il!l ^în rtlau b COhsmu'r ‘Diversity in the
August 15. 2007
Page B5
Fred Hansen Tracks Changes at TriMet
continued
from Metro
Getting into
server about these changes happening
within the agency, and how these will
affect Portland as a whole.
the Game
Is there a possibility of light rail head­
ing into Vancouver?
TriMet recruits
minority contractors
W e’re in eyesight range o f V ancouver,
but it’san expensive little mile. The Colum ­
bia R iver Crossing T ask Force (a group
formed to oversee the process o f develop­
ing the highw ay, transit, pedestrian and
bike options for a new 1-5 bridge) will
present recom m endations to the federal
governm ent by next spring, on w here a
new bridge will be sited and w hat kind of
transit will be on the bridge.
Is there enough support front Clark
County?
T here are those on this side o f the river
w ho w ant light rail, and the m ayor o f
V ancouver (Royce Pollard) agrees.
What are the other options on the 1-5
bridge?
O ptions for a new 1-5 bridge vary on the
num ber o f traffic lanes, but all alternatives
involve high-capacity transit, and that
could be light rail or bus rapid transit
(except for an option to do nothing).
What are the differences in cost be­
tween these options?
G enerally speaking, the rule o f thum b is
that Bus Rapid Transit (w here buses travel
the bridge in dedicated lanes) costs less to
build but costs more to operate over time.
How is ridership along the Yellow Line,
TriM et’s newest light rail tracks?
Ridership on the Yel low Line was a 1 ittle
low er but now it's growing
faster than any other MAX
line in the system. This is som e­
what coincidental with the high
rise in gas, but it appears to be
for a variety o f reasons - there
is a lot o f transformation (along
Interstate A venue) and this
region had been in a serious
four-year recession that has
now ended.
Alvin Hall, the owner and operator at Rock and Road Construction, works on the Portland Mall MAX Light Rail Project.
imagine astreetcar line up Northeast Sandy
Boulevard, Hawthorne, Killingsworth and
W oodstock - all contem plations that are
part o f his 30-year rail transit plan.)
Will the 1-205 light rail be as urhan-
residents see it as a boon to their neigh­
borhood.
Ilowdid Yellow Line const ruction af­
fect small and minority-owned busi­
nesses?
We learned the biggest barrier o f
small and minority-owned businesses
is that they are smal I... so we broke
contracts into smaller, bite-sized bids
and also provided technical
assistance to small firm s so they
could be successful.
Is there any chance of street
cars moving along dense ur­
ban areas like Martin Luther
King Jr. Boulevard, Alberta Street or
Mississippi Avenue?
It’s best to talk to (City C om m issioner)
Sam A dam s. (In a speech last month
A dam s asked the C ity Club o f Portland to
We learned the biggest bar­
rier o f small and minority-owned
businesses is that they are small
and ca n 't com pete for large co n ­
tracts. So we broke contracts
into smaller, bite-sized bids and
also provided technical assis­
tance to smal I firms s o they could
be successful.
Are you doing the same with
construction on the Milwaukie
line?
The Y ellow Line was the first
- Fred Hanson Trimet General Manager
public w orks project in the re­
friendly as the Yellow I ,ine?
gion to engage local small, w om en and
The Interstate alignm ent goes dow n an
m inority-ow ned businesses. TriM et has
im portant street in the com m unity and I-
further engaged with local com m unities
205 will hug the interstate, but it will cross
by continuing to build the capacity of
them iddleofcom m unities like Lents. Lents
current DBEs and bringing new D BFs on
board.
How many buses are operating with
biodiesel?
In O cto b er o f 2006 we expan d ed
biodiesel to all buses, and that made us the
largest purchaser o f biodiesel in Oregon.
Why use biofuels?
For us. | the cost o f| biodiesel has been
slightly above regular diesel, but we want
to have dom estic-supplied fuel for price
stability reasons, even though it costs
slightly more.
(H an sen said the d ecisio n to use
biofuels is also an environm ental one be­
cause its production relies on growing
p lants.,
Jam es Posey, the African A m erican
ow ner o f W ork Horse C onstruction,
describes the process o f his and other
m inority firms com peting for work as
“feast o f fam ine.”
"W e h aven't been able to progress
like everyone else in the m arket.’' he
said.
But Posey and his em ployees are
consistently busy these days with co n ­
tracts in the ever expanding TriM et
light rail network.
Posey, president o f the Oregon chap­
ter o f the National Association o f M i­
nority Contractors (N A M C O ) and a
form er mayoral candidate, h asn 't al­
w ays been im pressed with TriM et. In
fact, a decade ago he sued the transit
a g e n c y o v e r c o n s tru c tio n o f th e
W estside Hillsboro light rail project.
Posey and N A M CO objected to the
lack o f minority contractor participa­
tion and the use o f a nebulous, Denver-
based firm instead o f local crews.
“W e lost, but basically it let them
know we w eren't going to sit dow n and
let them run over us," Posey said.
T riM e t g e n e ra l m a n a g e r F red
H ansen jo in e d the agency sh o rtly
a fte rth e H illsb o ro e x p an sio n a n d ju st
befo re co n stru ctio n on the Y ellow
continued
on page H6
Will TriMet expand its use of biofuels?
TriM et is aw aiting engine m anufactur­
ers' approval to guarantee engine w arran­
ties at a 20 percent biodiesel blend.
What is TriMet’sgreatest challenge?
Keeping the system growing with the
population growth. People here w ant more
and more transit.
James Posey
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