A D V E R T I S E M E N T
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
ADVERTISEMENTS
TriMet’s $1.545 billion Portland-to-Milwaukie light-rail line will receive about 10 percent less in federal funding that the regional agency requested.
Federal Transit Administration officials told TriMet that federal funding would cover only 50 percent of the cost for the new 7.3-mile MAX line — up to about $735 million.
TriMet had asked the FTA for a 60 percent federal funding share because all previous light-rail projects had received that amount.
Local governments have already committed $600 million to the project, which is the region’s 40 percent match for the expected 60 percent in federal funds. The 10 percent drop in federal funding leaves the project with a $135 million funding gap that could be filled with more local and state money.
“The good news in the announcement is that the FTA said there is strong justification for the project and they will work with us on it,” said Neil McFarlane, TriMet’s new general manager who has been on the job about three weeks. “Beginning today, we will start talking to our funding partners about our options. They include raising more local funds and resizing the project, but it is too early to say which way we will go. There will be a public component to the decision, but it is too soon to announcement when that will occur.”
McFarlane said there was no deadline for responding to the federal funding decision. “But the monkey is on our back to do so as quickly as possible,” he said.
Federal officials said budget constraints and a crush of projects requesting funding was the reason for the lower federal matching amount. The FTA said its New Starts program (which covers those approved for federal funding like the Milwaukie MAX line) could no longer expect more than 50 percent matching funds for projects of more than $1 billion.
The Portland-to-Milwaukie light-rail system is the region’s sixth MAX line, and extends from Portland State University, through the South Waterfront area, into Southeast Portland to Milwaukie and North Clackamas County. The project includes a new transit bridge over the Willamette River, the first new bridge on the river in 35 years. The bridge will carry MAX, buses and the future Portland Streetcar, and includes two 14-foot bike and pedestrian lanes.
What a waste of money. No one in Milwauke wants this program anyway. Tri-Met is already taxing us taxpayers enough, and some of us never use the system. Double taxation here folks. TriMet also charges for one to ride as well as charging tax on yearly property taxes. Something wrong here. Think about it. IT IS YOURS AND MY TAX DOLLARS GOING TO WASTE. Wake up Portlanders and Milwaukiers-Wake Up.
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 02:34 PM
Tri-Met's reaction to their money crunch is to raise fares and cut service, over and over again. It will come to a point where people will stop using Tri-Met to get around. Fares now are $2+ and service has been reduced, curtailed or canceled completely on some lines.
Instead of the Milwaukee - Portland line that no one wants, how about expanding West Side Max out to Forest grove?
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 03:33 PM
Yes, some of us never use the system, but we all benefit from it. How? Well, every person or two that takes the bus or MAX is another car that's not on the road. You think traffic's bad now, just think what would happen if there was no transit taking all those people out of cars. Think of your tax dollars as the premium you pay for not having gridlock all the time. Or you can move to Phoenix, where construction of new highway lanes is used instead. I hear you can get a house super-cheap right now.
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 03:52 PM
There are a lot of people here in Milwaukie/Clackamas Co. who want this Max line and are eager for it to get here, contrary the to comment above.
Ted, TriMet's ridership has been hit hard by the recession too. But a lot of people still ride it, and will still keep riding it because it's much less expensive than driving & paying to park. (saves our family approximately $80 a week in commuting costs).
Ridership will increase as the population increases and economy rebounds. When the economy rebounds, fuel prices will rebound - then it will be near standing room only on the Milwaukie Max Line. Some of us can see further than the end of our own noses.
The I-5 corrider up to North Vancouver seriously needs a Max Line.
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 04:13 PM
Are you crazy? Not want a light rail line? Just try living in a city like Atlanta where the public transit is a disaster and always comes in last after highway/road projects. Try having a 12-land highway cut Portland in half and see how you like tri-met then. Wake up!
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 05:48 PM
Ridership on the entire Tri-Met system is so tiny (less than 3 percent of all trips, region-wide) that it could not possibly be having any significant impact on traffic congestion, even if every single person who rides Tri-Met suddenly bought a car and started driving.
Riding Tri-Met does not save you anything once you factor in the cost of the extra time you have to spend commuting. Figure it at your work rate of pay, and you'll see mass transit is costing you big time.
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 05:51 PM
Wow all the negative comments already.... I can't wait for this light rail to open! Sellwood has some decent public transportation, but a light rail line coming through Sellwood is going to help out SOOOOO MUCH! Even if some people don't think it is a good idea now, you can't deny that light rails and trains in general are going to be much more needed in the future and it is cheaper to build them now.
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 06:00 PM
Gotta love that American "will of the people" thing.
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 06:02 PM
This is playing out EXACTLY as I predicted two years ago! Here is how this will all play out…. Oh, so sorry, there isn’t enough money to go to Park Avenue, we are going to have to stop at Lake Road. Oh, by the way, it doesn’t make any sense to have only one station in Downtown Milwaukie so we will have to design a second station (using part of the savings from not extending to Park Avenue) on either Harrison or Monroe. Ta dah! TriMet accomplishes their original goal and blames it all on the FEDs for not providing enough funds for the extension. How convenient. How downright dishonest.
The extension to Park Avenue was approved "subject to" having the funds available for the work. There was NEVER a true intention of running the line to Park Avenue. The citizens of Milwaukie spent hundreds of hours at meeting after meeting to "decide" where the best placement of a station would be in the event that there would be only one station in Downtown Milwaukie. The citizens AND City staff unanimously decided that the station (should there be only one station) be placed at Washington Street. During a Council meeting when this decision was presented by STAFF, City Council, in a mere few minutes decided that we were all wrong and the station should be on Lake Road. They insisted that this would only take place in the event that the terminus would be at Park. TriMet has always wanted two stations in Downtown Milwaukie. Stay tuned, they will soon propose their original goal!
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 07:10 PM
POOR TED, sounds like a disgruntled bus driver to me. I say bring in LightRail, and lets get those darn bus's off the road and traffic flowing.
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 07:21 PM
The TriMet Milwaukie line is a bad idea.
That said, folks opposing it ought to try once in a while to actually get the facts right.
The second poster in this thread says that there is a TriMet tax on his property tax bill.
Ummmm, no.
There isn't.
Never has been.
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 10:18 PM
Re: Nonny Mouse's comment about the Trimet tax: Do you consider a bond a tax? I checked my tax statement and it shows a $60.30 charge under TRANS TRIMET BOND. It sure seems like a tax to me!
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 10:47 PM
Who says people in Milwaukie want Tri-Met. Yes, the roads are bad and so is the traffic, but Tri-Met sues you when they hit you. I see on my property taxes every year an increase for Tri-Met and then I see that they raise the rates for people to use. So those of you who say you want Tri-Met apparently do not have to pay property taxes. Think before you say! This Portland to Milwaukie line is a bad idea. Beside, if you can't buy a car, then get a bike or walk. STOP USING TAX PAYERS MONEY WASTEFULLY!
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 08:40 AM
Killing this project should be a no brainer. Just because the Fed gives you construction dollars doesn't mean the project won't lose significant dollars for Tri Met, local and state governments. The state can save $250 million by helping kill this project, and Tri Met would lessen its maintenance burdens in the process.
Portland's relative economic performance has declined even as billions of public funds have been poured into light rail and street car projects. Not a very good testiment to the economic merits of rail systems. As for the Federal Transit Administration, it brings political biases in assessing economic merits.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 08:54 AM
And where do we think the money from the State is coming from, from the tax payers also. So sad that some are ignorant to this fact. We already pay enough taxes. Taxed on property, tax in our pay checks, taxed on our IRA's, taxed on cigarettes, taxed on alcohol, and now they are thinking about tax on soda pop.
TAX, TAX, TAX this is all we get. Some have to work two jobs to make a living and others have no jobs at all, and we want to use tax payers money for a Portland to Milwaukie Lightrail. Are we creating jobs, no, we are making things worse.
WOW! people, when are we going to realize that we are making things worse than better. Why not take the tax payers money and buy food for the needy and care of those children who are less fortunate than we are. This makes more sense in stead spending tax payers money on a system that is already taking more than they deserve.
Saw a news article one that said that Tri-Met was going to raise its passenger rates because they were in a budget crunch, then another story came in shortly thereafter saying that Tri-Met was going to spend millions of dollars for the Lightrail. WOW! Once minute we say we have to raise rates because we do not have enough money and then next we are talking about building big projects. Tri-Met has money, the are takign advantage of the public. WAKE UP!
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 09:31 AM
And where do we think the money from the State is coming from, from the tax payers also. So sad that some are ignorant to this fact. We already pay enough taxes. Taxed on property, tax in our pay checks, taxed on our IRA's, taxed on cigarettes, taxed on alcohol, and now they are thinking about tax on soda pop.
TAX, TAX, TAX this is all we get. Some have to work two jobs to make a living and others have no jobs at all, and we want to use tax payers money for a Portland to Milwaukie Lightrail. Are we creating jobs, no, we are making things worse.
WOW! people, when are we going to realize that we are making things worse than better. Why not take the tax payers money and buy food for the needy and care of those children who are less fortunate than we are. This makes more sense in stead spending tax payers money on a system that is already taking more than they deserve.
Saw a news article one that said that Tri-Met was going to raise its passenger rates because they were in a budget crunch, then another story came in shortly thereafter saying that Tri-Met was going to spend millions of dollars for the Lightrail. WOW! Once minute we say we have to raise rates because we do not have enough money and then next we are talking about building big projects. Tri-Met has money, the are takign advantage of the public. WAKE UP!
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 09:33 AM
Sustainability starts with financial self-sustainability Highways are funded with user fees such as the gas tax and motor vehicle registration fees. Instead of poaching these highway user paid taxes and fees, and bilking other non-user taxpayer sources to fund transit infrastructure. the funding source needs to be user paid.
Currently , every person or two that switches from driving to taking a bus or Max, or rides a bicycle, is another person that goes from being a taxpayer financially supporting transportation infrastructure to a person who’s travel is financially subsidized and/or paid for by somebody else. Given all the spending on social engineering, it is no wonder why Oregon has such a large hole in its budget. To fill in the funding gap for Millwaukie Light Rail, TriMet needs to start by increasing fares.
Additionally, TriMet needs to look at reducing the project costs by placing basic functionality over frills and artsy components. The obvious first place to look is to reduce costs is on the Willamette River crossing. Just like Mayor Adams is waging a war and engaging in battle to reduce the size and scope of the Columbia River Crossing, the public needs to demand a reduction in the size and scope of the new light rail bridge over the Willamette. This can be done by narrowing the super-sized bicycle freeway on the bridge, and by coming up with a less costly overall bridge design. The current cable-strayed design is truly ugly and does not fit in with the other surrounding bridges. Furthermore, just as Adams wants to hammer motorists with outlandish $3.00 one-way peak period tolls to cross the Columbia on a new bridge, an equally priced toll fee on this new Willamette River bridge needs to apply to the freeloading bicyclists who currently are deadbeats when it comes to paying their own way and for the bicycle infrastructure they use and rant for.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 11:02 AM
The real question is: Where is the extra local money going to come from?
TriMet has not seen an increase in revenue so unless they raise the payroll tax, they will cut somewhere else.
TriMet isn't going to cut MAX service, and they've demonstrated that they are unwilling to cut the disaster called WES. TriMet continues to give away money to the City of Portland to subsidize the City's Streetcar line, and TriMet gives away money to various bicycle projects that have nothing to do with TriMet at all.
They have no problem maintaining management perks, buying new fleet vehicles for Supervisors...
If you're a bus rider - get ready for more, more, MORE cuts. TriMet already has ZERO buses on order or option (despite having 200+ buses that are well beyond federal guidelines for replacement -- AND, the federal government pays 90% of the cost of a new bus!). For the folks who want to see MAX "through Sellwood"...MAX won't go through Sellwood, it'll go through Eastmoreland. YOUR bus is likely going to get cut, so get used to driving your Subaru to the new Park & Ride lot.
And then...why should I (as a bus rider) sacrifice my service so you get to ride a gold-plated MAX train, at a transit station with oversized shelters, "Art", a huge parking lot, enhanced security, guaranteed air conditioning in the MAX train, etc.?
The fact is that very inexpensive (by comparison) improvements to existing bus service would provide the same level and quality of service in the McLoughlin corridor, without the huge price tag of MAX. We do not need another bridge across the Willamette River - in fact the Hawthorne Bridge, when it was rehabbed a decade ago, was rebuilt with the express intent to put streetcar/light rail tracks on the deck. There is plenty of room to build a busway from Milwaukie to downtown Portland with dedicated transit stops for buses. A busway would use land on McLoughlin, resulting in ZERO business relocations, ZERO real estate acquisition, and would IMPROVE transit time - while LOWERING operational costs.
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 08:37 PM
Find a paper
Enter a street name
or a 5 digit zip code
Browse archive
The Bee
News feed
Facebook
Digg
Del.icio.us
Newsvine
Stumbleupon
Reddit
Re: Feds offer less money for TriMet’s Milwaukie MAX line
I had better not see any plans to tax or suck funds from "other" sources surface over this. At least not without a general vote of the people.
Else wise you can bet that there will be some leadership changes at tri-met, and or yet more areas that opt out of tri-met altogether.
Gotta love that Oregon "will of the people" thing.
"Jim Ourada"
(email verified)
Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 11:43 AM