http://blog.oregonlive.com/lake_oswe...residents.html
Possible high-speed rail line through Lake Oswego worries residents
By Yuxing Zheng, The Oregonian
May 29, 2010, 8:00AM
Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian
Shelley Lorenzen waits for the school bus to pick up her children, Claire and Liam Brown, both 11, at the intersection of North Shore Road and Mulligan Lane on the north side of Lake Oswego. The Oregon Department of Transportation is considering the nearby rail line for a possible high-speed train, which Lorenzen fears could make ungated crossings such as the one by the bus stop unsafe for neighborhood families.
LAKE OSWEGO -- Freight trains have rolled through Shelley Lorenzen's quiet residential neighborhood for years, to the point that her family has adjusted to the middle-of-the-night rumblings.
But the state's consideration of a possible
high-speed rail line linking Portland and Eugene with 12 daily trips straight through the heart of
Lake Oswego and its northside residential neighborhoods worries Lorenzen and a number of neighbors.
"The first thing when people talk to me is, 'Oh, my God, more trains? More congestion? More noise, more safety issues?'" Lorenzen said. "If you have more trains running through your neighborhood, those three reasons also add up to lower property values."
Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian
ODOT has proposed up to 12 daily high-speed train trips connecting Portland and Eugene, possibly on the line running through Lake Oswego. Lorenzen wants to see ODOT consider other route alignments for high-speed rail, including constructing new lines. "All of a sudden, you'll have a lot of whistling and train noise, in exchange for what?" Lorenzen asked. "As a community, Lake Oswego wouldn't have a station here. It'd just be a pass-through. For Lake Oswego, it'd just be a downside."
High-speed trains, which would replace
Amtrak's current trains, could reach speeds of at least 110 mph, which isn't possible now north of Wilsonville. They would reduce the travel time between Portland and Eugene to two hours, saving about half an hour from today's train-travel time. The state also hopes to increase on-time performance from Amtrak's current 68 percent to at least 95 percent by 2030.
The
Oregon Department of Transportation hopes to tap into unprecedented levels of federal funding made available recently to develop the nation's high-speed rail lines, including the stretch connecting Eugene and Portland. ODOT is in the midst of a
series of open-house meetings in communities to inform residents about the possibilities.
In Oregon,
Amtrak's Cascades route now travels south from Portland's Union Station through Milwaukie and Oregon City on Union Pacific tracks. The other existing railroad is the Oregon Electric alignment, which travels across two of
Lake Oswego's busiest main roads: State Street in downtown and Boones Ferry Road on the city's western side.
The trains also would speed through the entire horizontal midsection of the city, through tree-lined neighborhoods filled with single-family homes.
Lorenzen's children, Claire and Liam Brown, both 11, catch their school bus next to the rail crossing by North Shore Road and Mulligan Lane.
"I have small children, and for their safety and the general crossing safety, I'm sure they would have to do something to improve these crossings right now," said Lorenzen, vice chairwoman of the Country Club-North Shore Neighborhood Association. "This crossing we live near has no signal, no gates."
High-speed rail
What: The Oregon Department of Transportation is hosting a series of open houses about the state's goals for high-speed rail between Eugene and Portland. The next open house is in Lake Oswego.
When: 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Council Chambers, Lake Oswego City Hall, 380 A Ave.
Information: Kathy Holmes, ODOT, 503-986-4321, kathy.c.
holmes@odot.state.or.us
ODOT about a week ago applied for a $4 million federal grant to fund a portion of the $10 million, two-year analysis of alternatives, said Betsy Imholt, the department's rail-study director. The state would pick up the remainder of the cost if it receives the federal grant.
The study is a required part of the decision-making process and would evaluate the two existing lines as well as possible alternative alignments that do not exist today. ODOT hopes to begin the study by the end of the year and has hired some contractors for the project, Imholt said.
"Our position now is that everything is on the table," Imholt said. "The service goals will totally inform the alignment options. If folks want to go between Eugene and Portland in an hour and not stop anywhere in between, that's a totally different alignment than what we have today."
Replacing tracks on existing rail beds to suit high-speed rail would cost about $1 million per mile. Building new tracks on a new bed could cost as much as $2.5 million per mile.
Even if the state ultimately wins federal money for the project, the state still would need to pony up about $400 million to see the project become reality.
But now is the time to pursue high-speed rail since federal money has become available, Imholt said.
"Now we have the opportunity to not just do one incremental change after another, but we have the chance to really revision what we want this thing to look like," she said.
For now,
Lake Oswego residents just want to ensure their voice is heard as decisions are being made, said Joy Strull, treasurer of the Evergreen Neighborhood Association, whose family lives next to the tracks.
"For the most part, what you will find is that the neighborhood is supportive of the concept," Strull said. "It's the concept of whether this is the right place for it when you're talking about an urban neighborhood that's got this kind of density."
--
Yuxing Zheng
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