing of lighting on Tilikum Crossing, the new Portland-Milwaukie light rail bridge across the Willamette River, resumed on Dec. 4, 2014 and continues for three nights.

Once the bridge opens in the fall of 2015, TriMet's new pedestrian and transit bridge will be lit by 178 LED lights focused on the cables, towers and abutments.

The lighting is an environmentally-interactive art piece designed by San Francisco artist Douglas Hollis and his former partner, the late Anna Valentina Murch.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[davehogan]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

...continues at the Oregonian.

Thank you for the reminder, I have to go check that out.

Just got back. It wasn't really that impressive. It was a bridge with lights on it.

[zilfondel]

I saw it last night, the lighting is pretty awesome.

Actually, the lighting at the new OMSI transit center is pretty intense. The architects definitely spent some time designing it.

[maccoinnich]

TriMet runs MAX train across Tilikum Crossing for 1st time under its own power



TriMet for first time ran an electrified MAX train across the Tilikum Crossing bridge Wednesday morning.

It's all part of the run-up to the opening of the $1.5 billion Orange Line -- the 7.3 mile light-rail line from Portland to Milwaukie, scheduled to open September 12.

TriMet officials began the trial on the northern segment of the route just after 7:30 a.m. at the Lincoln/SW Fourth Avenue station and planned to run the train to the OMSI/SE Water Avenue station over the bridge back-and-forth four times, TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch said.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[maccoinnich]

Drone video of the Tilikum Crossing.

[davehogan]

I walked by the new bridge on Division the other day. I have other pictures, but I'm having trouble getting to them on my laptop.

[maccoinnich]

I'm not entirely sure I see the point of this. The MAX can never entirely move away from an honor system, given the at grade design of many (most?) of its stations. Absent that, I don't see the huge benefit from a handful of turnstiles.

Fare turnstiles coming to Portland-Milwaukie MAX stations

Just west of the sprawling, Eden-like green of Portland's Eastmoreland Golf Course, workers in orange hard hats will spend the next five months finishing what TriMet calls a "ravine station."

Located 70 feet below a bridge carrying Southeast Bybee Boulevard traffic over train tracks, the platforms for the soon-to-open MAX Orange Line aren't exactly easy to access. To catch a train, riders will hike down two steep stairways cascading from the bridge's midspan.

The design makes the future Bybee Boulevard station the perfect testing ground for the MAX system's first pay-to-enter fare gates, TriMet planners says.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

I'm not entirely sure I see the point of this. The MAX can never entirely move away from an honor system, given the at grade design of many (most?) of its stations. Absent that, I don't see the huge benefit from a handful of turnstiles.



...continues at the Oregonian.

The way the MAX is set up, the idea of turnstiles don't work right now, but I could see a turnstile system work in the future and nothing wrong with Trimet thinking about it right now to see what could be done.

[zilfondel]

There is no way this kind of a system can work right now, considering Trimet uses paper tickets. They would have to change their entire fare system into one that uses an e-card. Maybe its time we should take the plunge, although two turnstiles amid 87 stations isn't going to do much.

For comparison, SF, Seattle and Vancouver costs for their systems:

Clipper: 338 million (capital + 25 years operations)
ORCA: $43 million
Compass: $194 million

Trimet has $30 million budgeted.

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

The way the MAX is set up, the idea of turnstiles don't work right now, but I could see a turnstile system work in the future and nothing wrong with Trimet thinking about it right now to see what could be done.

How would you create a turnstile system in Downtown?

[cityscapes]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

There is no way this kind of a system can work right now, considering Trimet uses paper tickets. They would have to change their entire fare system into one that uses an e-card. Maybe its time we should take the plunge, although two turnstiles amid 87 stations isn't going to do much.

For comparison, SF, Seattle and Vancouver costs for their systems:

Clipper: 338 million (capital + 25 years operations)
ORCA: $43 million
Compass: $194 million

Trimet has $30 million budgeted.

They are changing the system to run on e-cards. Construction is starting now and should be complete by December. http://trimet.org/bettertransit/efareconstruction

[D.J.]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

How would you create a turnstile system in Downtown?

San Francisco has implemented a similar system in the opposite direction - turnstiles for all the city center stations where the light rail trains run in a tunnel, and direct boarding (with honor system) of trains outside of the center where the light rail trains run at street level.

They use an electronic fare system (the Clipper Card), and it appears TriMet's new system would probably have similar capabilities.

In San Francisco, at the direct board stations, you are supposed to tap your boarding card to payment terminals that are located at every door of each train. At the turnstile stations, you tap at the turnstile to get in, and then don't need to tap once you board the train. It's possible TriMet could have a similar system, or instead of having the payment terminals in each train, make people tap at the station ticket machines before you board a train. The SF system works fairly well, although it still largely relies on the honor system, as it is easy to board a train and not tap in.