Metro threw out some dollars so that Portland and Milwaukie could begin preliminary work on extending light rail from downtown to Milwaukie. Yeah baby! I used to work for a design firm back when Interstate light rail was in initial design and remember seeing options for a light rail bridge across the Willamette south of the Ross Island bridge. It would be so cool to see a new bridge come about in Portland. Others may want it to be a tunnel.

A planned MAX light rail alignment from downtown Portland to Milwaukie received $2 million in funding, again to pay for advanced design work. The overall project is expected to cost $880 million, with 60 percent of the overall funding flowing from the federal government.

“We’re in the environmental impact phase of the project right now,” Newman said. “When that’s done, we’ll seek approval from the feds to being preliminary engineering, which is what this money will pay for.

“Every step of the way, you have to follow their process. They don’t want a lot of projects moving forward that don’t have a realistic shot of getting funded.”

Looking forward to it peeps!

Related posts:

1. A Busy Next Ten Days For Portland-area Rail
2. They are laying the rail
3. Milwaukie Police seeking vehicle involved in hit and run
4. Downtown Is A Mess
5. Future Trains