The Portland Green Line Example

This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.

Mike McGinn’s plan for Westside light rail is welcome news. Ben @ STB notes that Sound Transit is planning to study this in 2015, so McGinn might try and find the money to push that up a few years.

Great.

But here’s where I start to have a problem with the McGinn proposal:

He mentioned Portland’s newest light-rail segment, the Green Line, which opened last weekend, as a good model. Eight new miles of new corridor were built for $576 million, in the east suburbs and near Portland State University downtown.

The reason why the Green Line was so cheap, as The Transport Politic explains, is that it was built in a highway median that was set aside 30 years ago for transit, much like our I-90 HOV lanes. No such right-of-way exists on the Westside.

The old engineer’s adage is: “Fast, good, or cheap. Pick Two.” McGinn’s promising all three, which should make us all a little suspicious.