Portland Lands $75M for Streetcar

Portland won approval today for not just the 3.35-mile eastside streetcar extension, but to start a new streetcar industry here in the Portland region with an order for 6 streetcars to be built at United Streetcar.

The Loop Project is a 3.35-mile extension of the Portland Streetcar system currently operating on the west side running from Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center in Northwest Portland through downtown and Portland State University to South Waterfront serving OHSU’s Center for Health and Healing, the Portland Aerial Tram and the new development built or planned in the district. The Portland Streetcar Loop Project will extend service to the eastside of Portland connecting to the Lloyd District, the Central Eastside and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

But the streetcar will be far less valuable without Portland's metro system, its great system of buses, its small blocks, and its pedestrian- and bike-friendly streets. In other words, it's not a project, it's a system.

  

Jon Cecil, AICP, May 1, 2009

Congratulations to Portland! This marks a new phase in streetcar development opportunity in the US for a home-grown industry that is long overdue.

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