[Demolished Portland]

You know what would be even cheaper that BRT-lite? Adding more buses to Powell. What's the point of going through a 10 year planning and construction process for something that will barely even be an upgrade over what already exists? If you're going to have to build something why not do it right the first time? Which means building it as a MAX line. How would this even be a question of if it's feasible? Were building a $1 billion bridge for the Orange line, or digging a two mile tunnel for the West side MAX, or a tram to OHSU feasible? Of course they were, it just comes down to political will. Building a Powell MAX would probably be one the easiest of all the lines to build, the Orange Line will already go to 17th & Powell, and after 52nd you have a freeway width ROW, the challenging section is only 35 blocks long. There's a concern it might need to be elevated for that stretch, good, it should be! Then we'd have a bonified high capacity transit corridor for once.

Why has there been this sudden shift to BRT thinking lately, because it's easier to get built? Then why have we spent the last 30 years building 3/4 of a comprehensive rail network only to abandon the two final spokes needed to complete it? Buses can never carry as many people as trains (particularly if Tri-Met was forward thinking enough to make the system capable of carrying 4-6 car trains in the future), and it will never be as effective as a development tool. Does anyone think a dinky BRT is really capable of spurring development on Powell? A MAX line is capable of transforming it into a high capacity and high density corridor.

The transit planners in Portland have become very week willed over the last few years, are they afraid of pushing Portland's vision for a transit future (which was outlined in 1972 btw) because of the backlash they got from a few Tea Party nutjobs in Clackamas County? Light rail transit is much more popular among the general population now than it was back when most of the lines were built. It is essential that Portland have a complete rail transit system, because like it or not, people are going to be driving less in the future by necessity than they have gotten used to over the last 50-60 years. Transit planners should be looking forward to what is needed for transit options of the metro area in the future, not cowering to the very vocal and shrinking minority of dinosaurs who are stuck in the 1950s.