2 • The Southwest Portland Post
The Southwest Portland Post
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509
Portland, OR 97206
Fax: (866) 727-5336
email: editor@multnomahpost.com
Re: “Letters: Future light rail align-
ment should be along Interstate 5,” by
Don Baack, December 2017.
Reader prefers light rail
alignment along Interstate 5
Light rail through Southwest Port-
land has two options on the table right
now between Terwilliger Boulevard
and the Barbur Transit Station.
Next to Interstate 5, and down the
middle of Barbur Boulevard.
Stations for both are accessed from
Barbur Boulevard. Boarding on the
Interstate 5 alignment is behind the
current row of businesses along the
street.
This is just as close to all pedestrians
due to the Barbur Boulevard-located
stations needing to be located half a
block from the intersection in order to
provide space in the street for neces-
sary left turn lanes.
Transit service to our residents is
essentially the same. The difference
EDITORIAL
is how Barbur Boulevard serves our
community.
We presently use Barbur Boulevard
to connect among our neighborhoods,
and to carry out our routine shopping
for gas and tires, groceries and drugs,
fast foods, and more.
Because it has the capacity to carry
overflow from a clogged Interstate 5,
we can live and circulate in our daily
lives.
New businesses keep arriving,
and more will come when the transit
alignment is set.
As I observe light rail lines in other
cities, I rarely see a vibrant business
community facing the street filled
with light rail.
With light rail on Barbur Boulevard,
the future use of the right-of-way and
all traffic movements will be dictated
by its presence.
We will lose the entire center of the
street to two rail lines and associated
passenger stations.
Left turns to access our neighbor-
hoods and businesses will be limited
to crossings every several blocks.
The business community will have
a physical and visual barrier separat-
ing the street, decreasing their ability
to attract customers.
Barbur Boulevard will not be able
to handle as many cars, bringing in-
creased congestion when Interstate 5
comes to a stop and the traffic heads
for the local streets.
With this congestion, the local
streets become our neighborhood
streets carrying more traffic.
The city of Portland has expressed
a continuing bias towards the Barbur
Boulevard alignment because they
then have funds to rebuild the state
highway.
That is the only basis for preferring
light rail on Barbur Boulevard.
January 2018
By using the Interstate 5 alignment,
no new barrier is created; light rail
service is faster due to lack of the local
street intersections; pedestrians walk
no farther to board the train; noise is
better constrained by being behind
the buildings.
Barbur Boulevard is better able to
evolve as the community envisioned
in the Barbur Concept Plan.
Glenn Bridger
Hillsdale
No evidence of overt bias
toward any alternative route
has been identified
Is the city staff biased toward the
Barbur Boulevard alignment?
Working as a member of the South-
west Corridor Light Rail Project Com-
munity Advisory Committee that
provides recommendations to the
steering committee since the summer
of 2017; no evidence of overt bias to-
wards any alternative route has been
identified.
However, there is an initial wide-
spread support for light rail on Bar-
bur Boulevard among long-standing
community leaders because it is
perceived that the Barbur Boulevard
route will attract more MAX ridership
and other non-automotive modes of
transportation as previous neighbor-
hood and city collaborative studies
have indicated in the past: the Barbur
Streetscape Plan in 1999 and the Bar-
bur Concept Plan in 2013.
A critical factor in considering
alternative routes for light rail is the
determination as to which routes will
ultimately provide greater ridership
in the long run.
This is not a “bias,” but objective
criteria that all decision makers are
evaluating; and this analysis is ongo-
ing as more information is collected.
No conclusions have yet been
reached prior to the Draft Environ-
mental Impact Statement that is
scheduled to be released early next
year.
Is it true that if the train is placed
on Barbur Boulevard, the impact on
the adjacent neighborhoods will be
significant as slowed Barbur Boule-
vard traffic seeks alternative routes?
Maybe this is true initially during
the construction process and as the lo-
cal communities adjust to alternative
forms of transportation; but no con-
clusions can yet be reached about the
long term impact at this early stage.
The central purpose of providing
light rail on Barbur, and augmenting
adjacent bike lanes and sidewalks,
is to give the communities alterna-
tive modes of transportation from
Portland to Tigard; and as far as Tu-
alatin.
Additionally, if tracks are placed
along I-5 instead of Barbur there will
be impact on current residential prop-
erties as well.
All concerned community members
should contact TriMet and Metro
leadership and examine the light rail
concept maps that they are develop-
ing for all the alternative routes.
There is impact on adjacent residen-
tial and commercial properties along
all alternate routes being considered
for light rail tracks.
Vasilios (Bill) Garyfallou
Editor’s Note: What appears above
is an excerpt from a larger com-
mentary. Mr. Garyfallou is part of
a group developing property along
Barbur Boulevard between 17th and
19th avenues.
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