Eastside streetcar gets ready to roll, but not everyone is thrilled
PORTLAND, Ore. – The new eastside Portland Streetcar line opens in about two weeks, and on Thursday, reporters got to tag along for a test drive on the new route.
The line branches off the Northwest Portland loop and crosses the Broadway Bridge. It then rolls past the Rose Quarter, Lloyd Center Mall area, the Oregon Convention Center and then the semi-industrial area close to the Willamette River before ending up at OMSI below the Marquam Bridge.
In 2015, the new streetcar route will cross the new mass transit and pedestrian bridge over the Willamette River currently being built near OMSI. The line will connect with the planned Milwaukie branch of the MAX rail line and also loop back into downtown Portland.
The $148 million project began three years ago. Project leaders claim the line has already brought economic development along the 3.35-mile route.
“We have nearly $500 million in developments already occurring along the streetcar [line] that are all privately motivated,” Portland Streetcar Executive Director Rick Gustafson said.
But business owner Peter Clover has his doubts.
"I'm not sure how much ridership we're gonna get on the east side of town here,” Clover said. He owns the Mobile West car audio shop, which is on the streetcar’s route. “This is not the same as the Pearl District or downtown. It's not walk-by shopping.”
Supporters of the streetcar’s expansion claim it will bring customers to eastside businesses and strengthen the local economy.
About half of the cost of the new line is being covered by a federal grant. Most of the rest of the tab is being covered by Portland Development Commission and a local improvement district.
About $20 million in state lottery funds are paying for six new streetcars, which are being built by United Streetcar in Clackamas.
The new streetcar line opens to the public on Sept. 22.
Is it really running against opposing car and bicycle traffic? Shouldn't it go in the same direction as the rest of traffic?Â
 @jpk No...that's just a picture taken out the back. They're like the pushmi-pullyu (of Doctor Dolittle fame) with a front on each end.
How will the enchanted folks of Portland know which way it is going then? LOL
You could give some people exactly what they wanted and they would still be upset about something.
 @MikeyÂ
Â
People would complain about being hanged with a new rope!
I'm glad to hear the streetcars are being build locally at least. Â
 @Beti
Yeah by a company that did not exist before federal money was acquired by the city.
Â
Oregon Iron Works (the company that owns United Streetcar) decided it was worthy of making streetcars right after 2005 when the city decided it was going to push them again.
Â
Of course they didn't actually BUILD any streetcars until 2009 when the stimulus money got to them.
Â
The purpose of the Portland streetcars it seems is to sucker other cities into buying them so the stimulus made company can sell them to places like Tucson. Because if anyone has lived in this city long enough, you know how much they sucked when we had them here.
Â
You know the real irony is that when they were putting in the streetcar tracks along MLK (Used to be Union), they had delays because they had to remove the old tracks from the previous streetcars that were paved over following the dumping the bad idea the first time.
Â
@Beti Yep, at $44,179,104.44 a mile that is quite a good deal!! You could buy lots of busses and have new bus drivers at family wage jobs for that type of money.
That is a lot of money for 3.35 miles of mass transit. It may be federal money but I'll give you one guess where that comes from.
 @Billy Batts My paycheck, dammit! ;-)
Do people realize that Portland is one of the most desirable cities on the West Coast to live? Â Has anyone checked the real estate market (close in)? Â How about the occupancy rates in the rental market (close in)? Hmmm, all these improvements have made this the place to live! Â Go move to Clackamas, Happy Valley, Beaverton or West Linn and then complain or even better move back to that rock you have been sleeping under.
Â
Â
@Rainman
"Hmmm, all these improvements have made this the place to live!"
Â
Um actually no.
Â
People moved here from other place because they liked it, and then foolishly are THEN making changes.
Â
Oh and don't tell me about housing costs, I live in Lents and am planning on moving out (this is no longer my city) to the sticks and will rent my home. I can get $400 more than the mortgage, taxes and insurance. So it's not just "close in".
Â
No Portland WAS the better place. Now it's just a place.
Â
 @Rainman Yes, close-in Portland is certainly the place to live for 20-something hipsters with no career aspirations.  The "improvements" that you mention were built with federal money and have done little to improve the local economy.
Â
Let's face it - most of appeal about living in Portland are the destinations in the surrounding areas - not the city itself.
Actually it might be for YOU that the appeal about living in Portland are the destinations OUTside the city.. but for alot of us, we moved to Portland to BE IN portland..
I could have stayed in Eugene.. there are alot of destinations outside Eugene (Florence, Dorena, Clay Creek, Oakridge, Cottage Grove Lake, Fern Ridge, ect).. just like there are here in Portland..
I could have moved back to Maple Ridge, BC Canada.. same with Eugene and Portland.. there are destinations outside the city (Maple Ridge is a suberb of Vancouver BC)..
I could move to where my brother (North Tulsa) and my sister (Claremore) live in Oklahoma... but I like Portland.. NOT the surrounding areas..
@quackerbacker Cool, you like Portland......... Enjoy you little bubble.
They say everything ends up recycling itself. Guess the proof is in the pudding so how many years before this weill be torn out for something more effective and less costly ?
As far as helping business...Ya right/NOT
Hope and Change for us peasants, millions in the pockets of the elite
I remember in the 40's, as a kid, the way traffic was messed up by the streetcars, and how happy the people in Portland were when they took them out...History really repeats itself doesn't it.Â
This is a waste of money....everyone knows this. Â The street car wont help business....and is a fact. Â Businesses will do better when it is easy to drive to and park. Â Now that is a fact.
and the rich just got richer.. thanks to the tax payers
@iamright555   You can thank the government for that. Stealing from taxpayers to build projects that nobody seemingly wants.
 @iamright555 Yep, this all about the PDC funneling federal money into connected developer's pockets.
"I'm not sure how much ridership we're gonna get on the east side of town here,â
Â
Well there is a reason why streetcars died in this city and it wasn't just the oil companies.
Â
I recall my grandmother talking brightly about the day they tore up the tracks in front of her home on 72nd. How much they screwed up traffic, were slow (compared to busses) and made tremendous noise.
Â
Streetcars are a terrible form of transportation. They rely on rails that limit their mobility (think broke down cars), they rely on overhead power lines (think ice storms and how both them and MAX are shutdown) and they are limited by traffic (same as busses and other cars but see point one).
Â
An elevated or subway system on rails using power on the rail is the most effective use of rails for commuters. Sitting in traffic with all the other schmucks just makes everyone on a trolley another schmuck.
Boy, it sure won't be a fast ride to get from one end of town to the other until the bridge is constructed...you could probably walk from PSU to OMSI faster than the streetcar will get you there.
 @portlandborn83 That's also the knock against downtown Streetcar service.  It is so slow, that you can typically walk to your destination faster.  In addition, if something goes wrong with the tracks (or if they are obstructed), the entire line shuts down.
Now that looks like an Engineered accident waiting to happen. Lets play chicken with the train!
This driver's view would make it appear to be heading against traffic.
I hope that the 500 million dollars in new private developments fare better than the South Waterfront projects did!
This was a colossal waste of money.  What does the Streetcar achieve that we couldn't have done with buses at a fraction of the cost?  The existing Streetcar didn't do squat to help businesses in the Pearl District either - seeing how they are constantly opening and then going out of business.
@UtterReality That has nothing to do with the insane rent costs of the Pearl district, right?