Making Way for the Orange Line: a Car-Free Bridge Provides a Transit Link Between Milwaukie and Portland
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Portland State University PDXScholar Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Publications and Presentations Planning Winter 2012 Making Way for the Orange Line: A Car-Free Bridge Provides a Transit Link Between Milwaukie and Portland Merry MacKinnon Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/usp_fac Part of the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Citation Details MacKinnon, Merry. (2012) Making Way for the Orange Line: A Car-Free Bridge Provides a Transit Link Between Milwaukie and Portland. Metroscape Winter 2012, p. 25-30. This Article is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Making way for the Orange Line A car-free bridge provides a transit link between Milwaukie and Portland Rendering courtesy of TriMet by Merry MacKinnon fter the Portland-Milwaukie tion areas — as well as South Water- Light Rail Project had identi- front on the westside — have signifi- Afied its alignment and station cant development potential along the locations, a glitch over a grant stalled Light Rail to Milwaukie corridor. early planning for development at two With that in mind, the City of Port- of the 10 stations sited in Portland. land’s Bureau of Planning and Sus- When it opens in September, 2015, tainability applied to Metro for a grant, the 7.3-mile-long Orange Line to Mil- funded by construction excise tax re- waukie will start at Portland State Uni- ceipts, to plan for development at Clin- versity at Southwest 5th Avenue and ton Street and Rhine Street Stations. Jackson Street, cross the Willamette “We were trying to get a head start,” River on the new transit bridge (cur- said Southeast District Liaison Matt rently under construction), pass by Wickstrom of Portland Bureau of OMSI and part of Central Eastside Planning and Sustainability. “Those Industrial District, trace the already two stations have the most develop- existing railroad tracks through estab- ment potential on the east side of the lished inner southeast neighborhoods line.” and continue on through Milwaukie But then planning for those stations and into Oak Grove. was halted after Home Builders As- Two of Portland’s eastside Port- sociation of Metropolitan Portland land-Milwaukie Light Rail stations — filed a lawsuit in 2010. The association Clinton at Southeast 12th Avenue and claimed that Metro had exceeded its Rhine at Southeast 17th Avenue — are authority when Metro’s construction located in areas zoned for employment excise tax sunsetted and Metro Coun- and industrial. In Portland, those sta- cil voted to extend the tax on new con- Metroscape Page 25 A view looking north from the Ross Island Bridge of TriMet's new transit bridge construction. Photograph courtesy of TriMet struction for another five years and to use general to the construction excise tax,” receipts to fund grants to support plan- explained Wood. “But it was originally ning in Portland and other cities, includ- supposed to go for planning for new ex- ing Milwaukie, within the existing urban pansion (of the urban growth boundary), growth boundary. “We believe we have and when Metro brought it back they the authority to do that,” said Metro’s changed that for planning inside the city.“ Chief Financial Officer Margo Norton. Multnomah County Circuit Court de- When Metro officials and Home Build- cided in favor of Metro. Then, last June, ers Association of Metropolitan Portland Home Builders Association of Metro- describe what type of Metro planning politan Portland appealed and, as of early grants should be funded by receipts from November, a final decision has not been a construction excise tax that started in rendered by Oregon Court of Appeals. 2006, they agree on one thing. Norton Other issues surround construction ex- said that originally Metro’s tax was to cise taxes in general, but as the tax issue raise $6.3 million for concept planning pertains to the light rail, it’s not one that grants in outlying areas that were being will have a significant impact, said Nor- brought into the urban growth bound- ton. “This is a teensy, tiny piece of the ary. And Home Builders Association of Milwaukie Light Rail Line,” she said. Metropolitan Portland’s Government Af- But the dispute highlights how agency fairs Manager Justin Wood agreed that partners and supporters view not only the the grants were to go for planning in new urban growth boundary, but also light-rail urban growth expansion areas. expansion. In the words of a Portland- But they don’t agree on what came later. Milwaukie Light Rail Project fact sheet: “We’re not necessarily opposed in “Expanding transit options is essential to Page 26 Metroscape both livability and economic vitality of that kind of transit, said Jonathan Ostar, our growing region, which is expected to co-director of OPAL Environmental Jus- add one million new residents and nearly tice Oregon. (Currently, TriMet Bus Line But in cities 100,000 new jobs within the project cor- 33-McLoughlin Boulevard provides high where light ridor by 2030.” -frequency service between Portland and rail has a Expanding light rail transit within the Milwaukie.) “We’re a little light rail crazy foothold, urban growth boundary represents an here in this region,” Ostar said. “That “evolution of thought” that started in the they’re continuing to use local general it's viewed ’70s, said TriMet’s Alan Lehto, director of revenue dollars for a multi-billion dollar not only as planning and policy. “In order to not have ($1.49 billion) rail extension service at the a way to sprawl from here to Salem something same time as they’re cutting bus service is move people needed to be done.” frankly a political choice that doesn’t best The first thing was to draw a line around meet the needs of those who need transit around, the region, Lehto said: “Second was to the most.” but as a make the region more livable and encour- But in cities where light rail has a foot- development age different types of transit and housing hold, it’s viewed not only as a way to move tool. (within the boundary).” people around, but as a development tool. With four MAX lines currently in place, According to a Center for Transit-Orient- the evolution has already transformed the region. Nevertheless, some are not pleased that Metro, Portland, and TriMet Conservative forged ahead with light rail. “I’ve never groups ... been a big fan of light rail. It costs too consider much — I’d go more with buses,” said Jon light rail an Chandler, chief executive officer of the Home Builders Association of Oregon. expensive (Chandler said his Salem-based group boondoggle ... stayed out of the Metro tax issue.) Em- phasizing that he was only giving his per- sonal opinion, Chandler laughed heartily and added: “But I lost that light-rail argu- ment 20 years ago.” Conservative groups such as the Cato Institute consider light rail an expensive boondoggle that forces fare increases, reduces bus service, and benefits down- town property owners at the expense of other property owners. A spokesperson for Bus Riders Unite!, a Portland-based grassroots group orga- nizing around transit justice, maintained that TriMet should have done a better job of analyzing the much less costly option of having rapid bus transit along the cor- ridor to Milwaukie, which seems ideal for Metroscape Page 27 Photograph courtesy of TriMet ed Development report called Rails to ment in the Holgate Plaza, a mini-mall Real Estate–which looked at development now owned by TriMet on Southeast 17th patterns along new light rail lines in Min- and Holgate, TriMet will lease a space neapolis-St. Paul, Denver, and Charlotte, in downtown Portland and turn over its North Carolina — after light rail went in, current administrative offices next to the “all three transit lines experienced a tre- bus barn on 17th for use as TriMet’s op- mendous amount of new development.” erations center. Not far away, a pedestri- The report found that factors influenc- an overpass will give employees at Fred ing development along a light rail line in- Meyer’s headquarters access to light rail at clude vacant land, underutilized property, Rhine Street Station. employment, block patterns and walk- Farther south, Tacoma Street station ability, transit connectivity, and household will construct a park-and-ride with spac- incomes. es for 320 cars. The other park-and-ride, In Portland, the neighborhoods ad- with 355 spaces, will be at Southeast Park ... when the jacent to the Portland-Milwaukie Light Avenue station at the end of the line in new light Rail Project have most of those features, northern Oak Grove. Placing a park-and- rail line to along with a healthy real estate market. ride there was a strategic decision, Un- It may not foster swaths of new subdi- sworth said: “We’re trying to get people Milwaukie visions, but when the new light rail line out of their cars before they go through is completed, to Milwaukie is completed, market-driven downtown Milwaukie.” With Tacoma market-driven growth with more mixed-use and multi- Street designated for a potential street car growth with housing development is expected to take in Portland’s Streetcar Master Plan, the place all along the corridors and around more mixed- most of the stations, including downtown use and Milwaukie, which “has the right bones,” multi-family said TriMet’s Dave Unsworth, deputy di- housing rector of the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project.