Portland Transit: Metro Abandons Light Rail Tunnel to PCC Sylvania

A much discussed proposal that would have connected Portland to the Portland Community College's Sylvania campus through a tunnel was formerly abandoned Monday.

The Southwest Corridor Plan had been considering ways to improve transit options to the largest campus in the PCC system.

The problems, though, were the cost would have negatively impacted other transportation projects and the fact that the Sylvania campus is on a hilltop too steep for light rail.

Meanwhile, the committee - which is made of representatives of Metro, TriMet, the Oregon Department of Transportation, Tigard, Beaverton, Portland, Sherwood, Tualatin, Durham, King City, and Washington County - also voted to pursue a light rail link connecting Portland, Tigard, and Bridgeport Village instead of bus rapid transit.

While bus rapid transit would be cheaper to build, officials concluded it would hit full ridership capacity fairly quickly, not be able to expand, cause traffic congestion, and ultimately cost more per rider.

The next step is the creation of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement - a federally required study of potential environmental and economic impacts.

At the steering committee's next meeting on June 13, they will consider a list of alternative routes the light rail could take to include in the study.