Division Transit Project

[maccoinnich]

TriMet is firming up its designs for outer Division bus stations



Portland’s regional transit agency is hoping to raise $175 million for bigger, faster-moving buses on Southeast Division Street, and some major bikeway upgrades would be in store.

From SE 82nd Avenue to the Gresham city limits near 174th Avenue, the agency is planning to pay for a vertical barrier, mostly a series of concrete curbs, to protect the bike lanes that will have been recently widened and buffered by a separate City of Portland project. And when the Division bike lanes pass bus stops — as they would at 87th, I-205, 101st, 112th, 122nd, 130th, 135th, 143rd, 148th, 156th, 162nd, 168th and 174th — they’ll often be wrapping to the sidewalk side in order to reduce bike-bus conflicts.


This is a transit station design that’s in action from Seattle to Bogotá, but it’s relatively new to Portland: only a few Southwest Portland streetcar stops have used it so far.

...continues at BikePortland.

[maccoinnich]

Division transit project likely delayed due to budget shortfall



A proposal to run a high-capacity express line bus along Southeast Division Street between Gresham and Portland faces a $14 million shortfall, and resolving it could delay the project by a year.

TriMet officials say they can handle the shortfall without scaling back the project’s scope or level of service. But a three-month “recalibration” would put the project out of consideration for federal funding this year, pushing opening day back to 2022 at the earliest.

“It certainly represents a time-out,” said Steve Witter, TriMet’s executive director of capital projects.

Planners are trying to squeeze the new line into a $175 million budget, the limit for a Federal Transit Administration program that expected to foot half the bill. (TriMet’s MAX Orange Line, in comparison, cost $1.49 billion.)

But the bill has grown to $189 million, mostly due to unexpected costs only tangentially related to the project, such as the replacement of traffic signals hung from cables rather than steel poles.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[hat]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

...continues at the Oregonian.

As with most streetscape projects, an interim design is nearly as effective and costs a fraction as much. Look to the Queens Blvd and 4th Ave Brooklyn projects in NYC, and Naito in Portland for examples. When the capricious money and politics arrive these may undergo concrete transformations, but for the time being, bollards and our current buses can work quite satisfactorily.

[MarkDaMan]

https://www.oregonlive.com/roadrepor...million_f.html

Portland pledges $17.7 million for Division Street high-capacity bus line
Updated Aug 15, 4:39 PM; Posted Aug 15, 4:21 PM

Portland will contribute $17.7 million to TriMet's proposed project to add high-capacity express bus service between downtown and Gresham.

The City Council unanimously supported the plan to fund a share of the $175 million transit project. TriMet hopes to receive $87.3 million in federal funds for new transit stations and buses to serve a 15-mile stretch of Division Street.

The transit agency hopes to begin building the new high-capacity bus service in late 2019 and open the transit line by 2022.

The project calls for new 60-foot articulated buses to carry more riders, add more buses to run every 15 minutes or more frequently during rush hour, and give buses signal priority at traffic lights. Most of the project costs come from new buses or passenger platforms along the route.

Portland will also begin work on filling sidewalk gaps on a three-mile stretch of outer Division Street, which is one of the most dangerous roads in the city.

The city construction project includes 13 new signalized pedestrian crossings, more than 57 new street lights and nearly five miles of protected bike lanes.

...(continues)

[MarkDaMan]

https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...t-project.html

TriMet gets $87.4 million federal grant for Division Street transit project
Updated Apr 9, 4:01 PM; Posted Apr 9, 3:37 PM
By Andrew Theen | The Oregonian/OregonLive

TriMet’s plan to overhaul and expand bus service between Portland and Gresham along a 15-mile stretch of Division Street is one step closer to reality Tuesday after the agency landed a $87.4 million federal grant.

The Federal Transit Administration announced its Capital Investment Grant recipients in a news release on Tuesday. The Division project is one of five new projects to receive money. Another 11 existing developments also pulled in federal support. All told, the FTA will distribute $1.36 billion in federal funds this year.

"These significant investments will strengthen our country’s transit infrastructure and improve mobility for those who depend upon public transit every day," U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao said in a statement.

Roberta Altstadt, TriMet’s spokeswoman, said the agency was “thrilled” by the announcement. The estimated $175 million Division project was contingent on the $87.4 million in federal grants as it represented the biggest slice of the funding pie. TriMet will contribute $40.5 million, and another $26.5 million in federal dollars directed to the region will go award the project. Portland in 2018 committed to spending $17.7 million on the route. Gresham, Metro, Multnomah County and the state also contributed.

...(continues)

[MarkDaMan]

https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...that-fuel.html

TriMet’s Division bus project will be first powered by diesel, despite long-range plan to ditch that fuel
Updated 2:11 PM; Today 1:35 PM
By Andrew Theen | The Oregonian/OregonLive

TriMet’s high-capacity bus line on Division Street will be powered primarily, if not entirely, by diesel buses when it opens in 2022, despite the agency’s stated goal to ditch those buses entirely in the coming decades.

The transit agency’s board voted 5-2 on Wednesday to approve a contract with Nova Buses to order 31 diesel articulated buses, those 60-foot-long extended buses that will operate on the 15-mile stretch of Division Street between downtown Portland and Gresham. TriMet is only committed to buying those 31 vehicles, but the board approved a plan to buy as many as 159 diesel articulated buses in coming years. That agreement could cost $203.5 million.

The vote comes nearly one year to the date after the transit board unanimously approved a plan to ditch the diesel fleet by 2040 or earlier. TriMet has the nation’s 11th largest bus fleet. That $500 million blueprint approved last year set a five-year window to figure out whether battery-electric buses were indeed the best fuel source to convert the fleet. TriMet plans to buy 80 of those buses by 2023.

“We wish we had an articulated electric bus in play,” Doug Kelsey, TriMet’s general manager, said of the $175 million Division Transit Project during the board meeting.

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[Pavlov's Dog]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...that-fuel.html


...(continues)

I don't know how Tri-Met works but surely they could have thought slightly out of the box. Here in Norway, both Oslo and Trondheim have introduced electric articulated busses the past two months.

Note the panto-graph charging system that addresses the lack of range.

[NOPO]

I’m disappointed we can’t get off our ecologically damaging asses and make this project electric, not diesel.

[MarkDaMan]

https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...l-pay-off.html

TriMet celebrates $175 million Division bus project’s beginning, leaders pledge ‘it will pay off’
Updated 3:20 PM; Today 3:08 PM
By Andrew Theen | The Oregonian/OregonLive

TriMet on Thursday held a party in east Portland’s Centennial neighborhood to celebrate the imminent start of construction on the transit agency’s first high-capacity bus line, a $175 million project along Division Street.

Local, regional and federal politicians gathered underneath a rain-soaked canopy adorned with large orange paper lanterns and a brightly colored collage backdropping the stage with the phrase “A Division of Possibilities” affixed behind the speakers.

Thursday’s ceremony was billed as a formal announcement that the project received an $87.4 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration. The grant was no surprise; TriMet last April learned it would likely receive federal funding and was on a short list of projects recommended.

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