September 6, 2006
MAX at 20: 215 million rides!
Gresham & Portland celebrations for 20th anniversary of Eastside MAX
TriMet’s Eastside MAX Blue Line today celebrated 20 years in service with events in Gresham and Portland. The 15-mile Eastside MAX line was built with freeway funds that were exchanged for light rail. Since it opened on Sept. 5, 1986, riders have taken 215 million trips.
Event guests rode a celebration MAX train from Portland to the Gresham event, and then it brought them to the Portland event at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Dignitaries included Gresham Mayor Chuck Becker, Portland Mayor Tom Potter, former Portland Mayor Bud Clark, Metro President David Bragdon, Metro Councilor Rod Park and Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams.
TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen emceed the events and said, "our community would likely look quite different if we were not celebrating the 20th anniversary of MAX. This region took a bold step forward by building the first segment of a regional rail system. It has transformed our region, improved our quality of life and given all of us transportation choices."
Background
TriMet’s first light rail line, the 15-mile Eastside MAX Blue Line, opened with a weekend celebration Sept. 5-7, 1986, with 200,000 riders packing the trains day and night.
The Portland region would look much different today if MAX was not built. In 1969, the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Transportation Study called for 54 new highways in the region, including the eight-lane Mt. Hood Freeway that was set to cut SE Portland in two. Bold leadership and public resistance to the freeway sparked the light rail concept. Funds from the Mt. Hood Freeway and another abandoned freeway, I-505, were used to fund light rail, improve a 4.5-mile stretch of I-84 and other regional roads.
The MAX system started with the connection between Gresham and Portland. It now connects to Beaverton, Hillsboro, the Portland International Airport and N/NE Portland. More than 100,000 trips a day are taken on the 44-mile MAX system. The segments opened in the following years:
- 15-mile Eastside MAX opened in 1986
- 18-mile Westside MAX opened in 1998
- 5.5-mile Airport MAX opened in 2001
- 5.8-mile Interstate MAX opened in 2004
More than $4.7 billion in transit-oriented development has occurred within walking distance of the Eastside MAX Blue Line since the decision to build in 1980. More than $6 billion of development has occurred along the entire MAX line.
Making tracks toward tomorrow
A fifth light rail extension is set to start construction in February 2007. The 8.3-mile I-205/Portland Mall MAX Light Rail Project will extend light rail into Clackamas County for the first time and in downtown Portland along a new alignment on the Portland Mall. The Portland Mall segment will add light rail along 5th and 6th avenues between Union Station and Portland State University. This project will connect with downtown’s busiest destination – Portland State University – and accommodate future rail extensions to Milwaukie, Vancouver and southwest Portland.
TriMet will also begin construction of the 14.7-mile Washington County Commuter Rail line next month. Commuter rail will use existing freight tracks between the cities of Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville. The line will provide rush-hour only service and open in fall 2008