Washington County (Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Forest Grove, etc.)

[dizflip]

That surface parking lot has been opened for overflow. I've parked there for free.

[aquaticko]

Originally Posted by babs

What's the story behind the fully built out but never used surface parking lot at the Sunset TC? Why would someone spend the money to build it but never open it.

I'm going to suppose that it was either on the presumption that development around the station would include little parking, or--much as it beggars belief--that TriMet planners thought Sunset TC would be more or less a park-and-ride station, which like....Maybe, if downtown was actually that dense or parking-scarce, or 26 wasn't right there providing sometimes-as-fast access to downtown, and the MAX wasn't stupidly stuck up on the same surface streets as the cars and buses are once it gets downtown.

And that bridge over 26 isn't exactly to "nowhere", but almost. You can much more quickly access Sunset TC from the south side of 26 by using it, but it's only useful to the immediate neighborhoods, which are mostly single-family and cars-a-plenty, and again, the sidewalk on SW Butner ends less than a 1/4 mile from the bridge access (SW Park is better, at least).

The very basic bones of the MAX are pretty good, but so, so much of the execution of it and everything that'd feed into it--land use, density (the fact that that West Village plan mentions "community input" translating to 5-over-1s, not the taller building's they'd hoped for is just annoying), parking scarcity, job sprawl, transit service frequency, is so, so lacking.

[subterranean]

Agreed, 100%. They executed in the 90s and have been expanding, but they desperately need to focus on massive improvements to the existing system and surrounding land uses.

Just one more example: it’s bonkers to me that there is no station between the zoo and Sunset, and thus a huge missed opportunity to develop densely within that proximity to downtown on the west side. That stretch is the equivalent to inner Buckman to 82nd Ave in terms of distance. Any station community developed would be a 5 minute ride to downtown Portland.

[Rob Nob]

Originally Posted by Derek

That “bridge to nowhere” has always intrigued me.

I think you mean the one that passes over the TC west entry, not over Hwy 26? There was some (urban legend?) agreement when the entry cut off access to an "island" of farm land and they agreed to provide the bridge for the farming equipment to drive over and tend the small field between the entry road and the Hwy?

[uncommon.name]

Originally Posted by Rob Nob

I think you mean the one that passes over the TC west entry, not over Hwy 26? There was some (urban legend?) agreement when the entry cut off access to an "island" of farm land and they agreed to provide the bridge for the farming equipment to drive over and tend the small field between the entry roac and the Hwy?

This is what I've heard about the bridge to nowhere as well. When they tried to buy that land for development, the farmer didn't sell for some reason or another and they cut off his access to the west field when they dug out the access road to the Sunset TC. He apparently sued and they had to build a bridge so he could access it. It was completely overbuilt but that's why the bridge is there.

[subterranean]

Fascinating, I knew nothing of this.