Over the last year or so — and especially lately — there’s been a lot of rhetoric tossed around over TriMet. Between a bad editorial, a near-miss on a labor action, and lots of Internet drama, I think it’s time for some cooler heads to prevail.
1.) The Oregonian’s editorial against measure 26-119. As of [...]

Is the knowledge of fringe, obscure historical remnants like these traces of the former industrial past of the Central Eastside — and the stories behind them — part of the uniqueness of Portland cultural DNA?
What makes up the cultural DNA of Portland? This is a question that, as a student of cities, I constantly ask [...]

For many years now, the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) has been a major news item in the Portland metropolitan region. For those in other regions, the CRC is a project to replace the existing dual lift spans that carry Interstate 5 over the Columbia River between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. The planning process was [...]

It’s time for Portland’s transit leadership to stand up for the region’s vision.
Over the last two years, as the economy shrank, local transit services here in the Portland region have been taking serious criticism. A number of narratives have emerged. One is that TriMet’s investments in rail expansion have come at the expense of the [...]

Michael Andersen recently quit his day job as a newspaper reporter to start a mini newsmagazine for the Portland area’s “bus, bike, and low-car” population.
Transportation politics — especially bike and transit politics — can be fascinating stuff, especially to a transportation geek such as myself, but for most people it’s just all so much hot [...]

Urban renewal, like any land-use improvement methodology, has conventions or habits. Conventions are meant to be a framework for success, a recipe that, if followed properly, will yield good results. Conventions, however, tend to become canonical and restricting after a time. They limit what is an acceptable course of action, reducing creativity and possibility.
One [...]

Looking back at 2009, public transit had a big year throughout the region. With a trip north to Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. late in the year, I was able to experience every rail transit line that opened in 2009. Here’s a review of those systems, in chronological order, with a few highlights.

TriMet’s WES Commuter Rail [...]

One of the most remarkable sights of the Vancouver, B.C. area is not the high-rise downtown or the dramatic mountain scenery surrounding the Burrard Inlet, but the presence of high rise towers in the suburbs. An all-day tour of the city via SkyTrain — the region’s largely elevated heavy rail transit system — gives one [...]

Is Vancouver a picture of the urban future, and/or Portland’s long lost twin? Perhaps neither.
Living in Portland, Oregon, I sometimes get a bit jaded about our region. Thanks to a strong tradition of urban planning, a large transit system, and comparatively robust growth management laws, Portland has become a kind of poster child for urbanization [...]

Vancouver, B.C.: dense, diverse, and highly urban. Photo from Dan Haneckow’s Flickr stream.
Just a quick heads up that this week I will be in Vancouver, British Columbia. My goal is to see a little bit of this city, which as has been noted elsewhere is not entirely dissimilar from the Portland metropolitan region. In addition [...]