128-464: The MAX Green Line is a light rail line serving the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon . Operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system, it connects Portland State University (PSU), Portland City Center , Northeast Portland , Southeast Portland , and Clackamas . The Green Line is 15 miles (24.1 km) long and serves 30 stations from the PSU South stations to Clackamas Town Center Transit Center . It
256-605: A local improvement district and $ 6.3 million from systems and utilities charges. Around $ 36 million came from Clackamas County urban renewal funds collected from property taxes within the Clackamas Town Center urban renewal district. TriMet contributed $ 20.5 million, and the Portland Development Commission provided $ 20 million. Downtown businesses spent an additional $ 15.3 million to improve retail spaces along
384-556: A shuttle bus . A new Hall Boulevard station would have connected with WES via Tigard Transit Center and would have served as the site of a new operations and maintenance facility. Metro adopted its 2035 RTP in June 2010 where it identified a segment of OR 99W between Portland and Sherwood as the region's next highest-priority "high-capacity transit" corridor. In January 2011, The FTA granted Metro $ 2 million to begin studying this formally named "Southwest Corridor". The funds focused on
512-724: A "light rail" vehicle (it is a heavy rail vehicle), and is only included for comparison purposes. Low-floor LRVs have the advantage of a low-floor design, allowing them to load passengers directly from low-rise platforms that can be little more than raised curbs. High-floor light rail systems also exist, featuring larger stations. Historically, the track gauge has had considerable variations, with narrow gauge common in many early systems. However, most light rail systems are now standard gauge . Older standard-gauge vehicles could not negotiate sharp turns as easily as narrow-gauge ones, but modern light rail systems achieve tighter turning radii by using articulated cars . An important advantage of
640-717: A $ 250 million tunnel would be too costly. Following the South/North Line's cancellation, the city reserved revitalization efforts for the transit mall amid proposals from local businesses to rebuild it to allow curbside parking in 2002. In 2003, TriMet planners began to reconsider the addition of light rail to the Portland Transit Mall after planning for the second phase of the South Corridor Transportation Study, which aimed to extend MAX south to Milwaukie, revealed that
768-492: A budget gap of $ 462 million, planners proposed reducing lanes on Barbur Boulevard and shortening the line's route to terminate in downtown Tigard. Both proposals were rejected in November 2019. Private negotiations, as well as Metro's approval to increase the project's requested budget by $ 125 million in the 2020 ballot measure, reduced the budget gap to around $ 100 million. On November 3, 2020, voters rejected
896-535: A bus lane is in effect. Bus lanes may also be physically separated from other traffic using bollards, curbs, or other raised elements. In some cities, such as The Hague in the Netherlands, buses are allowed to use reserved tram tracks , usually laid in the middle of the road and marked with the text "Lijnbus". In the United Kingdom bus gates are common in towns and cities. A bus gate consists of
1024-458: A bus, there will be even more capacity when there is a combination of cars and light rail. Table 3 shows an example of peak passenger capacity. The cost of light rail construction varies widely, largely depending on the amount of tunneling and elevated structures required. A survey of North American light rail projects shows that costs of most LRT systems range from $ 15 million to over $ 100 million per mile. Seattle's new light rail system
1152-403: A chaotic breakdown inflow and a dramatic drop in speed (a traffic jam ) if they exceed about 2,000 vehicles per hour per lane (each car roughly two seconds behind another). Since most people who drive to work or on business trips do so alone, studies show that the average car occupancy on many roads carrying commuters is only about 1.5 people per car during the high-demand rush hour periods of
1280-524: A combination of one light rail service and one improved bus service, bus rapid transit, and dedicated bus lanes. JPACT recommended both light rail options using a two-phased development plan; the I-205 line would be built by 2009, followed by a Portland–Milwaukie line via McLoughlin Boulevard five years later. The existing I-205 busway right-of-way and a potential for no new taxes were two factors that led to
1408-1142: A common right-of-way (however, Link converted to full separation in 2019). Some systems, such as the AirTrain JFK in New York City, the DLR in London, and Kelana Jaya Line in Kuala Lumpur , have dispensed with the need for an operator. The Vancouver SkyTrain was an early adopter of driverless vehicles, while the Toronto Scarborough rapid transit operated the same trains as Vancouver, but used drivers. In most discussions and comparisons, these specialized systems are generally not considered light rail but as light metro systems. Around Karlsruhe , Kassel , and Saarbrücken in Germany, dual-voltage light rail trains partly use mainline railroad tracks, sharing these tracks with heavy rail trains. In
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#17327866012211536-494: A contra-flow bus lane can allow buses to travel in the opposite direction to other vehicles. Some locations allow bicyclists or taxis to use bus lanes, however where bus or bicycle volumes are high, mixed traffic operations may result in uncomfortable conditions or delays. Certain other vehicles may also be permitted in bus lanes, such as taxis , high occupancy vehicles , motorcycles , or bicycles . Police , ambulance services and fire brigades can also use these lanes. In
1664-448: A contraflow bus lane. Bus lanes may be demarcated in several ways. Descriptive text such as "BUS LANE" may be marked prominently on the road surface, particularly at the beginning and end. Some cities use a diamond-shaped pavement marking to indicate an exclusive bus lane. The road surface may have a distinctive color, usually red, which has been shown to reduce prohibited vehicles from entering bus lanes. Road signs may communicate when
1792-431: A feasibility study for a potential subway line beneath the Portland Transit Mall on 5th and 6th avenues, which was then served only by buses, following recommendations made by a citizen advisory committee. During the planning stages of the South/North Line project in 1994, planners introduced a surface light rail alternative along the transit mall, which the project's steering committee later favored when they concluded that
1920-540: A fourth service on the existing tracks in downtown Portland along Southwest Morrison and Yamhill streets—served already by the Blue, Red, and (soon to be completed) Yellow lines—would push that segment to maximum capacity. Additionally, Portland business leaders pushed for the construction of a new bridge that would lead to the southern end of the transit mall instead of using the Hawthorne Bridge due to fears that
2048-457: A key component of a high-quality bus rapid transit (BRT) network, improving bus travel speeds and reliability by reducing delay caused by other traffic. A dedicated bus lane may occupy only part of a roadway which also has lanes serving general automotive traffic; in contrast to a transit mall which is a pedestrianized roadway also served by transit. The first bus lane is often erroneously attributed to Chicago , where in 1939 Sheridan Road
2176-628: A lack of present and future demand, the steering committee eliminated further planning using the alternatives to Sherwood. They also rerouted the proposed alignment in Tigard through the Tigard Triangle in response to local opposition to the removal of auto lanes from OR 99W. In June 2014, the steering committee determined a refined route for further study that ran from the southern end of the Portland Transit Mall in downtown Portland to just east of Tualatin station in downtown Tualatin; this route
2304-416: A light rail train may have three to four cars of much larger capacity in one train under the control of one driver, or no driver at all in fully automated systems, increasing the labor costs of BRT systems compared to LRT systems. BRT systems are also usually less fuel-efficient as they use non-electrified vehicles. The peak passenger capacity per lane per hour depends on which types of vehicles are allowed on
2432-435: A live rail. In outer areas, the trams switch to conventional overhead wires . The Bordeaux power system costs about three times as much as a conventional overhead wire system and took 24 months to achieve acceptable levels of reliability, requiring the replacement of all the main cables and power supplies. Operating and maintenance costs of the innovative power system still remain high. However, despite numerous service outages,
2560-543: A longer distance. Light rail cars are often coupled into multiple units of two to four cars. Light rail systems may also exhibit attributes of heavy rail systems, including having downtown subways, as in San Francisco and Seattle . Light rail is designed to address a gap in interurban transportation between heavy rail and bus services, carrying high passenger numbers more quickly than local buses and more cheaply than heavy rail. It serves corridors in which heavy rail
2688-642: A more diverse range of design characteristics than LRT, depending on the demand and constraints that exist, and BRT using dedicated lanes can have a theoretical capacity of over 30,000 passengers per hour per direction (for example, the Guangzhou Bus Rapid Transit system operates up to 350 buses per hour per direction). For the effective operation of a bus or BRT system, buses must have priority at traffic lights and have their dedicated lanes, especially as bus frequencies exceed 30 buses per hour per direction. The higher theoretical of BRT relates to
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#17327866012212816-736: A new MAX service for the extension called the "Green Line", which ran from Clackamas Town Center Transit Center to the PSU Urban Center stations upon commencement, later extending to the PSU South stations when those stations were infilled in September 2012. The I-205 segment added 6.5 miles (10.5 km) of new light rail tracks to the MAX system. Opening day festivities, paid for by sponsors and donations, were held at Clackamas Town Center and PSU . As many as 40,000 people showed up to ride
2944-500: A number of urban arterials with bus and transit lanes, noncompliance rates were approaching 90%. Following enhanced enforcement of the lanes, noncompliance rates dropped and overall efficiency of the bus and transit lanes improved with an up to 12% increase in total passenger throughput in the lane. Average bus journey times dropped, in some cases, by up to 19%. Some cities, including San Francisco and New York, employ automated camera enforcement, using either stationary cameras adjacent to
3072-722: A part of Oregon Route 99W (OR 99W), until Barbur Transit Center . From there, MAX would have run adjacent to I-5, except in Tigard where it would have run parallel to a segment of Portland and Western Railroad tracks utilized by WES Commuter Rail . A terminus would have been situated within Bridgeport Village in Tualatin. The extension would have connected riders to the Marquam Hill campus of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) with an inclined elevator and to Portland Community College (PCC) Sylvania with
3200-642: A portion of the Eastside MAX with Blue and Red lines between Rose Quarter Transit Center and Gateway Transit Center. The I-205 MAX, which the Green Line serves exclusively, consists of eight stations between Southeast Main Street and Clackamas Town Center Transit Center, occupying a segment of the I-205 busway south of the I-5 and I-205 interchange. The Portland Transit Mall, which the Green Line serves along with
3328-407: A result, has many of the operating characteristics of a metro system rather than a light rail system. A capacity of 1,350 passengers per train is more similar to the heavy rail than light rail. Bus rapid transit (BRT) is an alternative to LRT and many planning studies undertake a comparison of each mode when considering appropriate investments in transit corridor development. BRT systems can exhibit
3456-523: A short section of road that only buses and authorised vehicles (typically taxis) can pass through. They are normally marked with the same street signage as bus lanes, but have "BUS GATE" marked on the road surface. Bus gates are normally used as "short cuts" for public transport at junctions , roundabouts or through one-way systems . Bus lanes may have separate sets of dedicated traffic signals , to allow transit signal priority at intersections. Peak-only bus lanes are enforced only at certain times of
3584-534: A top speed of 55–71.5 miles per hour (88.51–115.1 km/h) depending on the system, while the trains on the all-underground Montreal Metro can only reach a top speed of 72 kilometres per hour (44.74 mph). LACMTA light rail vehicles have higher top and average speeds than Montreal Metro or New York City Subway trains. Many light rail systems—even fairly old ones—have a combination of both on- and off-road sections. In some countries (especially in Europe), only
3712-481: A tramway, a light metro, and, in a narrow sense, rapid transit. This is especially common in the United States, where there is not a popularly perceived distinction between these different types of urban rail systems. The development of technology for low-floor and catenary-free trams facilitates the construction of such mixed systems with only short and shallow underground sections below critical intersections as
3840-414: A tunnel to PCC Sylvania from further consideration. After passing a measure requiring voters to approve the construction of any high-capacity transit built within city limits, Tigard voters approved the light rail extension the following September. At an estimated cost of $ 2.6 billion to $ 2.9 billion, the project was included in a regional transportation funding measure called "Get Moving 2020". In light of
3968-403: A year later. The federal government approved the project on February 7, 2006. The combined project was budgeted at $ 575.7 million (equivalent to $ 795 million in 2023 dollars), of which approximately $ 355.7 million went to the I-205 segment. TriMet negotiated a local match of 40 percent of total funding, which amounted to $ 197.4 million (unadjusted). Federal funding covered
MAX Green Line - Misplaced Pages Continue
4096-470: Is a generic international English phrase for types of rail systems using modern streetcars/trams, which means more or less the same thing throughout the English-speaking world . Light rail systems can range from trams runnig in streets along with other traffic, to semi-metro systems having portions of grade separated track. People movers are even "lighter", in terms of capacity. Monorail
4224-575: Is a separate technology that has been more successful in specialized services than in a commuter transit role. The use of the generic term light rail avoids some serious incompatibilities between British and American English . The word tram , for instance, is generally used in the UK and many former British colonies to refer to what is known in North America as a streetcar , but in North America tram can instead refer to an aerial tramway , or, in
4352-602: Is a significant amount of overlap between the technologies; similar rolling stock may be used for either, and it is common to classify streetcars or trams as a subcategory of light rail rather than as a distinct type of transportation. However, some distinctions can be made, though systems may combine elements of both. Low-floor light rail lines tend to follow a reserved right-of-way and with trains receiving priority at intersections, and tend not to operate in mixed traffic, enabling higher operating speeds. Light rail lines tend to have less frequent stops than tramways, and operate over
4480-507: Is an at-grade crossing at Southeast Flavel Street. Much of this segment also parallels the I-205 Bike Path. Between Southeast Lincoln and Grant streets, the tracks enter a tunnel beneath the freeway, exiting on the opposite side just north of Southeast Division Street. Above Johnson Creek Boulevard, it travels on a 1,400-foot (430 m)-long overpass, the extension's longest elevated structure. South of Southeast Fuller Road station ,
4608-563: Is by far the most expensive in the US, at $ 179 million per mile, since it includes extensive tunneling in poor soil conditions, elevated sections, and stations as deep as 180 feet (55 m) below ground level. This results in costs more typical of subways or rapid transit systems than light rail. At the other end of the scale, four systems (Baltimore, Maryland; Camden, New Jersey; Sacramento, California; and Salt Lake City, Utah) incurred construction costs of less than $ 20 million per mile. Over
4736-426: Is especially important for wheelchair access, as narrower gauges (e.g. metre gauge) can make it challenging or impossible to pass the tram's wheels. Furthermore, standard-gauge rolling stock can be switched between networks either temporarily or permanently, and both newly built and used standard-gauge rolling stock tends to be cheaper to buy, as more companies offer such vehicles. Overhead lines supply electricity to
4864-502: Is expensive. Similarly, the most expensive US highway expansion project was the " Big Dig " in Boston, Massachusetts, which cost $ 200 million per lane mile for a total cost of $ 14.6 billion. A light rail track can carry up to 20,000 people per hour as compared with 2,000–2,200 vehicles per hour for one freeway lane. For example, in Boston and San Francisco, light rail lines carry 9,600 and 13,100 passengers per hour, respectively, in
4992-575: Is hard to distinguish between what is called light rail, and other forms of urban and commuter rail. A system described as a light rail in one city may be considered to be a streetcar or tram system in another. Conversely, some lines that are called "light rail" are very similar to rapid transit ; in recent years, new terms such as light metro have been used to describe these medium-capacity systems. Some "light rail" systems, such as Sprinter , bear little similarity to urban rail, and could alternatively be classified as commuter rail or even inter-city rail. In
5120-559: Is impractical. Light metro systems are essentially hybrids of light rail and rapid transit. Metro trains are larger and faster than light rail trains, with stops being further apart. Many systems have mixed characteristics. Indeed, with proper engineering, a rail line could run along a street, then go underground, and then run along an elevated viaduct. For example, the Los Angeles Metro Rail 's A Line "light rail" has sections that could alternatively be described as
5248-484: Is one of the highest capacity ones, having been upgraded in a series of expansions to handle 40,000 passengers per hour per direction, and having carried as many as 582,989 passengers in a single day on its Line 1 . It achieves this volume by running four-car trains with a capacity of up to 1,350 passengers each at a frequency of up to 30 trains per hour. However, the Manila light rail system has full grade separation and as
MAX Green Line - Misplaced Pages Continue
5376-751: Is the only service that interlines with all of the other MAX services; it shares the Portland Transit Mall with the Orange and Yellow lines and part of the Eastside MAX with the Blue and Red lines. South of Gateway Transit Center , the Green Line branches off to the Interstate 205 (I-205) MAX segment through to Clackamas Town Center . Service runs for approximately 21 1 ⁄ 2 hours daily with headways of up to 15 minutes. It
5504-562: Is the third-busiest line in the system with an average of 19,160 riders per day on weekdays in September 2019. Planning for light rail in Clackamas County began with a proposal in the mid-1980s to build two separate lines, of which one was envisioned between Portland International Airport and Clackamas Town Center using the I-205 busway . Feasibility studies conducted in the early 1990s shifted plans away from I-205 and culminated in
5632-542: The Cádiz TramBahia , where trams share track with commuter and long-distance trains from the main terminus in the city and curve off to serve cities without a railway connection. Some of the issues involved in such schemes are: There is a history of what would now be considered light rail vehicles operating on heavy rail rapid transit tracks in the US, especially in the case of interurban streetcars . Notable examples are Lehigh Valley Transit trains running on
5760-509: The I-205 freeway, and another between downtown Portland , Milwaukie , and Oregon City via McLoughlin Boulevard . A panel of local and state officials known as the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT) endorsed the I-205 route in 1987 with a request to start preliminary engineering for light rail along this corridor in lieu of an originally planned busway . Their preferred alignment had been
5888-665: The I-205 Bike Path ; a new mixed-use path linking Clackamas County to the South Park Blocks in downtown Portland was paved as a permanent alternative. Preliminary work began in April and involved erecting light rail bridges over Johnson Creek Boulevard and Harold Street and excavating light rail underpasses below Stark and Washington streets. Crews were at work within Clackamas County by November. The line
6016-682: The I-205 busway , a partially completed, grade-separated transit right-of-way built during I-205's construction several years prior. Regional transit agency TriMet , however, wanted an extension of MAX westward to Hillsboro in Washington County to take priority for federal funding, so the agency called on local businesses and governments in Clackamas County to subsidize the proposed $ 88 million I-205 route. A dispute between Washington and Clackamas county officials followed, with Clackamas County vying for additional federal assistance, including $ 17 million in excess funds sourced from
6144-758: The London Underground and the New York City Subway . Conventional rail technologies including high-speed , freight, commuter , and rapid transit urban transit systems are considered "heavy rail". The main difference between light rail and heavy rail rapid transit is the ability for a light rail vehicle to operate in mixed traffic if the routing requires it. The world's first electric tram operated in Sestroretsk near Saint Petersburg , Russia , invented and operated on an experimental basis by Fyodor Pirotsky in 1880. The first tramway
6272-637: The Netherlands , this concept was first applied on the RijnGouweLijn . This allows commuters to ride directly into the city center, rather than taking a mainline train only as far as a central station and then having to change to a tram. In France, similar tram-trains are planned for Paris, Mulhouse , and Strasbourg ; further projects exist. In some cases, tram trains use previously abandoned or lightly used heavy rail lines in addition to or instead of still in use mainline tracks. In 2022, Spain opened
6400-874: The O-Train Trillium Line in Ottawa, Ontario , Canada, the River Line in New Jersey , United States, and the Sprinter in California , United States, which use diesel multiple unit (DMU) cars. Light rail is different from the British English term light railway , long-used to distinguish railway operations carried out under a less rigorous set of regulations using lighter equipment at lower speeds from mainline railways. Light rail
6528-703: The Philadelphia and Western Railroad high-speed third rail line (now the Norristown High-Speed Line ). Such arrangements are almost impossible now, due to the Federal Railroad Administration refusing (for crash safety reasons) to allow non-FRA compliant railcars (i.e., subway and light rail vehicles) to run on the same tracks at the same times as compliant railcars, which includes locomotives and standard railroad passenger and freight equipment. Notable exceptions in
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#17327866012216656-724: The South/North Corridor project, which failed to secure voter-backed funding over several ballot measures . In 2001, regional planners unveiled the South Corridor Transportation Project, a two-phased revision of the South/North project that sought light rail for I-205 and the Portland Transit Mall in its first phase. With the support of local residents, the I-205/Portland Mall Light Rail Project
6784-574: The Steel Bridge to connect the existing Eastside MAX tracks with the new transit mall tracks. 5th and 6th avenues reopened to vehicular traffic in July 2008, two months ahead of schedule. TriMet began line testing in January 2009, initially with light rail cars hauled by a truck, then with the MAX system's new Type 4 trains. Bus service returned to the transit mall the following May 24. On August 30,
6912-530: The medians of roads . If run in streets , trains are usually limited by city block lengths to about four 180-passenger vehicles (720 passengers). Operating on two-minute headways using traffic signal progression, a well-designed two-track system can handle up to 30 trains per hour per track, achieving peak rates of over 20,000 passengers per hour in each direction. More advanced systems with separate rights-of-way using moving block signaling can exceed 25,000 passengers per hour per track. Most light rail systems in
7040-561: The 1.8-mile-long (2.9 km) Portland Transit Mall light rail segment opened with inaugural service from the Yellow Line, which TriMet rerouted from First Avenue and Southwest Morrison and Yamhill streets. Green Line trains began serving this segment later on September 12. Light rail service on the transit mall initially ran only between the Union Station and PSU Urban Center stations as transit-oriented development projects near
7168-516: The 14–Hawthorne, to Southwest 2nd Avenue. Construction commenced on January 14, 2007, with the corridor's temporary closure. Owing to techniques learned from the Interstate MAX project, businesses were kept open while blocks were closed off from north to south in three- to four-block sections. The original transit mall had been built with mortar -set bricks, which proved difficult to maintain. TriMet experimented with sand-set brick paving during
7296-624: The 1970s was proven to have been a technical failure by the following decade. After World War II, the Germans retained many of their streetcar networks and evolved them into model light rail systems ( Stadtbahnen ). With the exception of Hamburg , all large and most medium-sized German cities maintain light rail networks. The concept of a "limited tramway" was proposed by American transport planner H. Dean Quinby in 1962. Quinby distinguished this new concept in rail transportation from historic streetcar or tram systems as: The term light rail transit
7424-495: The French city of Bordeaux , the tramway network is powered by a third rail in the city center, where the tracks are not always segregated from pedestrians and cars. The third rail (actually two closely spaced rails) is placed in the middle of the track and divided into eight-metre sections, each of which is powered only while it is completely covered by a tram. This minimizes the risk of a person or animal coming into contact with
7552-577: The Green Line operates for approximately 21 1 ⁄ 2 hours per day. The first train starts westbound at 3:40 am from Gateway Transit Center. From 4:19 am, the first five eastbound trains originate at the Ruby Junction/East 197th Avenue station as the Blue Line and change to the Green Line at Gateway Transit Center. The first trains from PSU South/Southwest 6th & College station and Clackamas Town Center Transit Center to run
7680-562: The Green Line runs on a slightly reduced schedule, beginning service approximately 40 minutes later. TriMet designates the line as a "Frequent Service" route, with service running on a headway of 15 minutes during most of the day, which extends up to 30 minutes in the early morning and late evening hours. Before the start of construction, a PSU study estimated that the Green Line would carry 46,500 riders by 2025. For its first year in operation, TriMet projected an average of 25,250 riders on weekdays, but fewer people than expected actually utilized
7808-539: The Green Line serves the Banfield segment of the Eastside MAX between Rose Quarter Transit Center and Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center. Beyond Gateway Transit Center, the Green Line proceeds south, entering the I-205 MAX extension just east of I-205. Throughout most of this stretch, the line is grade-separated as part of the I-205 busway, running either above or below roadway intersections. The exception
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#17327866012217936-687: The Green Line. On November 3, 2020, voters declined a tax ballot measure that would have provided local funding, putting the project on hold. While construction of what would become the first segment of the Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) between downtown Portland and Gresham progressed in the mid-1980s, regional government Metro unveiled plans for the Portland metropolitan area 's next light rail line to serve Clackamas County . Metro proposed two routes: one between Portland International Airport and Clackamas Town Center via
8064-597: The Netherlands mixed bus/cycle lanes are uncommon. According to the Sustainable Safety guidelines they would violate the principle of homogeneity and put road users of very different masses and speed behaviour into the same lane, which is generally discouraged. Some locations have allowed access to bus lanes to electric cars and/or hybrid cars . Oslo removed one such exception in 2017 following protests due to congestion in bus lanes. The large number of electric vehicles on Norwegian roads slowed buses, defeating
8192-672: The Orange Line and the Yellow Line, consists of seven stations per direction. Green Line trains serve 30 stations total, of which the remaining eight are between Rose Quarter Transit Center and Gateway Transit Center, shared with the Blue Line and the Red Line. The Green Line provides connections to local and intercity bus services at various stops across the line, the Portland Streetcar at four stops in and near downtown Portland, and Amtrak via Union Station. On weekdays,
8320-662: The US are the NJ Transit River Line from Camden to Trenton and Austin's Capital MetroRail , which have received exemptions to the provision that light rail operations occur only during daytime hours and Conrail freight service only at night, with several hours separating one operation from the other. The O-Train Trillium Line in Ottawa also has freight service at certain hours. With its mix of right-of-way types and train control technologies, LRT offers
8448-455: The US as a whole, excluding Seattle, new light rail construction costs average about $ 35 million per mile. By comparison, a freeway lane expansion typically costs $ 1.0 million to $ 8.5 million per lane mile for two directions, with an average of $ 2.3 million. However, freeways are frequently built in suburbs or rural areas, whereas light rail tends to be concentrated in urban areas, where right of way and property acquisition
8576-666: The United States and in North America . In Britain, modern light rail systems began to appear in the 1980s, starting with the Tyne and Wear Metro from 1980 and followed by the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in London in 1987, continuing into the 1990s including the establishment of the Manchester Metrolink in 1992 and the Sheffield Supertram from 1994. Due to varying definitions, it
8704-526: The United States are limited by demand rather than capacity (by and large, most American LRT systems carry fewer than 4,000 persons per hour per direction), but Boston's and San Francisco's light rail lines carry 9,600 and 13,100 passengers per hour per track during rush hour. Elsewhere in North America, the Calgary C-Train and Monterrey Metro have higher light rail ridership than Boston or San Francisco. Systems outside North America often have much higher passenger volumes. The Manila Light Rail Transit System
8832-415: The United States is the Lincoln Tunnel XBL (exclusive bus lane) along the Lincoln Tunnel Approach and Helix in Hudson County, New Jersey , which carries approximately 700 buses per hour during morning peak times an average of one bus every 5.1 seconds. In contrast, the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in Hong Kong carries 14,500 buses per day, or an average of about 605 an hour all day (not just peak times), but
8960-472: The United States, "light rail" has become a catch-all term to describe a wide variety of passenger rail systems. Light rail corridors may constitute a fully segregated corridor, a dedicated right-of-way on a street, an on-street corridor shared with other traffic, a corridor shared with other public transport, or a corridor shared with pedestrians. The most difficult distinction to draw is that between low-floor light rail and streetcar or tram systems. There
9088-730: The United States, light rail operates primarily along exclusive rights-of-way and uses either individual tramcars or multiple units coupled together, with a lower capacity and speed than a long heavy rail passenger train or rapid transit system. Narrowly defined, light rail transit uses rolling stock that is similar to that of a traditional tram, while operating at a higher capacity and speed, often on an exclusive right-of-way. In broader use, it includes tram-like operations mostly on streets. A few light rail networks have characteristics closer to rapid transit or even commuter rail , yet only when these systems are fully grade-separated are they referred to as light metros . The term light rail
9216-415: The ability of buses to travel closer to each other than rail vehicles and their ability to overtake each other at designated locations allowing express services to bypass those that have stopped at stations. However, to achieve capacities this high, BRT station footprints need to be significantly larger than a typical LRT station. In terms of cost of operation, each bus vehicle requires a single driver, whereas
9344-444: The assessment of various mode alternatives, including light rail, commuter rail , streetcar , and bus rapid transit. The Southwest Corridor Plan officially launched later on September 28, formalizing the development of a unified transportation plan between the involved communities and jurisdictions. In June 2013, the project steering committee selected light rail and bus rapid transit as the alternatives for further consideration. Citing
9472-628: The bus lane, or cameras on the front of buses to automatically issue citations to vehicles obstructing the bus lane. Bus lanes give priority to buses, cutting down on journey times where roads are congested with other traffic and increasing the reliability of buses. The introduction of bus lanes can significantly assist in the reduction of air pollution . Bus lanes marked with colored pavement have been shown to reduce intrusions into bus lanes, speeding travel time and increasing bus reliability. Some network lengths of bus lanes in major cities, listed by buses per km of bus lane): The busiest bus lane in
9600-866: The case of the Disney amusement parks , even a land train . (The usual British term for an aerial tramway is cable car , which in the US usually refers to a ground-level car pulled along by subterranean cables .) The word trolley is often used as a synonym for streetcar in the United States but is usually taken to mean a cart, particularly a shopping cart, in the UK and elsewhere. Many North American transportation planners reserve streetcar for traditional vehicles that operate exclusively in mixed traffic on city streets, while they use light rail to refer to more modern vehicles operating mostly in exclusive rights of way, since they may operate both side-by-side targeted at different passenger groups. The difference between British English and American English terminology arose in
9728-421: The closure of Glasgow Corporation Tramways (one of the largest in Europe) in 1962. Although some traditional trolley or tram systems continued to exist in San Francisco and elsewhere, the term "light rail" has come to mean a different type of rail system as modern light rail technology has primarily post-WWII West German origins. An attempt by Boeing Vertol to introduce a new American light rail vehicle in
9856-639: The day, usually during rush hour , reverting to a general purpose or parking lane at other times. Peak-only bus lanes may be in effect only in the main direction of travel, such as towards a downtown during morning rush hour traffic, with the buses using general purpose lanes in the other direction. Entire streets can be designated as bus lanes (such as Oxford Street in London, Princes Street in Edinburgh, or Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn ), allowing buses, taxis and delivery vehicles only, or
9984-415: The day. This combination of factors limits roads carrying only automobile commuters to a maximum observed capacity of about 3,000 passengers per hour per lane. The problem can be mitigated by introducing high-occupancy vehicle ( HOV ) lanes and ride-sharing programs, but in most cases, policymakers have chosen to add more lanes to the roads, despite a small risk that in unfavorable situations an extension of
10112-755: The direct translation, which is city rail (the Norwegian term, by bane , means the same). However, UMTA finally adopted the term light rail instead. Light in this context is used in the sense of "intended for light loads and fast movement", rather than referring to physical weight. The infrastructure investment is also usually lighter than would be found for a heavy rail system. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA), in its Glossary of Transit Terminology, defines light rail as: ...a mode of transit service (also called streetcar, tramway, or trolley) operating passenger rail cars singly (or in short, usually two-car or three-car, trains) on fixed rails in
10240-708: The east–west MAX tracks on Yamhill and Morrison streets near the Pioneer Courthouse/Southwest 6th and Pioneer Place/Southwest 5th stations . A wye connects the tracks near the intersection of Northwest 5th Avenue and Hoyt Street. The line continues east onto the Northwest Glisan Street Ramp where the tracks join the Eastside MAX alignment and then cross the Willamette River via the Steel Bridge. From here,
10368-616: The expense of rerouting the trolleybus , which was due to be scrapped on 3 November of that year. However the experiment proved so successful that it was made permanent for use by motor buses. In October 1971 Runcorn opened the world's first bus rapid transitway . Upon opening, the 7-mile (11 km) busway featured specialized stations, signal priority , grade separation , and was expanded to 14 miles (23 km) by 1980. By 1972 there were over 140 kilometres (87 mi) of with-flow bus lanes in 100 cities within OECD member countries, and
10496-505: The first contraflow lane was established on the old pont de l’Alma on 15 June 1966. On 26 February 1968 the first bus lane in London was put into service on Vauxhall Bridge . The first contraflow bus lane in the UK was introduced in King's Road, Reading as a temporary measure when the road was made one-way (eastwards to Cemetery Junction) on 16 June 1968. The initial reason was to save
10624-517: The first dedicated busway in the United States, continuing to operate to this day. In 1956 Nashville became the first city to implement on-street bus lanes. Later that year, Chicago implemented a bus lane in the center of Washington Street, a five lane one-way street downtown. The first bus lanes in Europe were established in 1963 in the German city of Hamburg , when the tram system was closed and
10752-586: The former dedicated tram tracks were converted for bus travel. Other large German cities soon followed, and the implementation of bus lanes was officially sanctioned in the German highway code in 1970. Many experts from other countries ( Japan among the first) studied the German example and implemented similar solutions. On 15 January 1964 the first bus lane in France was designated along the quai du Louvre in Paris and
10880-427: The full length of the line depart at 5:27 am and 4:55 am, respectively. End-to-end travel takes around 50 minutes. In the evenings, certain eastbound trains turn into the Blue Line at Rose Quarter Transit Center and terminate at Ruby Junction. The last eastbound train departs PSU South station at 12:28 am and the last westbound train departs Clackamas Town Center Transit Center at 12:41 am. On weekends,
11008-481: The inner city by rising housing prices. Light rail Light rail (or light rail transit , abbreviated to LRT ) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology while also having some features from heavy rapid transit . The term was coined in 1972 in the United States as an English equivalent for the German word Stadtbahn , meaning "city railway". Different definitions exist in some countries, but in
11136-458: The late 19th century when Americans adopted the term "street railway", rather than "tramway", with the vehicles being called "streetcars" rather than "trams". Some have suggested that the Americans' preference for the term "street railway" at that time was influenced by German emigrants to the United States (who were more numerous than British immigrants in the industrialized Northeast), as it is
11264-524: The latter is described as light rail. In those places, trams running on mixed rights-of-way are not regarded as a light rail but considered distinctly as streetcars or trams. However, the requirement for saying that a rail line is "separated" can be quite low—sometimes just with concrete "buttons" to discourage automobile drivers from getting onto the tracks. Some systems such as Seattle's Link had on-road mixed sections but were closed to regular road traffic, with light rail vehicles and buses both operating along
11392-443: The latter would create a traffic bottleneck . TriMet conducted a study proposing stations on either the left, right, or middle lanes of the transit mall and ultimately selected a hybrid center-lane travel with right-side boarding option in April 2004. A transit mall revitalization plan was approved and combined with the first-phase construction of the I-205 MAX a month later. Consisting of seven stations per split on 5th and 6th Avenues,
11520-399: The light rail concept was the "Shaker Heights Rapid Transit" which started in the 1920s, was renovated in 1980-81 and is now part of RTA Rapid Transit . Many original tram and streetcar systems in the United Kingdom , United States , and elsewhere were decommissioned starting in the 1950s as subsidies for the car increased. Britain abandoned its tram systems, except for Blackpool , with
11648-667: The line dips under the Otty Road and Monterey Avenue overpasses before terminating at Clackamas Town Center Transit Center near Southeast Sunnyside Road. The Green Line shares the northbound segment of the Portland Transit Mall with the Yellow Line, which diverges for Expo Center station in North Portland after crossing the Steel Bridge. It shares the southbound segment with the Orange Line, which continues beyond PSU South/Southwest 5th and Jackson station for Southeast Park Avenue station near Milwaukie. The Green Line also shares
11776-493: The line on its first day of weekday service. By the following month, however, TriMet had recorded approximately 17,000 trips per day. The average daily ridership in June 2010 was 19,500, increasing to 24,300 by April 2012. As of September 2019, the Green Line is the third-busiest MAX service with an average weekday ridership of 19,160, 1,480 fewer riders than the previous year. The drop in ridership—experienced systemwide—is attributed to crime and lower-income riders being forced out of
11904-456: The measure. Had it been approved, the extension would have begun construction in 2022 and opened by 2027. It had been expected to serve approximately 37,500 riders by 2035. The Green Line is 15 miles (24.1 km) long and serves three distinct segments of the MAX system: the Portland Transit Mall, the Eastside MAX, and the I-205 MAX. Its western termini are the PSU South stations situated at
12032-458: The network grew substantially in the following decades. The El Monte Busway between El Monte and Downtown Los Angeles was the first dedicated busway in the US, constructed in 1974. Bus lanes may be located in different locations on a street, such as on the sides of a street near the curb, or down the center. They may be long, continuous networks, or short segments used to allow buses to bypass bottlenecks or reduce route complexity, such as in
12160-511: The northern half of the I-205 busway from Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center ; this extension opened in 2001 with service from the Red Line . In May 2001, JPACT revisited its transit plans for the I-205 and McLoughlin Boulevard corridors, announcing the $ 8.8 million South Corridor Transportation Study the following month. The study narrowed down five transit alternatives in January 2003; this included building both light rail lines,
12288-465: The old and new systems. Since the 1980s, Portland, Oregon , has built all three types of system: a high-capacity light rail system in dedicated lanes and rights-of-way, a low-capacity streetcar system integrated with street traffic, and an aerial tram system . The opposite phrase heavy rail , used for higher-capacity, higher-speed systems, also avoids some incompatibilities in terminology between British and American English, for instance in comparing
12416-402: The partially realized I-205 busway. In an effort to settle the dispute, Metro updated its regional transportation plan (RTP) in January 1989 to reassert the westside line's priority and commission preliminary work for the I-205 and McLoughlin Boulevard proposals. The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations approved a financing package later in September, which provided $ 2 million to assess
12544-414: The peak direction during rush hour. Bus lane A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses , generally to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion . The related term busway describes a roadway completely dedicated for use by buses, whilst bus gate describes a short bus lane often used as a short cut for public transport. Bus lanes are
12672-514: The project extended the existing transit mall from 44 to 117 block faces between Union Station and PSU. It also added a continuous travel lane for private vehicles, which had not been present in the corridor's original bus-only design. TriMet awarded the transit mall reconstruction contract to a joint venture between Stacy and Witbeck and Kiewit Pacific . Preparation work began with the rerouting of 17 bus lines to 3rd and 4th avenues, six lines to Southwest Columbia and Jefferson streets, and one line,
12800-631: The purpose of bus lanes. Bus lanes can become ineffective if weak enforcement allows use by unauthorized vehicles or illegal parking . Center-running bus lanes avoid the problem of private vehicles blocking the lane by double parking for loading of passengers or cargo. Evidence from the operation of urban arterials in Brisbane shows that a properly enforced bus lane, operating as designed without interference, can increase passenger throughput. In 2009 and 2010 traffic surveys showed that in Brisbane on
12928-454: The reconstruction as recommended by British civil engineer John Knapton , who studied Roman road building methods. Tracks were laid 25 inches (64 cm) into the surface street while water pipes and sewers were buried 6 feet (1.8 m) to 25 feet (7.6 m) underground. Crews installed the last section of rail in May 2008. From June through August that year, workers closed the upper deck of
13056-868: The remaining 60 percent, or about $ 345 million, under the New Starts program. The head of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) signed the full-funding agreement in Portland on July 3, 2007. In May 2009, the project received $ 32 million in federal stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 , an amount already committed to the project by the federal government but made available so that TriMet could retire debt earlier. The City of Portland provided $ 15 million in bonds paid for by raising parking meter fees, as well as $ 17 million from
13184-556: The required clearance height can be reduced significantly compared to conventional light rail vehicles. Reference speed from major light rail systems, including station stop time, is shown below. However, low top speed is not always a differentiating characteristic between light rail and other systems. For example, the Siemens S70 LRVs used in the Houston METRORail and other North American LRT systems have
13312-432: The right-of-way that is often separated from other traffic for part or much of the way. Light rail vehicles are typically driven electrically with power being drawn from an overhead electric line via a trolley [pole] or a pantograph ; driven by an operator onboard the vehicle; and may have either high platform loading or low-level boarding using steps." However, some diesel-powered transit is designated light rail, such as
13440-415: The road network might lead to increased travel times ( Downs–Thomson paradox , Braess's paradox ). By contrast, light rail vehicles can travel in multi-car trains carrying a theoretical ridership up to 20,000 passengers per hour in much narrower rights-of-way , not much more than two car lanes wide for a double track system. They can often be run through existing city streets and parks , or placed in
13568-401: The roads. Typically roadways have 1,900 passenger cars per lane per hour (pcplph). If only cars are allowed, the capacity will be less and will not increase when the traffic volume increases. When there is a bus driving on this route, the capacity of the lane will be higher and will increase when the traffic level increases. And because the capacity of a light rail system is higher than that of
13696-618: The same as the German term for the mode, Straßenbahn (meaning "street railway"). A further difference arose because, while Britain abandoned all of its trams after World War II except in Blackpool , eight major North American cities ( Toronto , Boston , Philadelphia , San Francisco , Pittsburgh , Newark , Cleveland , and New Orleans ) continued to operate large streetcar systems. When these cities upgraded to new technology, they called it light rail to differentiate it from their existing streetcars since some continued to operate both
13824-468: The selection of the I-205 corridor for the first phase. With the approval of local residents, affected jurisdictions had endorsed the South Corridor Transportation Project by April 2003. Plans were amended the following October to include adding light rail to the Portland Transit Mall in downtown Portland in the first phase. TriMet published the combined "I-205/Portland Mall" final environmental impact statement in November 2004 and commenced land acquisition
13952-541: The southern end of the Portland Transit Mall within the PSU campus. Tracks along the transit mall are split between 5th and 6th Avenues; trains travel northbound on 6th Avenue and southbound on 5th Avenue. From the PSU South stations, the line traverses the length of the transit mall, ending near Portland Union Station. Along the way, it crosses with Portland Streetcar tracks near the PSU Urban Center stations and with
14080-461: The southern end of the corridor delayed the construction of the PSU South termini. The PSU South stations opened in September 2012. The Southwest Corridor Light Rail Project was a planned 13-station, 11-mile (18 km) MAX extension that would have connected downtown Portland to Southwest Portland , Tigard , and Tualatin . It would have originated at the PSU South stations in downtown Portland and traveled southwest via Southwest Barbur Boulevard,
14208-408: The standard gauge is that standard railway maintenance equipment can be used on it, rather than custom-built machinery. Using standard gauges also allows light rail vehicles to be conveniently moved around using the same tracks as freight railways. Additionally, wider gauges (e.g. standard gauge) provide more floor clearance on low-floor trams that have constricted pedestrian areas at the wheels, which
14336-598: The studies analyzed various alternative routes, however, support shifted to an alignment along the busier I-5 and Willamette River corridors. A 25-mile (40 km) route from Hazel Dell, Washington through downtown Portland to Clackamas Town Center called the " South/North Corridor " was finalized in 1994. Estimated to cost around $ 2.8 billion, Portland area voters approved a $ 475 million bond measure in November 1994 to cover Oregon's share. A Clark County vote to fund Washington's portion, which would have been sourced through sales and vehicle excise tax increases,
14464-551: The system was a success with the public, gaining up to 190,000 passengers per day. Automatic train operation is employed on light rail networks, tracking the position and speed of a train and hence adjusting its movement for safety and efficiency. One line of light rail (requires 7.6 m, 25' right of way) has a theoretical capacity of up to 8 times more than one 3.7 m (12 foot) lane on a freeway, excluding busses, during peak times. Roads have ultimate capacity limits that can be determined by traffic engineering , and usually experience
14592-550: The trains, which was free that day. To address its $ 31 million budget deficit caused by the slow growth of payroll tax revenue amid the Great Recession , TriMet simultaneously eliminated four bus lines and implemented service cuts to 49 other routes. A north–south light rail alignment through downtown Portland had been considered as early as the 1980s. In 1991, the Portland City Council commissioned
14720-450: The trams, making it safe on city streets. Several systems in Europe and a few recently opened systems in North America use diesel -powered trains. When electric streetcars were introduced in the late 19th century, conduit current collection was one of the first ways of supplying power, but it proved to be much more expensive, complicated, and trouble-prone than overhead wires . When electric street railways became ubiquitous, conduit power
14848-465: The transit mall. In February 2004, TriMet awarded the I-205 light rail design–build contract to South Corridor Constructors, a joint venture between Stacy and Witbeck , F.E. Ward Constructors—both of which had worked on the previous Interstate MAX project—and Granite Construction Company. Construction began in February 2007. This marked the start of a 2 1 ⁄ 2 -year closure of sections of
14976-544: The two segments, but at the behest of U.S. Senators Mark Hatfield of Oregon and Brock Adams of Washington, who were members of the committee, a segment further north to Clark County, Washington became part of the proposals. Alignment studies initially examined extending the proposed I-205 route further north across the Columbia River to Vancouver Mall or the Clark County Fairgrounds. As
15104-460: The vast majority of light rail systems. This avoids the danger potentially presented by an electrified third rail . The Docklands Light Railway uses an inverted third rail for its electrical power, which allows the electrified rail to be covered and the power drawn from the underside. Trams in Bordeaux , France, use a special third-rail configuration where the power is only switched on beneath
15232-434: The widest range of latitude of any rail system in the design, engineering, and operating practices. The challenge in designing light rail systems is to realize the potential of LRT to provide fast, comfortable service while avoiding the tendency to overdesign that results in excessive capital costs beyond what is necessary to meet the public's needs. The BART railcar in the following chart is not generally considered to be
15360-657: Was approved in 2003. Construction began in early 2007 and spanned over two years. The project opened in two phases starting with the Portland Transit Mall in August 2009 and I-205 the following month. Green Line service commenced on September 12, 2009. TriMet had intended to extend MAX to Southwest Portland , Tigard , and Tualatin with the Southwest Corridor Light Rail Project. The 13-station, 11-mile (18 km) extension would have begun construction in 2022 and opened in 2027 with service from
15488-459: Was coined in 1972 by the U.S. Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA; the precursor to the Federal Transit Administration ) to describe new streetcar transformations that were taking place in Europe and the United States. In Germany, the term Stadtbahn (to be distinguished from S-Bahn , which stands for Stadtschnellbahn ) was used to describe the concept, and many in UMTA wanted to adopt
15616-536: Was installed with reversible lanes north of Foster Avenue. The setup consisted of three-lanes towards the peak direction (south in the morning; north in the evening), and one contraflow lane . None of the lanes exclusively carried buses, but were designed to facilitate bus operations. In 1948, the East Side Trolley Tunnel in Providence, Rhode Island was converted to bus-only use and became
15744-677: Was introduced in North America in 1972 to describe this new concept of rail transportation. Prior to that time the abbreviation "LRT" was used for " Light Rapid Transit " and " Light Rail Rapid Transit ". The first of the new light rail systems in North America began operation in 1978 when the Canadian city of Edmonton, Alberta , adopted the German Siemens-Duewag U2 system, followed three years later by Calgary, Alberta , and San Diego, California . The concept proved popular, with there now being numerous light rail systems in
15872-406: Was later shortened to terminate at Bridgeport Village. The following year, proposals to serve Marquam Hill and Hillsdale with tunnels were dropped from the plan because they would be too costly, have severe construction impacts, and attract few new transit riders. In May 2016, the steering committee voted to select light rail as the preferred mode alternative over bus rapid transit. They also removed
16000-499: Was over 70 percent complete by November 2008, with tracks laid from Gateway Transit Center to Flavel Street . To serve the expansion, TriMet ordered 22 Siemens S70 cars, which it referred to as "Type 4". Siemens delivered the first car in 2009; it made its first test run that March and entered service on August 6. The I-205 extension's first end-to-end test run, attended by local and state dignitaries, occurred that July. The I-205 segment opened on September 12, 2009. TriMet created
16128-437: Was subsequently defeated on February 7, 1995. TriMet later sought funding for various scaled-back revisions of the South/North project following a general route between North Portland and Clackamas Town Center that voters went on to reject in 1996 and 1998. In 1997, an unsolicited proposal from engineering company Bechtel led to a public–private partnership that built an extension of MAX to Portland International Airport using
16256-632: Was the Gross-Lichterfelde tramway in Lichterfelde near Berlin in Germany, which opened in 1881. It was built by Werner von Siemens who contacted Pirotsky. It initially drew current from the rails, with overhead wire being installed in 1883. The first interurban to emerge in the United States was the Newark and Granville Street Railway in Ohio, which opened in 1889. An early example of
16384-527: Was used in those cities that did not permit overhead wires. In Europe, it was used in London, Paris, Berlin, Marseille, Budapest, and Prague. In the United States, it was used in parts of New York City and Washington, D.C. Third rail technology was investigated for use on the Gold Coast of Australia for the G:link light rail, though power from overhead lines was ultimately utilized for that system. In
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