Trimess

Friday, February 14, 2014

Portland's absurdly fragile transit system

Max service will be completely disrupted by this latest closure. What the hell, we get a brand new bridge for one MAX line to a town of 20,000 and we got 3 MAX lines including the workhorse going over an archaic bridge with multiple problems. Sounds like the kind of planning that Portland government just loves.

In a move that’s bound to disrupt Monday morning's public transit and bicycle commutes in Portland, the Steel Bridge will be closed to all modes of overnight and early-morning traffic over the weekend for maintenance.
The first closure will begin at 11 p.m. Saturday with the bridge open again by 8:30 a.m. Sunday. The esplanade walkway on the lower deck, popular with bicycle commuters headed into downtown, and the sidewalk on the upper deck will also be closed.
The second closure will begin at 11 p.m. Sunday and last until no later than 8:30 a.m. Monday. Yep, that’s the middle of the morning commute.
The Oregon Department of Transportation said crews will be adjusting counterweights and carrying out other projects on the 102-year-old, Union Pacific Railroad-owned bridge during the closure.
“This will have a big effect on TriMet service, disrupting 300 MAX trips and 260 bus trips,” said TriMet spokeswoman Roberta Altstadt. “The closures were originally scheduled to begin last weekend but were delayed due to the extreme weather conditions.”
 SOURCE

1 comment:

MAX Redline said...

Sounds like the kind of planning that Portland government just loves.

Dead right.