Tualatin station

Last updated

Tualatin
WES Commuter Rail station
Tualatin station platform view, showing gauntlet track (2015).jpg
Tualatin station in 2015
General information
Location18955 SW Boones Ferry Road
Tualatin, Oregon, U.S.
Coordinates 45°23′00″N122°45′52″W / 45.383283°N 122.764556°W / 45.383283; -122.764556
Owned by TriMet
Line(s) Portland and Western Railroad
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks1
ConnectionsTriMet bus, Tualatin Shuttle
Construction
Structure type At-grade
Parking129 spaces
Bicycle facilities Lockers and racks
AccessibleYes
History
OpenedFebruary 2, 2009 (2009-02-02)
Services
Preceding station TriMet icon.svg TriMet Following station
Wilsonville Transit Center
Terminus
WES Commuter Rail Tigard Transit Center
Location
Tualatin station

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 operates 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.

Contents

History

In 1908, the Oregon Electric Railway (OE) established an interurban line between Portland and Salem, which at its peak extended as far south as Eugene. [1] OE built a depot in Tualatin that is believed to have stood on the site of the present-day WES station. [2] When automobiles began to dominate in the 1920s, ridership on the interurban failed to grow as projected, and OE ended passenger rail service in May 1933. Diesel freight trains continued to utilize the route into the 1990s. [1] [3] Washington County officials started planning for a commuter rail line between Beaverton and Wilsonville in 1996. [3] In 2001, local governments approved the Washington County Commuter Rail Project, [4] which included plans for a station in Tualatin along Boones Ferry Road, in consideration of the city's transportation plan. [5] The Federal Transit Administration authorized funding for the project in 2004, [4] and construction began in October 2006. [6]

After construction of the line had started, nearby grocery retailer Haggen Food & Pharmacy tried to have the station in Tualatin moved; Haggen argued that the station did not have enough parking and that it would worsen traffic around the area. [7] [8] Haggen's protest led to a delay in the station's construction, which had been scheduled to begin in July 2007. [7] [9] The city and Portland's regional transit agency, TriMet, countered that the location was selected in 2001 and was re-affirmed in 2005 with no objections from Haggen; TriMet further threatened to forgo building the station. [5] In August, Haggen and TriMet compromised; the station's location remained as planned but with additional parking. [5] [10] The station's construction commenced on January 9, 2008, with a groundbreaking ceremony attended by local dignitaries. [11] The public artwork was installed that September. [12] Tualatin station was completed in time for the opening of the line, by then named "Westside Express Service" (WES), on February 2, 2009. [13] [14]

Station details

Park and ride
Side platform, doors will open on the left or right
Northbound WES toward Beaverton Transit Center (Tigard Transit Center) 
SouthboundWES toward Wilsonville  (Terminus)

Tualatin station is situated on the east end of Hedges Green Shopping Center near the intersection of Southwest Boones Ferry Road and Seneca Street in downtown Tualatin. [15] [16] It is one of five WES stops along the 14.7-mile (23.7 km) rail segment owned by Portland and Western Railroad. [17] The station has 129 park-and-ride spaces, 24 covered bike racks, and six bike lockers. [18] The side platform measures 146 feet (45 m) in length and 15 feet (4.6 m) in width, covers about 2,000 square feet (190 m2), and sits four feet (1.2 m) above the ground. [2] It features card-only ticket vending machines and a digital information display that shows WES and bus arrival information. [18] The platform shelter exhibits enhancements to TriMet's standard design practices; it includes a clock tower and red brick columns intended to blend in with the neighborhood's existing architectural styles. [10] The Tualatin Development Commission contributed $491,000 for the enhancements. [15]

Tualatin station's public art consists of an interactive sculpture created by Frank Boyden and Brad Rude entitled The Interactivator. It features bronze heads and a vehicle designed to represent the train and the variety of people who ride the line. The vehicle moves along a track and has an animal figure displayed in a scene atop the piece. [19] :28 The shelter's glass windbreak is etched with a willow pattern. [20]

Services

Tualatin is the fourth of five stations southbound on WES, between Tigard Transit Center and the line's southern terminus, Wilsonville station. WES provides a connection to the Blue and Red lines of MAX Light Rail at its northern terminus, Beaverton Transit Center. [21] Service operates only on weekdays during the morning and evening commutes and trains arrive at the station every thirty minutes per direction. [22] [23] A bus stop near Tualatin station connects to TriMet bus routes 76–Hall/Greenburg and 97–Tualatin–Sherwood Rd. [18] Additionally, a fixed-route bus service operated by Ride Connection called the Tualatin Shuttle connects riders between Tualatin station and local employers. As of 2019, the Tualatin Shuttle operates two routes within Tualatin; it coordinates with WES train arrivals and is free to use. [24] [25]

Related Research Articles

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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 that together connect 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 of between 30 minutes off-peak and three minutes during rush hours. In 2019, MAX had an average daily ridership of 120,900, or 38.8 million annually. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted public transit use globally, annual ridership plummeted, with only 14.8 million riders recorded in 2021.

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 five 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. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 53,889,500, or about 173,600 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Electric Railway</span>

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.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hall/Nimbus station</span> Train station in Beaverton, Oregon

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The transportation system of Oregon is a cooperation of complex systems of infrastructure.

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References

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