Beaverton is a city in Washington County, in the U.S. state of Oregon that is located 7 miles (11 km) west of Portland in the Tualatin Valley. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was 97,494 at the 2020 census, making it the second-largest city in the county and the seventh-largest city in Oregon. Beaverton is an economic center for Washington County along with neighboring Hillsboro. It is home to the world headquarters of Nike, Inc., although it sits outside of city limits on unincorporated county land.
Tigard is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States. The population was 48,035 at the 2010 census. As of 2007, Tigard was the state's 12th largest city. Incorporated in 1961, the city is located south of Beaverton and north of Tualatin, and is part of the Portland metropolitan area. Interstate 5 and Oregon Route 217 are the main freeways in the city, with Oregon Route 99W and Oregon Route 210 serving as other major highways. Public transit service is provided by TriMet, via several bus routes and the WES Commuter Rail line.
MAX Light Rail is a light rail system in Portland, Oregon, United States. Owned and operated by TriMet, it consists of five lines serving a 94-station, 59.7-mile (96.1 km) network. MAX connects Portland City Center with all six sections of Portland; the communities of Beaverton, Clackamas, Gresham, Hillsboro, and Milwaukie; and Portland International Airport. In 2019, it had an average daily ridership of 120,900 and 38.8 million annually. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted public transit use globally, annual ridership plummeted to 14.8 million in 2021. Lines run seven days a week with headways of between 30 minutes off-peak and three minutes during rush hours.
TriMet, formally known as the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, is a public agency that operates mass transit in a region that spans most of the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. 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 started operating a light rail system, MAX, in 1986, which has since been expanded to 5 lines that now cover 59.7 miles (96.1 km), as well as the WES Commuter Rail line in 2009. It also provides the operators and maintenance personnel for the City of Portland-owned Portland Streetcar system.
The Oregon Electric Railway (OE) was an interurban railroad line in the U.S. state of Oregon that linked Portland to Eugene. Service from Portland to Salem began in January 1908. The Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway purchased the system in 1910, and extended service to Eugene in 1912. Regular passenger service in the Willamette Valley ended in May 1933. Freight operations continued and the railway survived into the 1990s, ultimately as a Burlington Northern feeder. Operation as an electric railroad ended July 10, 1945.
The MAX Blue Line is a light rail service in Portland, Oregon, United States, operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. The longest line in the network, it travels mainly east–west for approximately 33 miles (53 km) between Hillsboro, Beaverton, Portland, and Gresham, serving 48 stations between Hatfield Government Center and Cleveland Avenue. The line is the busiest of the five MAX lines, carrying an average 55,370 riders daily on weekdays in September 2018. It 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. Service runs later in the evening on Fridays and Saturdays and ends earlier on Sundays.
The MAX Red Line is a light rail service in Portland, Oregon, United States, operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. It serves 26 stations between Beaverton and Portland and runs predominantly east–west. An airport rail link, the line connects central Beaverton, Portland City Center, and Northeast Portland to Portland International Airport. From Beaverton Transit Center to Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center, the Red Line shares its route with the Blue Line and partially with the Green Line; it then splits to a 5.5-mile (8.9 km) segment to Portland International Airport station referred to as the Airport MAX. Service runs for 22 hours per day with a headway of 15 minutes during most of the day. It is the second-busiest service in the MAX system; it carried an average of 22,530 passengers per weekday in September 2019.
Mall/Southwest 4th Avenue and Mall/Southwest 5th Avenue were a pair of light rail stations in Portland, Oregon, United States, served by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. Built into the sidewalks of Southwest Yamhill and Morrison streets between 4th and 5th avenues in downtown Portland, the Mall stations were the 22nd and 8th stations eastbound on the Blue Line and the Red Line, respectively. For just over five years, they were also served by the Yellow Line from May 2004 to August 2009. MAX began operating in 1986 without stations at this location to make way for the Morrison Street redevelopment project. The stops were infilled upon the completion of Pioneer Place in 1990. In March 2020, TriMet closed the stations in an effort to speed up MAX trains in downtown.
Pioneer Square South and Pioneer Square North are a pair of light rail stations in Portland, Oregon, United States, served by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. Situated directly west of the Portland Transit Mall on the perimeter of Pioneer Courthouse Square, facing Yamhill and Morrison streets between Broadway and 6th Avenue in downtown Portland, the stations are 21st and 7th stations eastbound on the Blue Line and the Red Line, respectively. They consist of one side platform each as MAX operates in a one-way pair along this segment; trains traveling eastbound stop at Pioneer Square South while trains traveling westbound stop at Pioneer Square North. With connections to the Green, Orange, and Yellow lines, the Pioneer Square stations, along with the Pioneer Courthouse/Southwest 6th and Pioneer Place/Southwest 5th stations located one block east, mark the only transfer point in the MAX system where riders can board any of the five existing lines.
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."
Beaverton Transit Center is a transport hub located in Beaverton, Oregon, United States. Owned and operated by TriMet, it is a bus, commuter rail, and light rail station. The transit center is MAX Light Rail's 14th station eastbound on the Blue Line and western terminus on the Red Line. It is also the northern terminus of WES Commuter Rail and a hub for bus routes mostly serving the westside communities of the Portland metropolitan area. Beaverton Transit Center is situated on Southwest Lombard Avenue, just north of Southwest Canyon Road in central Beaverton, connected by walkway to Canyon Place Shopping Center. It recorded 9,709 average weekday boardings for all modes in fall 2018, making it TriMet's busiest transit center.
South Metro Area Regional Transit (SMART) is a public transit system operated by the city government of Wilsonville, Oregon, United States. The system currently consists of seven routes and is funded by local businesses. It was created when Wilsonville petitioned to withdraw from the TriMet service district in the late 1980s. Offices of the agency are in the former city hall off Wilsonville Road.
The MAX Green Line is a light rail service in Portland, Oregon, United States, operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. It is 15 miles (24.1 km) long and serves 30 stations from the PSU South stations to Clackamas Town Center Transit Center, connecting Portland State University (PSU), Portland City Center, Northeast Portland, Southeast Portland, and Clackamas. The Green Line is the only service that shares parts of its route with the four other MAX services, sharing the Portland Transit Mall with the Orange and Yellow lines and the Banfield segment of the Eastside MAX with the Blue and Red lines. Southbound from Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center, it operates the Interstate 205 (I-205) segment through to Clackamas Town Center. Service runs for approximately 211⁄2 hours daily with a headway of 15 minutes during most of the day. It is the third-busiest line in the system, carrying an average of 19,160 riders per day on weekdays in September 2019.
The Portland and Western Railroad is a 466-mile (750 km) Class II railroad serving the U.S. state of Oregon, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of shortline and regional railroad holding company Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The PNWR includes a subsidiary, the Willamette and Pacific Railroad.
WES Commuter Rail is a commuter rail line serving part of the Portland metropolitan area's Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Owned by TriMet and operated by Portland & Western Railroad (P&W), the line is 14.7 miles (23.7 km) long and consists of five stations. WES travels north–south just west of Oregon Highway 217 and Interstate 5 (I-5) between the cities of Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, and Wilsonville. It connects with MAX Light Rail at Beaverton Transit Center. Service operates on a 30-minute headway on weekdays during the morning and evening rush hours. It carried an average of 1,590 passengers in May 2018.
Rail transportation is an important element of the transportation network in the U.S. state of Oregon. Rail transportation has existed in Oregon in some form since 1855, and the state was a pioneer in development of electric railway systems. While the automobile has displaced many uses of rail in the state, rail remains a key means of moving passengers and freight, both within the state and to points beyond its borders.
Wilsonville Transit Center, also called SMART Central at Wilsonville Station, is a bus and commuter rail transport hub in Wilsonville, Oregon, United States. The transit center, which is owned and operated by the City of Wilsonville, is the hub for the South Metro Area Regional Transit (SMART) bus system. The Portland metropolitan area's regional transit agency, TriMet, operates the southern terminus of its WES Commuter Rail at the facility; WES connects with the Blue and Red lines of MAX Light Rail at Beaverton Transit Center. Opened in January 2009, the transit center includes a 400-car park and ride.
Tualatin is a train station in Tualatin, Oregon, United States, served by TriMet as part of WES Commuter Rail. Situated next to Hedges Green Shopping Center on Southwest Boones Ferry Road, it is the fourth station southbound on the commuter rail line, which runs between Beaverton and Wilsonville in the Portland metropolitan area's Washington County. The station was approved in 2004 as part of the Washington County Commuter Rail Project but construction was delayed following a dispute with its location and the amount of available parking. A compromise was eventually reached, and it was completed in time for the line's opening in 2009. The station includes a 129-space park and ride and connections to the Tualatin Shuttle and TriMet bus routes 76–Hall/Greenburg and 97–Tualatin–Sherwood Rd. WES connects with the Blue and Red lines of MAX Light Rail at Beaverton Transit Center.
Hall/Nimbus is a train station in Beaverton, Oregon, United States, served by TriMet as part of WES Commuter Rail. It is the second station southbound on the commuter rail line, which runs between Beaverton and Wilsonville in the Portland metropolitan area's Washington County. Opened in February 2009, the TriMet-owned station is located west of Oregon Route 217 near Washington Square on Hall Boulevard. It includes a 50-car park and ride and connections to TriMet bus routes 76–Hall/Greenburg and 78–Beaverton/Lake Oswego. WES connects with the Blue and Red lines of MAX Light Rail at Beaverton Transit Center.
The transportation system of Oregon is a cooperation of complex systems of infrastructure.
View from the walkway connecting the transit center's bus facility with the rail platform
The 1988-opened bus transit center viewed from its southwest end in 2012
