If you live, work or play downtown, you need to get prep yourself for significant projects that will have a big impact on the transit couplet of SW Morrison and Yamhill. This corridor runs through the heart of Portland — from the waterfront to west of Pioneer Square.
TriMet is fixing and upgrading its MAX light rail tracks and the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services is taking the opportunity to make repairs to sewer pipes that run under them.
The takeaway? For three weeks between Sunday April 30th to May 20th, the MAX Blue, Red and Green lines will be disrupted, streets in the area will be closed, and there will be active work zones all over the place. TriMet will use shuttle buses to help keep people moving, but the route closures will lead to heavy traffic (both on roads and on transit) and strange traffic patterns downtown.
Thankfully both BES and TriMet are actively encouraging people to walk or use bicycles instead (it just so happens that Monday is the start of National Bike Month). TriMet is giving passengers a free 30-minute Biketown ride (used promo code TRIMET17) and BES is encouraging people to use caution, avoid the area if possible, and/or get off their bicycles and walk around active construction zones (see map above).
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Here are the specific closures that will impact your use of downtown streets:
And here are the websites with full information:
– TriMet
– BES
One last thing: In case you haven’t heard, there will be 70 construction projects happening around Portland during the summer season. PBOT has a Get Portland Moving campaign all set up to help mitigate the impacts. This might be the perfect time to re-nudge your friends and family to give bicycling a try!
Be safe and stay aware. And as always, let us know if/how these projects are impacting your ride.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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The indoor plumbing lobby is destroying out cities.
can you provide more information regarding the ‘free 30 minutes’ on bike share? Do you need to have a valid bus pass? Or it is an honor system where you can use the code many times a day?
https://trimet.org/alerts/morrisonyamhill/#options
As a fair weather bicycle commuter, my season starts Monday. Sounds like I’m starting just in time. Looking forward to it.
If I bypass downtown on my bike, will max service on the east side be the same as normal? Or should I just give up on the max entirely for a while?
Expect reduced schedules and busier trains. I believe the red line is truncated to gateway.
hmm, the trimet website says it’s still running to the airport. But I guess I’ll find out on monday!
Huh. I’m flying back home tonight (I sure hope the Red Line is still running to the airport – does the #12 even go there anymore?), and then coming back into town on the 21st. Lucky me.
Red line and blue lines are running on 5th/6th avenues, then on normal routing east of the steel bridge.
And by the way, I rode MAX – both Red and Blue – several times yesterday. Even on Sunday the lines were running on 15 minute intervals, so the schedule wasn’t as “reduced” as expected. Doesn’t mean there isn’t overcrowded agony during commute hours today, but at least things ran surprisingly smoothly yesterday.
Also, be aware that the terminus of the western half of the Blue Line – Providence Park – is less than a mile from 5th/6th avenues where the Red Line and eastern half of the Blue Line are running. TriMet is running shuttles between the lines, but these few blocks separating the split halves of the line can also be traversed in 5 minutes on a sharebike, which is how I did it last night.