Portland International Airport station


Portland International Airport is a light rail station in Portland, Oregon, United States, that is served by TriMet's MAX Light Rail system. It serves Portland International Airport and is the eastern terminus of the Red Line, which connects travelers to Portland City Center and Beaverton. The station, which is located near the southern end of the arrivals hall of the airport's main passenger terminal, consists of a wedge-shaped island platform, just beyond which both tracks join because the section approaching the terminal is single-tracked. In late 2018, the station recorded an average of 2,461 weekday boardings.
Portland International Airport station was built as part of the Airport MAX project, which extended light rail service to the airport with the construction of a four-station, branch line of MAX near Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center. Construction of the station began in July 2000 and it opened on September 10, 2001. Trains serve the station for 22 hours daily; there are minimum headways of 15 minutes during most of the day. TriMet provides a 24-hour service to the airport with supplementary bus route 272–PDX Night Bus to Southeast Portland that runs when the light rail line is not operating.

History

TriMet had served Portland International Airport with bus routes since 1970, notably with route 12–Sandy Boulevard since 1986. Metro planners first proposed building an airport light rail line in 1987. These early plans envisioned the line to run from Clackamas to the airport via Interstate 205 using rights-of-way provided by the I-205 Transitway, which had been built in 1982 to accommodate mass transit. In 1991, the Port of Portland adopted a multi-phased, $300 million airport expansion plan to address expected passenger traffic growth through 2010. The project raised the capacity of the main terminal and its concourses over a 20-year period and provisioned for a future light rail station near the arrivals hall. By 1994, travelers using the airport had risen by 34 percent within four years, far exceeding the Port's expectations. Port officials, struggling to meet the surge in demand, moved to accelerate airport light rail plans, which regional planners had not anticipated until the late 2000s. TriMet had also aimed to complete the Westside MAX and the South–North Line beforehand.
In 1996, construction and engineering firm Bechtel approached the Port with an unsolicited proposal to build the airport line. After negotiations between Bechtel, the Port, and local jurisdictions, Bechtel was granted the design–build contract for the extension in exchange for development rights to the Portland International Center, the largest commercially zoned property in Portland at the time. Bechtel later renamed this property Cascade Station. The Port projected the airport terminal station to cost $8.4 million and allocated a $3 ticket fee to fund its construction. Delta Airlines, Reno Air, and United Airlines protested the use of ticket fees but the Federal Aviation Administration gave its approval in May 1999. Construction of the line commenced in June 1999. Hoffman Construction began building the station's platform in July 2000 and by August, Stacy and Witbeck crews had started to lay of rail along the segment closest to the terminal.
On September 10, 2001, the station opened along with the entire Airport MAX extension that introduced Red Line service between downtown Portland and the airport. Celebrations planned for the following weekend were canceled following the September 11 attacks and the airport was closed for three days. Planners projected single-car trains to initially serve Portland International Airport station but TriMet deployed two-car consists on the line after recording 3,800 riders over Thanksgiving weekend in November 2001. In September 2003, TriMet extended Red Line service farther west using the existing Westside MAX tracks to Beaverton Transit Center. This was done in an effort to provide a one-seat ride to the airport for westside riders. In 2006, the station handled more than one million passengers in a single year for the first time.
TriMet reintroduced bus service to the airport with the 272–PDX Night Bus route on September 2, 2018. The bus route runs in the late night and early morning hours when the Red Line is not operating. From March 29, 2020, Portland International Airport station will be closed through May 30, and again from August 30 to November 4, to make way for the expansion of the airport's Concourse B. During the closures, shuttle buses will carry riders from Mount Hood Avenue station to the passenger terminal. TriMet plans to utilize the closures to prepare for track improvements that will be part of the Better Red project.

Station details

Portland International Airport station's platform is situated outdoors on the lower level of the airport's main passenger terminal; it is near the southernmost entrance and within of the baggage claim area. The station consists of a wedge-shaped, at-grade island platform and a glass canopy that was designed by ZGF Architects, which also designed the airport terminal's main-entrance canopy. The 80-seat station lobby, which is located inside the terminal, has ticket vending machines and real-time displays showing train departure times. The station occupies the end of a single-track section of the MAX system; the only other such section on the network is located near Gateway/Northeast 99th Avenue Transit Center.

Public art

Pieces of public art commissioned for the Airport MAX project have a common theme of "flight". The station houses one art installation as part of TriMet's Public Art Program, which is funded at 1.5 percent of a project's total cost. Time Flies by Christine Bourdette is a large, porcelain enamel mural that is displayed on a wall between the station platform and the baggage claim area. The work is described as "a sequence of images related to time and motion". Bourdette also installed bronze rails that lead passengers from the escalators to the platform and blue chevrons on the platform pavement to depict movement.

Services

Portland International Airport station is served by TriMet's MAX Red Line, which connects the airport to Northeast Portland, Portland City Center, and central Beaverton. In late 2018, the station recorded an average of 2,461 boardings on weekdays. The day's first train arrives from Beaverton Transit Center. The last three westbound trips travel eastbound to Ruby Junction/East 197th Avenue station as through services of the Blue Line. Headway between trains varies from 15 minutes for most of the day to 30 minutes during the early mornings and late evenings. Services operate on all days of the week and are the most frequent on weekdays. Trains from the station take approximately 40 minutes to reach Pioneer Square in downtown Portland—where transfers to all lines are available—and approximately 65 minutes to reach the other end of the line at Beaverton Transit Center.
In the late evenings and early mornings when the Red Line is not operating, TriMet operates the 272–PDX Night Bus to provide a 24-hour service to the airport. The bus departs from the airport arrivals platform near the station once per hour and travels to Southeast Washington & 80th in Southeast Portland, running along much of Southeast 82nd Avenue. Riders continuing to downtown Portland may transfer to bus route 20–Burnside/Stark, which also runs on a 24-hour schedule.