Portland — East Side Streetcar

Rail Transit Online, July 2006

The TriMet board on June 28 approved the route for an extension of the Portland Streetcar through the east side.  The tracks would cross the Willamette River on the Broadway Bridge, then split along the one-way couplet of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Grand Avenue, terminating at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.  A future expansion at the south end would have the line again cross the river on a proposed new bridge.  Now that the locally preferred alternative has been selected, the search for funding will begin — the non-profit Portland Streetcar wants to apply for federal grants under the new Small Starts program.  Planners still must resolve questions over traffic impacts and whether the extension will meet federal cost-benefit requirements.  “We think it's a wonderful investment, but we don't think it measures well under the federal standard,” said TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen.