# MAX Green Line

The MAX Green Line is a light rail line serving the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system, it connects Portland State University (PSU), Portland City Center, Northeast Portland, Southeast Portland, and Clackamas. The Green Line travels 15 miles (24.1 km) from the PSU South stations to Clackamas Town Center Transit Center and serves 30 stations. It is the only service that interlines with all of the other MAX services, sharing the Portland Transit Mall segment with the Orange and Yellow lines and part of the Eastside MAX segment with the Blue and Red lines. South of Gateway Transit Center, the Green Line branches off to Clackamas Town Center. Service runs for 21 hours on weekdays and 20 hours on weekends with headways of up to 15 minutes. It is the third-busiest line in the system with an average of 13,030 riders per day on weekdays in September 2024.
Planning for light rail in Clackamas County began in the mid-1980s with a proposal to build two separate lines, of which one was envisioned between Portland International Airport and Clackamas Town Center along Interstate 205 (I-205) via the I-205 busway. Feasibility studies conducted in the early 1990s shifted plans away from I-205 and culminated in the South/North Corridor project, which failed to secure voter-backed funding over several ballot measures.
In 2001, regional planners announced the South Corridor Transportation Project, a two-phased revision of the South/North project that proposed light rail along I-205 and the Portland Transit Mall in its first phase. With the support of local residents, the I-205/Portland Mall Light Rail Project was approved in 2003, and construction began in early 2007. The segments opened separately starting with the Portland Transit Mall in August 2009 and I-205 a month later. Green Line service commenced on September 12, 2009.
TriMet had intended to extend MAX to Southwest Portland, Tigard, and Tualatin with the Southwest Corridor Light Rail Project. The 13-station, 11-mile (18 km) extension would have begun construction in 2022 and opened in 2027 with service from the Green Line. On November 3, 2020, voters declined a tax ballot measure that would have provided local funding and put the project on hold.

## I-205 history
### Early proposals

While construction of what would become the first segment of the Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) between downtown Portland and Gresham progressed in the mid-1980s, regional government Metro unveiled plans for the Portland metropolitan area's next light rail line to serve Clackamas County. Metro proposed two routes: one between Portland International Airport and Clackamas Town Center via the I-205 freeway, and another between downtown Portland, Milwaukie, and Oregon City via McLoughlin Boulevard. A panel of local and state officials known as the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT) endorsed the I-205 route in 1987 with a request to start preliminary engineering for light rail along this corridor in lieu of an originally planned busway. Their preferred alignment had been the I-205 busway, a partially completed, grade-separated transit right-of-way built during I-205's construction several years prior. Regional transit agency TriMet, however, wanted an extension of MAX westward to Hillsboro in Washington County to take priority for federal funding, so the agency called on local businesses and governments in Clackamas County to subsidize the proposed $88 million I-205 route.
A dispute between Washington and Clackamas county officials followed, with Clackamas County vying for additional federal assistance, including $17 million in excess funds sourced from the partially realized I-205 busway. In an effort to settle the dispute, Metro updated its regional transportation plan (RTP) in January 1989 to reassert the westside line's priority and commission preliminary work for the I-205 and McLoughlin Boulevard proposals. The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations approved a financing package later in September, which provided $2 million to assess the two segments, but at the behest of U.S. Senators Mark Hatfield of Oregon and Brock Adams of Washington, who were members of the committee, a segment further north to Clark County, Washington became part of the proposals.
Alignment studies initially examined extending the proposed I-205 route further north across the Columbia River to Vancouver Mall or the Clark County Fairgrounds. As the studies analyzed various alternative routes, however, support shifted to an alignment along the busier I-5 and Willamette River corridors. A 25-mile (40 km) route from Hazel Dell, Washington through downtown Portland to Clackamas Town Center called the "South/North Corridor" was finalized in 1994. Estimated to cost around $2.8 billion, Portland area voters approved a $475 million bond measure in November 1994 to cover Oregon's share. A Clark County vote to fund Washington's portion, which would have been sourced through sales and vehicle excise tax increases, was subsequently defeated on February 7, 1995. TriMet later sought funding for various scaled-back revisions of the South/North project following a general route between North Portland and Clackamas Town Center that voters went on to reject in 1996 and 1998. In 1997, an unsolicited proposal from engineering company Bechtel led to a public–private partnership that built an extension of MAX to Portland International Airport using the northern half of the I-205 busway from Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center; this extension opened in 2001 with service from the Red Line.

### Revival and funding

In May 2001, JPACT revisited its plans for the I-205 and McLoughlin Boulevard corridors and the following month announced the $8.8 million South Corridor Transportation Study. By 2003, the study had narrowed down five transit alternatives including building both light rail lines, a combination of one light rail service and one improved bus service, bus rapid transit, and dedicated bus lanes. JPACT recommended both light rail options using a two-phased development plan; the I-205 line would be built by 2009, followed by a Portland–Milwaukie line via McLoughlin Boulevard five years later. The existing I-205 busway right-of-way and a potential for no new taxes were two factors that led to the selection of the I-205 corridor for the first phase. With the approval of local residents, affected jurisdictions endorsed the South Corridor Transportation Project. Plans were amended the following October to include adding light rail to the Portland Transit Mall in downtown Portland in the first phase.$^{:P-2}$ TriMet published the combined "I-205/Portland Mall" final environmental impact statement in November 2004 and began acquiring land in 2005.
The federal government approved the project on February 7, 2006. The combined project was budgeted at $575.7 million (equivalent to $795 million in 2023 dollars), of which approximately $355.7 million went to the I-205 segment. TriMet negotiated a local match of 40 percent of total funding, which amounted to $197.4 million (unadjusted). Federal funding covered the remaining 60 percent, or about $345 million, under the New Starts program. The head of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) signed the full-funding agreement in Portland on July 3, 2007. In May 2009, the project received $32 million in federal stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, an amount already committed to the project by the federal government but made available so that TriMet could retire debt earlier. The City of Portland provided $15 million in bonds paid for by raising parking meter fees, as well as $17 million from a local improvement district and $6.3 million from systems and utilities charges. Around $36 million came from Clackamas County urban renewal funds collected from property taxes within the Clackamas Town Center urban renewal district. TriMet contributed $20.5 million, and the Portland Development Commission provided $20 million. Downtown businesses spent an additional $15.3 million to improve retail spaces along the transit mall.

### Construction and opening

In February 2004, TriMet awarded the I-205 segment's design–build contract to South Corridor Constructors, a joint venture between Stacy and Witbeck, F.E. Ward Constructors—who had both worked on the Interstate MAX project—and Granite Construction Company. Construction began in February 2007. This marked the start of a 21⁄2-year closure of sections of the I-205 Bike Path; a new mixed-use path linking Clackamas County to the South Park Blocks in downtown Portland was paved as a permanent alternative. Preliminary work began in April and involved erecting light rail bridges over Johnson Creek Boulevard and Harold Street and excavating light rail underpasses below Stark and Washington streets. Crews were at work within Clackamas County by November. The line was over 70 percent complete by November 2008, with tracks laid from Gateway Transit Center to Flavel Street. To serve the expansion, TriMet ordered 22 Siemens S70 cars, which it referred to as "Type 4". Siemens delivered the first car in 2009; it made its first test run that March and entered service on August 6. The I-205 extension's first end-to-end test run, attended by local and state dignitaries, occurred that July.
The I-205 segment opened on September 12, 2009. TriMet created a new MAX service for the extension called the "Green Line", which initially ran from Clackamas Town Center Transit Center to the PSU Urban Center stations, but was later extended to the PSU South stations when those stations were infilled in September 2012. The I-205 segment added 6.5 miles (10.5 km) to the MAX system. Opening day festivities, paid for by sponsors and donations, were held at Clackamas Town Center and PSU, and as many as 40,000 people showed up to ride the trains, which were free that day. To address its $31 million budget deficit caused by the slow growth of payroll tax revenue amid the Great Recession, TriMet simultaneously eliminated four bus lines and implemented service cuts to 49 other routes.

## Portland Mall reconstruction

A north–south rail alignment through downtown Portland had been considered as early as the 1980s. In 1991, the Portland City Council commissioned a feasibility study for a potential subway line beneath the Portland Transit Mall on 5th and 6th avenues, which at the time was served only by buses, following recommendations made by a citizen advisory committee. While planning for the South/North project in 1994, planners introduced a surface light rail alternative, which the project's steering committee later favored when they concluded that a $250 million tunnel would be too costly. Following the South/North project's cancellation, the city held off revitalization efforts for the transit mall amid proposals from local businesses to rebuild it to allow curbside parking.
In 2003, TriMet planners reconsidered adding light rail to the Portland Transit Mall after planning for the second phase of the South Corridor Transportation Study, or the Portland–Milwaukie line, revealed that a fourth service on the existing tracks in downtown's Morrison and Yamhill streets—already served by the Blue, Red, and upcoming Yellow lines—would exceed that segment's capacity. Portland business leaders likewise argued for the construction of a new bridge leading to the southern end of the transit mall instead of using the Hawthorne Bridge due to fears that the latter would create a traffic bottleneck. TriMet conducted a study proposing stations on either the left, right, or middle lanes of the transit mall and ultimately selected a hybrid center-lane travel with right-side boarding option in April 2004. A transit mall revitalization plan was approved and combined with the first-phase construction of the I-205 segment a month later.$^{:P-2}$ Consisting of seven stations per split on 5th and 6th avenues, the project extended the existing transit mall from 44 to 117 block faces from Union Station to PSU. It also added a continuous travel lane for private vehicles, which had not been present in the corridor's original bus-only design.
TriMet awarded the Portland Mall reconstruction project to Stacy and Witbeck and Kiewit Pacific. Preparation work began with 17 bus lines rerouted to 3rd and 4th avenues, six lines to Columbia and Jefferson streets, and one line, 14–Hawthorne, to 2nd Avenue. Construction commenced on January 14, 2007, with the corridor's temporary closure. Owing to techniques learned from the Interstate MAX project, businesses were kept open while sections, from north to south, were closed off in three- to four-block increments. The original transit mall had been built with mortar-set bricks, which proved difficult to maintain; for the reconstruction, TriMet experimented with sand-set brick paving as recommended by British civil engineer John Knapton, who had studied Roman road building methods. Tracks were laid 25 inches (64 cm) into the surface street while water pipes and sewers were buried 6 feet (1.8 m) to 25 feet (7.6 m) underground. Crews installed the last section of rail in May 2008. Then from June through August, workers closed the upper deck of the Steel Bridge to connect the existing Eastside MAX tracks with the new transit mall tracks.
5th and 6th avenues opened to vehicular traffic in July 2008. TriMet began line testing in January 2009, initially with light rail cars hauled by a truck, then with its new Type 4 MAX trains. Bus service returned to the transit mall on May 24. On August 30, the 1.8-mile-long (2.9 km) Portland Mall light rail segment opened with inaugural service from the Yellow Line, which TriMet rerouted from First Avenue and Morrison and Yamhill streets. Green Line trains began serving the segment on September 12. Light rail service on the transit mall initially ran only between Union Station and the PSU Urban Center stations while nearby building projects delayed the construction of the PSU South stations, which finally opened in September 2012.

## Planned Southwest Corridor extension

The Southwest Corridor Light Rail Project was a planned 13-station, 11-mile (18 km) MAX extension that would have connected downtown Portland to Southwest Portland, Tigard, and Tualatin. It would have originated at the PSU South stations in downtown Portland and traveled southwest via Southwest Barbur Boulevard, a part of Oregon Route 99W (OR 99W), until Barbur Transit Center. From there, MAX would have run adjacent to I-5, except in Tigard where it would have run parallel to a segment of Portland and Western Railroad tracks utilized by WES Commuter Rail.$^{:148–155}$ A terminus would have been situated within Bridgeport Village in Tualatin. The extension would have connected riders to the Marquam Hill campus of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) with an inclined elevator and to Portland Community College (PCC) Sylvania with a shuttle bus. A new Hall Boulevard station would have connected with WES via Tigard Transit Center and would have served as the site of a new operations and maintenance facility.$^{:170–175}$
Metro adopted its 2035 RTP in June 2010 where it identified a segment of OR 99W between Portland and Sherwood as the region's next highest-priority "high-capacity transit" corridor.$^{:2–46}$$^{:1}$ In January 2011, The FTA granted Metro $2 million to begin studying this formally named "Southwest Corridor". The funds focused on the assessment of various mode alternatives, including light rail, commuter rail, streetcar, and bus rapid transit. The Southwest Corridor Plan officially launched later on September 28, formalizing the development of a unified transportation plan between the involved communities and jurisdictions.$^{:1}$ In June 2013, the project steering committee selected light rail and bus rapid transit as the alternatives for further consideration.$^{:2}$ Citing a lack of present and future demand, the steering committee eliminated further planning using the alternatives to Sherwood. They also rerouted the proposed alignment in Tigard through the Tigard Triangle in response to local opposition to the removal of auto lanes from OR 99W.$^{:3}$
In June 2014, the steering committee determined a refined route for further study that ran from the southern end of the Portland Transit Mall in downtown Portland to just east of Tualatin station in downtown Tualatin;$^{:6–7}$ this route was later shortened to terminate at Bridgeport Village. The following year, proposals to serve Marquam Hill and Hillsdale with tunnels were dropped from the plan because they would be too costly, have severe construction impacts, and attract few new transit riders. In May 2016, the steering committee voted to select light rail as the preferred mode alternative over bus rapid transit. They also removed a tunnel to PCC Sylvania from further consideration. After passing a measure requiring voters to approve the construction of any high-capacity transit built within city limits, Tigard voters approved the light rail extension the following September.
At an estimated cost of $2.6 billion to $2.9 billion, the project was included in a regional transportation funding measure called "Get Moving 2020". In light of a budget gap of $462 million, planners proposed reducing lanes on Barbur Boulevard and shortening the line's route to terminate in downtown Tigard. Both proposals were rejected in November 2019. Private negotiations, as well as Metro's approval to increase the project's requested budget by $125 million in the 2020 ballot measure, reduced the budget gap to around $100 million. On November 3, 2020, voters rejected the measure. Had it been approved, the extension would have begun construction in 2022 and opened by 2027. It had been expected to serve approximately 37,500 riders by 2035.

## Route

The Green Line is 15 miles (24.1 km) long and serves three distinct segments of the MAX system: the Portland Transit Mall, the Eastside MAX, and the I-205 MAX. Its western termini are the PSU South stations situated at the southern end of the Portland Transit Mall within the PSU campus. Tracks along the transit mall are split between 5th and 6th Avenues; trains travel northbound on 6th Avenue and southbound on 5th Avenue. From the PSU South stations, the line traverses the length of the transit mall, ending near Portland Union Station. Along the way, it crosses with Portland Streetcar tracks near the PSU Urban Center stations and with the east–west MAX tracks on Yamhill and Morrison streets near the Pioneer Courthouse/Southwest 6th and Pioneer Place/Southwest 5th stations. A wye connects the tracks near the intersection of Northwest 5th Avenue and Hoyt Street.
The line continues east onto the Northwest Glisan Street Ramp where the tracks join the Eastside MAX alignment and then cross the Willamette River via the Steel Bridge. From here, the Green Line serves the Banfield segment of the Eastside MAX between Rose Quarter Transit Center and Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center.
Beyond Gateway Transit Center, the Green Line proceeds south, entering the I-205 MAX extension just east of I-205. Throughout most of this stretch, the line is grade-separated as part of the I-205 busway, running either above or below roadway intersections. The exception is an at-grade crossing at Southeast Flavel Street. Much of this segment also parallels the I-205 Bike Path. Between Southeast Lincoln and Grant streets, the tracks enter a tunnel beneath the freeway, exiting on the opposite side just north of Southeast Division Street. Above Johnson Creek Boulevard, it travels on a 1,400-foot (430 m)-long overpass, the extension's longest elevated structure. South of Southeast Fuller Road station, the line dips under the Otty Road and Monterey Avenue overpasses before terminating at Clackamas Town Center Transit Center near Southeast Sunnyside Road.
The Green Line shares the northbound segment of the Portland Transit Mall with the Yellow Line, which diverges for Expo Center station in North Portland after crossing the Steel Bridge. It shares the southbound segment with the Orange Line, which continues beyond PSU South/Southwest 5th and Jackson station for Southeast Park Avenue station near Milwaukie. The Green Line also shares a portion of the Eastside MAX with Blue and Red lines between Rose Quarter Transit Center and Gateway Transit Center.

### Stations

The I-205/Portland Mall project added 20 new stations to the MAX system upon completion in September 2009: 12 one-way pairs along the Portland Transit Mall and eight stations along I-205. In September 2012, the PSU South stations on the southern end of the transit mall were infilled. The Green Line serves all 22 stations in addition to eight others, a total of 30 stations.
The eight additional stations, from Rose Quarter Transit Center to Gateway Transit Center, are part of the Eastside MAX segment, where the Green Line interlines with the Blue and Red lines. Along the transit mall, the Green Line also interlines with the Yellow Line southbound and the Orange Line northbound, thus making it the only service that shares its alignment with all of the other MAX services. The Green Line also facilitates connections with local and intercity bus services at various stops across the line, the Portland Streetcar at four stops in and near downtown Portland, and Amtrak at Union Station.
Key :
| Icon | Purpose |
| † | Terminus |
| → | Clackamas-bound travel only |
| ← | City Center-bound travel only |
List of MAX Green Line stations :
| Station | Location | Commenced | Line transfers | Other connections and notes |
| PSU South/Southwest 6th and College†→ | Portland Transit Mall | September 2, 2012 | | Serves Portland State University |
| PSU South/Southwest 5th and Jackson†← | Portland Transit Mall | September 2, 2012 | | Serves Portland State University |
| PSU Urban Center/Southwest 6th & Montgomery→ | Portland Transit Mall | September 12, 2009 | | Portland Streetcar Serves Portland State University |
| PSU Urban Center/Southwest 5th & Mill← | Portland Transit Mall | September 12, 2009 | | Portland Streetcar Serves Portland State University |
| Southwest 6th & Madison→ | Portland Transit Mall | September 12, 2009 | | Serves Portland City Hall |
| City Hall/Southwest 5th & Jefferson← | Portland Transit Mall | September 12, 2009 | | Serves Portland City Hall |
| Pioneer Courthouse/Southwest 6th→ | Portland Transit Mall | September 12, 2009 | | Serves Pioneer Courthouse, Pioneer Courthouse Square |
| Pioneer Place/Southwest 5th← | Portland Transit Mall | September 12, 2009 | | Serves Pioneer Courthouse, Pioneer Courthouse Square |
| Southwest 6th & Pine→ | Portland Transit Mall | September 12, 2009 | | — |
| Southwest 5th & Oak← | Portland Transit Mall | September 12, 2009 | | — |
| Northwest 6th & Davis→ | Portland Transit Mall | September 12, 2009 | | — |
| Northwest 5th & Couch← | Portland Transit Mall | September 12, 2009 | | — |
| Union Station/Northwest 6th & Hoyt→ | Portland Transit Mall | September 12, 2009 | | Amtrak Greyhound, POINT, TCTD Serves Portland Union Station |
| Union Station/Northwest 5th & Glisan← | Portland Transit Mall | September 12, 2009 | | Amtrak Greyhound, POINT, TCTD Serves Portland Union Station |
| Rose Quarter Transit Center | Portland | September 12, 2009 | | C-Tran Serves Rose Quarter |
| Convention Center | Portland | September 12, 2009 | | Portland Streetcar Serves Oregon Convention Center |
| Northeast 7th Avenue | Portland | September 12, 2009 | | Portland Streetcar |
| Lloyd Center/Northeast 11th Avenue | Portland | September 12, 2009 | | — |
| Hollywood/Northeast 42nd Avenue | Portland | September 12, 2009 | | — |
| Northeast 60th Avenue | Portland | September 12, 2009 | | — |
| Northeast 82nd Avenue | Portland | September 12, 2009 | | — |
| Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center | Portland | September 12, 2009 | | Columbia Area Transit |
| Southeast Main Street | Portland | September 12, 2009 | — | — |
| Southeast Division Street | Portland | September 12, 2009 | — | — |
| Southeast Powell Boulevard | Portland | September 12, 2009 | — | — |
| Southeast Holgate Boulevard | Portland | September 12, 2009 | — | — |
| Lents Town Center/Southeast Foster Road | Portland | September 12, 2009 | — | — |
| Southeast Flavel Street | Portland | September 12, 2009 | — | — |
| Southeast Fuller Road | Clackamas | September 12, 2009 | — | — |
| Clackamas Town Center Transit Center† | Clackamas | September 12, 2009 | — | — |

## Service

TriMet designates the Green Line as a "Frequent Service" route. Green Line trains operate on weekdays from 3:20 am to 1:10 am the next day and on weekends from 4:15 am to 1:10 am. Service runs every 15 minutes during most of the day, but frequency is reduced to 30 minutes during late, off-peak hours. End-to-end travel from Clackamas Town Center Transit Center to the PSU South stations takes 50 minutes. Some morning PSU-bound trains become Orange Line trains from Union Station, while some morning Clackamas-bound trains start off as Blue Line trains and turn into Green Line trains at Gateway Transit Center. Additionally, some evening eastbound trains turn into Blue Line trains at Rose Quarter Transit Center.

### Ridership

The Green Line averaged 13,030 riders in September 2024, the third busiest in the MAX system. Before the start of construction, a PSU study estimated the Green Line would carry 46,500 riders by 2025. TriMet had projected an average of 25,250 riders on weekdays for the first year, but fewer people than expected actually rode the line on the first weekday service. By the following month, TriMet had recorded approximately 17,000 trips per day. The average daily ridership in June 2010 was 19,500, increasing to 24,300 by April 2012.
In September 2019, the Green Line was the third-busiest MAX service with an average weekday ridership of 19,160, 1,480 fewer riders than the previous year. The drop in ridership—experienced systemwide—is attributed to crime and lower-income riders being forced out of the inner city by rising housing prices.

## Explanatory notes

* ↑ Green Line service commenced on September 12, 2009, during the opening of the I-205 MAX segment. The Portland Mall segment, which was part of the project, opened earlier on August 30 with inaugural service from the Yellow Line.
* ↑ Green Line service includes a 6.7-mile (10.8 km) segment of the Eastside MAX along the Banfield Freeway between the Steel Bridge and Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center.
* ↑ The second phase of the South Corridor Transportation Project was the Portland–Milwaukie Light Rail Project (MAX Orange Line).
* ↑ This list of service connections excludes TriMet bus connections. For a complete list that includes all transfers, see: List of MAX Light Rail stations.