Streetcar's route in South Waterfront is tight fit
Development - The extension isn't paid for, but the plan meshes with the tram and bicycle lanes
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
FRED LEESON
Squeezed in places by a bike lane and the aerial tram, the Portland Streetcar now has a route for its next extension in the South Waterfront district -- but no budget or target opening date.
The Portland City Council signed off last week on a 16-block loop that will carry streetcar riders southbound on Southwest Moody Avenue from Gibbs Street to Lowell Street, and then back northbound on Southwest Bond Avenue to Gibbs.
Cost of the work is estimated at $11 million, but a financing plan has not yet been proposed.
Earlier streetcar legs have been financed mostly from tax assessments on nearby property owners and urban renewal revenue generated by rising property values in renewal districts.
The Lowell extension would be the fourth leg since the streetcar began operations in 2001. Service was added earlier this year to RiverPlace and will be extended along Moody to Gibbs in September 2006.
"This is a few more blocks toward Lake Oswego," said Chris Smith, chairman of the streetcar's citizen advisory committee.
Streetcar supporters hope that the line someday will travel along a historic streetcar route that hugs the Willamette River bank between Portland and Lake Oswego.
Adding the blocks between Gibbs and Lowell, however, proved difficult logistically.
At the north end of the loop, the streetcar will have to share a narrow right of way with the aerial tram, which will land at its eastern terminal just a few feet from streetcar tracks.
A long-range plan calls for extending Bond Avenue and its streetcar tracks north of Gibbs, but that route is blocked by a crane used in barge-building by Zidell Marine Corp.
"This is temporary, until property to the north becomes available for redevelopment," said Vicki Diede, streetcar project manager for the city Office of Transportation, but no one knows how long "temporary" will be.
Another significant conflict arose between the streetcar and plans for a bicycle lane on Moody.
After numerous meetings, the transportation office devised a plan that allows both the streetcar and the bicycles to use the right side of Moody, with the bike lane ducking between the sidewalk and raised streetcar platforms.
"It's a slightly unusual design, but it looks like it will work," said Mark Ginsberg, chairman of a city bicycle advisory committee.
City Commissioner Sam Adams, whose office helped broker the compromise, suggested that the bike lane be paved in a different color between the sidewalk and streetcar platforms so streetcar riders "will know a bike might be whizzing by."
Diede said it was important for the city to approve a streetcar route now so that reconstruction of Moody and Bond avenues can proceed with track beds in mind. Otherwise, those streets would have to be torn up again when streetcar construction eventually begins.
The South Waterfront district will be the home of a new 16-story Oregon Health & Science University building as well several high-rise residential buildings under construction and in planning stages.
The streetcar is considered a key transportation link for the long-vacant industrial area that is growing into a new urban neighborhood.
Fred Leeson: 503-294-5946;
fredleeson@news.oregonian.com
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