It's public transit.
It's not 'cool' or 'sexy'.
Anybody that has actually ridden on Trimet light rail knows its a trying experience at times, full of sketchy people, overcrowded trains and trains that just don't show up.
It was a $1.5 billion dollar project that went 7 miles from Portland to Milwaukie. That's $40,000 per foot! You'd think the mainstream media would write something about the absurd cost of this project.
Not a word of course. The mainstream media just does Trimet's bidding republishing Trimet press releases.
Look at this fluffy crap from the Portland Tribune aka mouthpiece for Trimet. The copious use of the words BRIDGE OF THE PEOPLE is almost enough to make me puke. Trimet has been pumping this crap out for 2 straight years now.
Those solar panels on top of the multi-story park-and-ride structure at the Park Avenue Station store enough energy to run the lights, elevator and mechanical functions for an entire year, Fetsch said.
Not only that, but “70 percent of the whole site is dedicated to improving water quality and native habitat restoration,” Fetsch said.
As the MAX train passed by the Southeast Bybee Boulevard Station, riders were treated to views of the Eastmoreland Golf Course and green spaces beyond.
At this site, TriMet, the city of Portland and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers collaborated to restore more than an acre of the Crystal Springs Creek wetlands.
They are “safety ambassadors who are out when the trains are doing test runs, urging pedestrians and cyclists to be cautious,” Fetsch said.
And then it was on to the OMSI stop, where riders had their first view of the pure white cables of the newly built Tilikum Crossing, Bridge of the People.
The bridge allows for breathtaking views of downtown Portland and the Ross Island Bridge. On this sunny day, sailboats headed for Ross Island, while traffic, the lifeblood of the city and beyond, traversed all the visible bridges.
But the Tilikum Bridge is practical, as well as beautiful, with pipes that capture and send stormwater off the bridge and into swales that filter it, before the water gets into the storm system.
The Bridge of the People is the first of its kind in the United States to carry light-rail trains, streetcars, bikes and pedestrians, but no private vehicles.
The plaza next to the station platform features benches made from local river rock, inside galvanized wire baskets, and a gazebo is under construction that will be decorated with over-sized metal oak leaves as an homage to Oak Grove.
“You can’t see nature from McLoughlin Boulevard, but with this alignment, you get to see nature” at this stop, Fetsch noted, adding that at the highest point here, you can see downtown Portland in one direction, and all the way to Oak Grove in the other.
As they waited to re-board, riders could see an art piece made of red “balloons,” the cables of the Portland Aerial Tram, one of the OHSU buildings, and in the distance, Mt. St. Helens, in the gauzy light of early afternoon.
READ THE FULL FLUFF PIECE HERE!
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