The Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) is a light rail system serving the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Owned and operated by TriMet, it consists of five lines connecting the six sections of Portland; the communities of Beaverton, Clackamas, Gresham, Hillsboro, Milwaukie, and Oak Grove; and Portland International Airport to Portland City Center. Trains run seven days a week with headways between 30 minutes off-peak and three minutes during rush hours. In 2023, MAX recorded an annual ridership of 23,446,700.
The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) is a transit agency that serves most of the Oregon part of the Portland metropolitan area. Created in 1969 by the Oregon legislature, the district replaced five private bus companies that operated in the three counties: Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas. TriMet began operating a light rail system, MAX, in 1986, which has since been expanded to five lines that now cover 59.7 miles (96.1 km). It also operates the WES Commuter Rail line since 2009. It also provides the operators and maintenance personnel for the city of Portland-owned Portland Streetcar system. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 62,055,600, or about 206,400 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2024.
Interstate 205 (I-205) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Portland metropolitan area of Oregon and Washington, United States. The north–south freeway serves as a bypass route of I-5 along the east side of Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. It intersects several major highways and serves Portland International Airport.
The MAX Blue Line is a light rail line serving the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system, it connects Hillsboro, Beaverton, Portland, and Gresham. The Blue Line is the longest in the network; it travels approximately 33 miles (53 km) and serves 48 stations from Hatfield Government Center to Cleveland Avenue. It is the busiest of the five MAX lines, having carried an average 55,370 riders each day on weekdays in September 2018. Service runs for 221⁄2 hours per day from Monday to Thursday, with headways of between 30 minutes off-peak and five minutes during rush hour. It runs later in the evening on Fridays and Saturdays and ends earlier on Sundays.
The MAX Red Line is a light rail line serving the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system, it is an airport rail link connecting Hillsboro, Beaverton, Portland City Center, and Northeast Portland to Portland International Airport. The Red Line serves 37 stations; it interlines with the Blue Line and partially with the Green Line from Hillsboro Airport/Fairgrounds station to Gateway Transit Center and then branches off to Portland Airport station. Service runs for 22 hours per day with headways of up to 15 minutes. The Red Line carried an average 17,390 passengers per weekday in September 2024, the second busiest after the Blue Line.
The MAX Yellow Line is a light rail line serving Portland, Oregon, United States. Operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system, it connects North Portland, Portland City Center, and Portland State University (PSU). The line serves 17 stations; it runs north–south from Expo Center station to PSU South/Southwest 6th and College station, interlining with the Green and Orange lines within the Portland Transit Mall. Service runs for 21 hours per day with headways of up to 15 minutes. The Yellow Line is the fourth-busiest service in the MAX system; it carried an average 12,960 riders per weekday in September 2019.
Washington Park is a light rail station in Portland, Oregon, United States, served by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. Situated between Sunset Transit Center and Goose Hollow/Southwest Jefferson Street station, it is the 17th and 3rd station eastbound on the Blue Line and the Red Line, respectively. The station's two tracks and island platform are part of the Robertson Tunnel beneath Portland's West Hills. Its head house and surface-level plaza occupy the middle of a parking lot surrounded by the Hoyt Arboretum, Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Oregon Zoo, and World Forestry Center. Washington Park is the only completely underground station in the MAX system. At 260 feet (79 m) below ground, it is the deepest transit station in North America and in the western hemisphere. It is also the seventh-deepest in the world.
Like transportation in the rest of the United States, the primary mode of local transportation in Portland, Oregon is the automobile. Metro, the metropolitan area's regional government, has a regional master plan in which transit-oriented development plays a major role. This approach, part of the new urbanism, promotes mixed-use and high-density development around light rail stops and transit centers, and the investment of the metropolitan area's share of federal tax dollars into multiple modes of transportation. In the United States, this focus is atypical in an era when automobile use led many areas to neglect their core cities in favor of development along interstate highways, in suburbs, and satellite cities.
Portland is "an international pioneer in transit orientated developments."
The MAX Green Line is a light rail line serving the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system, it connects Portland State University (PSU), Portland City Center, Northeast Portland, Southeast Portland, and Clackamas. The Green Line travels 15 miles (24.1 km) from the PSU South stations to Clackamas Town Center Transit Center and serves 30 stations. It is the only service that interlines with all of the other MAX services, sharing the Portland Transit Mall segment with the Orange and Yellow lines and part of the Eastside MAX segment with the Blue and Red lines. South of Gateway Transit Center, the Green Line branches off to Clackamas Town Center. Service runs for 21 hours on weekdays and 20 hours on weekends with headways of up to 15 minutes. It is the third-busiest line in the system with an average of 13,030 riders per day on weekdays in September 2024.
The MAX Orange Line is a light rail line serving the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system, it connects Portland City Center, Portland State University (PSU), Southeast Portland, Milwaukie, and Oak Grove. The line serves 17 stations and runs for 201⁄2 hours per day with headways of up to 15 minutes. It averaged 3,480 daily weekday riders in September 2020.
The Westside Express Service (WES) is a commuter rail line in the U.S. state of Oregon serving parts of Washington and Clackamas counties in the Portland metropolitan area. Owned by TriMet and operated by Portland & Western Railroad (P&W), the line is 14.7 miles (23.7 km) long and travels north–south from Beaverton to Wilsonville along a route just west of Oregon Highway 217 and Interstate 5 (I-5). WES consists of five stations and connects with MAX Light Rail at Beaverton Transit Center. Service operates on a 45-minute headway on weekdays during the morning and evening rush hours. In Spring 2022, WES saw a daily ridership of 420 passengers or about 109,000 riders annually.
Tilikum Crossing, Bridge of the People is a cable-stayed bridge across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was designed by TriMet, the Portland metropolitan area's regional transit authority, for its MAX Orange Line light rail passenger trains. The bridge also serves city buses and the Portland Streetcar, as well as bicycles, pedestrians, and emergency vehicles. Private cars and trucks are not permitted on the bridge. It is the first major bridge in the U.S. that was designed to allow access to transit vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians but not cars.
Bicycle use in Portland, Oregon has been growing rapidly, having nearly tripled since 2001; for example, bicycle traffic on four of the Willamette River bridges has increased from 2,855 before 1992 to over 16,000 in 2008, partly due to improved facilities. The Portland Bureau of Transportation says 6% of commuters bike to work in Portland, the highest proportion of any major U.S. city and about 10 times the national average.
Southeast Bybee Boulevard is a light rail station in Portland, Oregon, United States, served by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. It is the 14th station southbound on the Orange Line, which runs between Portland City Center, Southeast Portland, and Milwaukie. The island platform station adjoins Union Pacific Railroad (UP) freight tracks to the east and McLoughlin Boulevard to the west. It is accessed from the Bybee Bridge, which spans over the platform and connects Portland's Sellwood-Moreland and Eastmoreland neighborhoods. Nearby destinations include Westmoreland Park, Eastmoreland Golf Course, Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, and Reed College.
The A and B Loop is a streetcar circle route of the Portland Streetcar system in Portland, Oregon, United States. Operated by Portland Streetcar, Inc. and TriMet, it is made up of two separate services: the 6.1-mile (9.8 km) A Loop, which runs clockwise, and the 6.6-mile (10.6 km) B Loop, which runs counterclockwise. The route travels a loop between the east and west sides of the Willamette River by crossing the Broadway Bridge in the north and Tilikum Crossing in the south.
Frequent Express (FX) is a rapid bus service in Portland, Oregon, United States. Operated by TriMet as FX2–Division, the 15-mile (24 km) route runs east–west from 5th & Hoyt on the Portland Transit Mall in downtown Portland to Cleveland Avenue Park and Ride in Gresham via Division Street. It connects Portland City Center, Portland State University (PSU), South Waterfront, Southeast Portland, and central Gresham, with transfers to MAX Light Rail and the Portland Streetcar.
The Blumenauer Bridge, formally the Congressman Earl Blumenauer Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge, and previously known as Sullivan's Crossing, is a bicycle and pedestrian bridge in Portland, Oregon. United States. The $19 million project spans Interstate 84 and connects the Lloyd District with Kerns in inner northeast Portland. The bridge was originally slated to open in December 2020, but its projected opening was later postponed to the following spring and subsequently to July 31, 2022, and the bridge did open on that date.
Ned Flanders Crossing is a bicycle and pedestrian bridge spanning Interstate 405 to connect Portland, Oregon's Northwest District and Pearl District, in the United States. In 2019, the project's estimated cost was $6 million. It opened in June 2021 and was originally named Flanders Crossing, as it linked the two parts of Flanders Street separated by the interstate, before being re-dedicated to honor The Simpsons character Ned Flanders.
Robert Eugene Stacey Jr. was an Oregon attorney and leader in land-use and transportation planning. He served as an elected councillor at Metro, the regional government in the Portland metropolitan area, from 2013 to 2021. On his death, Congressman Earl Blumenauer stated that "Oregon just lost the most important person that most people have never heard of". In a number of roles in state and local government, Stacey was instrumental in defining land-use law and policy within the state of Oregon.
In the American city of Portland, Oregon, pedestrian crossings are managed by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). There are fewer crosswalks on the city's east side, compared to downtown Portland and centrally located neighborhoods.
