Comments on: IBR pushes lower light rail cost at RTC Board while Medvigy questions path forward

By: JimK

JimK — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 09:00:14 +0000

Want proof that the IBR is using flawed methods that grossly exaggerate public desire for transit? Look no further than:"Green cited all the communication and surveys the IBR team has done, saying the interest “leans toward light rail.” That is just plain garbage in view of people's major concern being traffic congestion NOT Trimet's Toy Train.

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 06 May 2022 02:50:11 +0000

The ONLY way an engineer would agree that the solution being proposed is appropriate is IF traffic congestion relief isn’t a requirement. Add that into the requirements, and the solutions change dramatically. LRT isn’t an option for multiple reasons that have been documented many, many times in the past such as even at maximum capacity, it can only carry at most 2% of the of the average number of cars that cross the bridge on average; no one mentions that if people do decide to ride it that many of the passengers will already be public transportation customers and have virtually no impact in congestion relief.

There are 3 lanes on each side of the bridge heading Norh and South; no additional capacity will be added to I5. Changing the Jantzen Beach and SR14 exits will help, as well as adding a lane for people to be able to pull off in there’s an accident for example and elimination of the draw bridge by making the bridge high enough for clearance (if it meets the required height of (I believe) 137 feet, then adding LRT becomes very, very challenging and expensive.

The ONLY ways to reduce congestion are to fix the downtown Portland I5 corridor, and to add a third bridge.

If passed, I don’t envy those folks that live and work in downtown Vancouver; it will be a 10+ yearlong construction project (includes creating the new bridge, likely to the West of the existing bridges, and then tearing down the old bridges.

By: Margaret

Margaret — Thu, 05 May 2022 05:53:55 +0000

Every city in Clark County voted against the 2012 CTRAN proposition to extend Portland TriMet MAX light rail into Vancouver over a bridge. Then in 2013, a Clark county-wide advisory vote was held, and voters asked for a public vote prior to any expenditures on light rail. That requested vote has not yet been held, and should be. Light rail is simply NOT the locally preferred alternative as evidenced by these votes. A tiny fraction of those who cross the I-5 bridge choose the bus service, just 1.7%, which is not "high demand", and in no way justifies gold plated light rail, which costs $MILLIONS per mile to build. Buses over I-5 travel on shared lanes, making the most of the limited funds for lanes and space available. And CTRAN express bus service is faster than light rail on fixed tracks. See The MAX Yellow Line: A Look Back After 15 Years High ridership forecasts "What We Were Promised: The FEIS forecasted ridership in the corridor to dramatically increase with the building of the Yellow Line. By 2020 the line’s ridership was expected to have 18,100 average weekday riders. What We Received: At no point since the Yellow Line opened has ridership met projected levels. In April 2019 ridership only reached 13,270, 26.7% less than projected. This number will not meet 2020 projected levels based upon the negative trend observed over the past three years. From March 2016 to March 2019 ridership levels decreased by 3.6%. Lower than promised ridership isn’t unique to the Yellow Line; every TriMet rail forecast has been wrong, and always wrong on the high side."