MAX Orange Line

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The MAX Orange Line is a planned light rail line for the Metropolitan Area Express light rail system in Portland, Oregon, USA. It is currently under construction. The line is the second part of a two-phase transportation plan known as the South Corridor Project, bringing light rail service to Clackamas County. Starting in downtown Portland and following the Portland Transit Mall, the 7.3-mile (11.7 km) Orange Line will run between Union Station and Milwaukie, terminating at Park Avenue, just south of downtown Milwaukie.^[1] The first construction work, related to a new transit-only bridge over the Willamette River began on June 30, 2011,^[2] and if the project continues to advance as currently scheduled, the line will open for service in September 2015.^[3]^[4]

The Orange Line will be built off the downtown terminus of the Green and Yellow Lines, at Portland State University. The new bridge being built for the line uses the temporary name of "Caruthers Crossing", since it will meet the river's east bank near SE Caruthers Street,^[5] but will given a different name before opening.^[6] From there, the line will turn south and continue into Southeast Portland. The planned stations will serve the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Brooklyn Neighborhood, and Milwaukie, Oregon through the McLoughlin Boulevard corridor. Part of the project includes moving the Milwaukie Transit Center off city streets and onto the former Southgate Theater property.

[edit] History

In the early 1970s, a light rail line was proposed in this corridor. It would have run from Downtown Portland via the Hawthorne Bridge to Oregon City, primarily along the old Portland Traction Company right-of-way. This route was to be the first of five light rail lines which would have run over existing rail lines in the Portland region. The hope was to get this Portland - Oregon City line running as soon as possible by using secondhand PCC streetcars from Toronto until brand new Boeing light rail vehicles could be obtained. The light rail line was shelved when the planned Mount Hood Freeway was canceled in the mid-1970s and the region's transportation planning redirected to transit alternatives to the Mount Hood Freeway in the Portland - Gresham corridor.

In the mid-1990s, light rail was planned again along much of this corridor as part of the proposed "South-North Light Rail" line which was to have run from Clackamas Town Center to Milwaukie, then north to Downtown Portland and along Interstate Avenue to Vancouver, Washington, but those plans were shelved after a majority of voters in Clark County, Washington rejected a bond issue to provide that county's share of the South-North project's funding in early 1995. (Plans for a MAX line north from downtown Portland along Interstate Avenue were later revived, as the Yellow Line, but without the portion extending across the Columbia River to Vancouver, and this opened in 2004.)

Planning for light rail connecting Portland with Clackamas County later resumed. After public meetings it was decided that the first MAX line to Clackamas County should be along Interstate 205, from Gateway to Clackamas Town Center, but that this would be phase 1 of a two-part expansion of the MAX system, with a Portland–Milwaukie line as phase 2.^[7] The I-205 line opened in 2009, as the MAX Green Line.

Meanwhile, planning for the Portland–Milwaukie line continued, including study of, and public input on, several different alternatives for the exact route. In 2008, the Locally Preferred Alternative was chosen. The MAX Light Rail to Milwaukie will terminate at Park Avenue station rather than Lake Road, as originally planned in 2003.^[3]

On April 5, 2011, the Federal Railway Administration approved the start of the project's final design; at that time, design work was roughly thirty percent complete and projected to be finished in about a year.^[8] The approval meant that TriMet could begin purchasing right-of-way and some construction materials.^[8]

Construction began on June 30, 2011, initially limited to work at the site of the new transit-only bridge over the Willamette River, but right-of-way preparation work (such as removal of trees) began in the southern part of downtown Portland in late September 2011.

[edit] Future plans

Although only a long-term proposal at this stage, it is possible the line may one day reach Oregon City.^[9] A branch may be built through the Powell Blvd./Foster Road corridor to the recently incorporated city of Damascus.^[9]

[edit] Proposed Stations

Please note that routings, station names, and station locations are subject to change. Interchanges with proposed MAX lines and reroutings are italicized.

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