Portland — Lake Oswego DEIR Complete

Rail Transit Online, July 2010

The draft environmental impact statement for a rapid transit extension to Lake Oswego is scheduled to be submitted to the Federal Transit Administration this week. The document includes a streetcar extension, enhanced bus service and the no-build alternative.

The rail option could cost between $380 million and $458 million, including design, engineering, project management, construction, vehicles, a maintenance base and yard, already-purchased rights-of-way and a contingency fund. If the line is built close to the Willamette River shoreline it could be completed at the lower end of the cost estimate.

The Lake Oswego-to-Portland Transit Project steering committee, made up of local cities, counties and transit agencies together with the Metro government, hopes to start construction in 2015 if it can obtain a 60-percent federal contribution from the New Starts program. A locally-preferred alternative is scheduled to be selected in December.

www.metro-region.org