Metropolitan Area Express (Portland, Oregon)
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Locale | Portland metropolitan area, Oregon |
| Transit type | Light rail |
| Number of lines | 5 |
| Number of stations | 97 |
| Daily ridership | 116,800 (avg. weekday boardings, FY2015) |
| Annual ridership | 37.75 million (boardings, FY2015) |
| Website | MAX Light Rail |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | September 5, 1986 |
| Operator(s) | TriMet |
| Number of vehicles | 145 |
| Technical | |
| System length | 60 mi (96.6 km) |
| Track gauge |
4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge) |
| Electrification | 750 V DC 825 V DC |
MAX Light Rail, or Metropolitan Area Express, is a light rail system consisting of five separate lines (Blue, Green, Orange, Red, and Yellow lines) serving 97 stations in the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon. The system has had an average weekday ridership between 115,000 and 130,000 since Fiscal Year 2010. It is owned and operated by TriMet and began service in 1986.
From MAX's inception to 2004, about $3 billion was invested in light rail in Portland.
In the mid-1970s, TriMet (or Tri-Met, as it was known until 2002) began a study for light rail using funds intended for the cancelled Mount Hood Freeway. The light rail project was known as the Banfield Light Rail Project, named for the freeway (I-84) that part of the alignment followed. The TriMet board approved the project in September 1978.
Construction of the 15-mile (24 km) route started in 1982, and the system opened on September 5, 1986. Of the project's total cost of $214 million, 83% was funded by the federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration (now known as the Federal Transit Administration). Less than two months before the opening, TriMet adopted the name Metropolitan Area Express, or MAX, for the new system following an employee contest.
As planning of a second light rail line, to the west side, gained momentum in the late 1980s, the MAX line came to be referred to as the Eastside MAX line, so as to distinguish it from the Westside MAX project. The 18-mile (29 km) Westside line, to Beaverton and Hillsboro, began construction in 1993 and opened in 1998. Except for a few rush-hour trips, all trips on the now-two light rail lines were connected in downtown. The resulting 33-mile (53 km) east-west line has always been operated as a single, through route, and it became known as the Blue Line in 2001, after TriMet adopted color designations for its separate light rail routes.
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