A and B Loop

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A and B Loop

A streetcar operating the B Loop route crossing the Broadway Bridge

in 2016

Overview

Portland Streetcar Loop Project[1][2]

Other name(s)
Central Loop Line (2012–2015)

Status Operational

Owner City of Portland

Locale Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Stations 52

Service

Type Streetcar

System Portland Streetcar

Services 2

Operator(s) Portland Streetcar, Inc.

TriMet

Daily ridership A Loop: 1,541

 B Loop: 1,369
(Weekday, August 2022)[3]

History

Opened September 22, 2012; 10 years ago

Technical

Line length A Loop: 6.1 mi (9.8 km)

B Loop: 6.6 mi (10.6 km)

Character At-grade (mixed between street running and

exclusive lane) and elevated[4]: 17 

Track gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

Electrification Overhead line, 750 V DC

show
Route diagram

The A and B Loop is a streetcar circle route of the Portland Streetcar system

in Portland, Oregon, United States. Operated by Portland Streetcar, Inc. and TriMet, it
consists of two services within the Central City that travel a loop between the east and
west sides of the Willamette River by crossing the Broadway Bridge in the north
and Tilikum Crossing in the south: the 6.1-mile (9.8 km) A Loop, which runs clockwise,
and the 6.6-mile (10.6 km) B Loop, which runs counterclockwise. The services connect
Portland's downtown, Pearl District, Lloyd District, Central Eastside, and South
Waterfront, and serve various landmarks and institutions, including the Rose Quarter,
the Oregon Convention Center, the Oregon Museum of Science and
Industry (OMSI), Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), and Portland State
University (PSU). Riders can transfer to the regional MAX Light Rail system at several
points along the route.
Portland city officials considered an eastside streetcar extension upon authorizing
the Central City Streetcar project on the west side in 1997. After several years of
planning, the Portland Streetcar Loop Project was approved and held its
groundbreaking in 2009. Its first 3.3 miles (5.3 km) opened between the Broadway
Bridge and OMSI on September 22, 2012, inaugurated by the Central Loop Line (CL
Line) service, which ran additionally on the westside along 10th and 11th avenues. The
opening of Tilikum Crossing in 2015 extended the eastside streetcar from OMSI to the
South Waterfront; this completed the loop and rebranded the CL Line to A and B Loop.

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Planning
 o 1.2Funding and construction
o 1.3Opening and closing the loop
o 1.4Impact and later developments
 2Service
o 2.1Ridership
o 2.2Route
o 2.3Stations
 3References
 4External links

History
Planning

The Broadway Bridge in 2009, prior to the installation of streetcar tracks

In 1990, a citizen advisory committee convinced the Portland City Council to move

forward with a plan for a streetcar (then referred to as "trolley") network in downtown
Portland, in accordance with the 1988 Central City Plan. [5][6] After years of planning, the
city council authorized the Central City Streetcar project in July 1997. By that time,
discussions to expand streetcar service east of the Willamette River had also begun,
and $200,000 was allocated to strengthen the outer lanes of the Hawthorne Bridge, with
expectations that it would carry a future line between OMSI and the Oregon Convention
Center, as proposed by the Buckman Neighborhood Association. [7] The Hawthorne
Bridge closed in March 1998 and reopened in April 1999 with the outer-lane decks
rebuilt to accommodate notches for future rails.[8][9] In July 2001, the Lloyd District
Development Strategy proposed a separate plan that envisioned a Lloyd District transit
hub, with modern streetcars complementing existing bus and MAX Light Rail service;
[10]
 it suggested running streetcar lines on Broadway and Weidler streets through to the
west side via the Broadway Bridge,[11][12] which had carried streetcars from 1913 to 1940.
[13]

In February 2003,[14][15] Portland Streetcar officials, amid TriMet (Portland's regional

transit agency) plans to construct a new Willamette River bridge as part of the Portland–
Milwaukie Light Rail Project,[16] proposed an inner eastside loop route using the
Broadway Bridge and TriMet's planned bridge (instead of the Hawthorne Bridge).
Meanwhile, an advisory committee composed of eastside residents urged streetcar
planners to extend the proposed Broadway–Weidler alignment farther east up to 21st
Avenue.[14][15] The city council adopted the Eastside Streetcar Alignment Study that June.
[17]
 The study outlined a westside–eastside streetcar project that ran from the existing
streetcar tracks in the Pearl District, across the Broadway Bridge to the Lloyd District,
then south along Grand Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Hawthorne
Boulevard. A southern crossing back to the west side depended upon whether the new
TriMet bridge would be constructed, leaving that section undetermined at the time. [15][18] In
2008, the Portland–Milwaukie project steering committee selected a locally preferred
alternative that included a new river crossing between the South Waterfront and OMSI
near Caruthers Street;[19] this led to a decision to build the first phase of the eastside
streetcar 3.3 miles (5.3 km) up to OMSI (farther south from Hawthrone Boulevard) until
the new bridge could be completed, after which the streetcar would cross the bridge
back to the west side and form a complete loop.[20][21]
Funding and construction

Unveiling of the United Streetcar 10T3 prototype in July 2009

Metro, the Portland metropolitan area's regional government, approved the eastside

streetcar extension with the selection of a locally preferred alternative on July 20, 2006,
[22][23]
 that the city council adopted in September 2007. [24] The total cost of the project,
including the cost to purchase additional vehicles, amounted to $148.8 million.[4]: 
19 
 Portland allocated $27 million of city funds,[24] and $20 million from the state,
$15.5 million from a local improvement district, and a combination of various other local
or regional sources completed the locally sourced funding. [25] On April 30, 2009, U.S.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced $75 million in federal funding for the
project, the full amount that was requested.[26] It was the first streetcar project to receive
funding under the Small Starts program in part due to the Obama administration's
departure from the practices of the Bush administration, which had awarded the funding
to projects based on speed across long routes. [27] The Small Starts allocation, secured in
large part through the efforts of U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Peter
DeFazio of Oregon, was the largest and final component of the financing plan and
meant the project could proceed with construction. [26][28]
In January 2007, Oregon Iron Works was awarded a $4 million contract to locally
produce a streetcar prototype as provided by the Transportation Equity Act of 2005.[29]
[30]
 On July 1, 2009, its subsidiary, United Streetcar, unveiled the first prototype in
Portland;[31] it was the first U.S.-built streetcar in nearly 60 years. [32][33] That August, the
city signed a $20 million contract to purchase six new vehicles from United Streetcar for
the eastside extension.[34] In July 2011, the city council agreed to contractual changes
that reduced the number of streetcars on order from six to five due to unanticipated
costs related to production.[35] United Streetcar had relied on Czech streetcar
manufacturer Škoda, which built the Portland Streetcar's first vehicles, to provide the
propulsion system that eventually failed acceptance testing. Project officials
subsequently opted to source the propulsion system from Austrian manufacturer Elin,
which necessitated changes to the streetcar design to accommodate a different form
factor. The changes led to higher costs and delayed the project for five months. [36]
Groundbreaking for the Portland Streetcar Loop Project took place on June 25, 2009.
[37]
 Portland awarded the building contract to Stacy and Witbeck,[38] and construction
began in August.[39] For the project route along city streets, crews laid tracks in three-to-
four-block increments,[40] with each segment completed every four weeks. Excavation for
the trackbed was eight feet (2.4 m) wide and 14 to 18 inches (36 to 46 cm) deep.
[1]
 Workers closed the Broadway Bridge for renovation from July to September 2010. [41]
[42]
 To maintain the existing weight of the bridge after adding tracks, which was
necessary to allow it to continue lifting its spans, workers replaced the deck with
lighter fiber-reinforced concrete.[43][44] In the Pearl District, sections of what had been two
bidirectional streets—Lovejoy and Northrup—were converted into one-way streets after
rail was installed. The Lovejoy ramp on the west end of the Broadway Bridge reopened
to traffic in November 2010.[45] In Southeast Portland, workers built a 425-foot (130 m)
bridge that carried the streetcar from Southeast Stephens Street to the project's eastern
terminus at OMSI.[46] The extension's overhead lines went live in April 2012, and testing
continued through to opening day.[47]
Opening and closing the loop

A CL Line vehicle bound for OMSI on Northeast 7th Avenue in 2014

The 28-station,[4]: 17  3.3-mile (5.3 km) eastside extension opened on September 22, 2012.

[39][48]
 Portland Streetcar formed a new service called the "Central Loop Line" (CL Line)
and renamed the original service on the west side the "North South Line" (NS Line).
[49]
 The CL Line operated the eastside extension and ran additionally on the west side via
10th and 11th avenues for a total of 4.5 miles (7.2 km);[4]: 19  it overlapped with the NS
Line between Southwest Market Street and Northwest Northrup Street. [50] Service along
the eastside segment commenced with frequencies of 18 minutes instead of 15 minutes
(or 12 minutes as initially planned)[51] due to funding cuts by the city and TriMet, [52] and
delivery delays from United Streetcar.[53] The delays additionally forced Portland
Streetcar to deploy its entire fleet of 11 cars and operate without a spare. Local
publications highlighted the resulting infrequent service and criticized the streetcar's
reliability and slow speed.[51][52] Joseph Rose, writing for The Oregonian, called the
streetcar the "Stumptown Slug" after he traveled quicker from OMSI to Powell's City of
Books on foot.[54] The first new streetcar finally arrived in January 2013 and entered
service on June 11.[55] Fares were $1 upon opening due to TriMet's discontinuation of
the Free Rail Zone, which had allowed free use of the Portland Streetcar system. [56]
[57]
 TriMet had intended to cut service on bus route 6–ML King Jr Blvd, which ran
alongside the eastside tracks, but increased service instead after interviewing riders. [51]

A streetcar on Tilikum Crossing in 2015

The second phase of the Portland Streetcar Loop Project, referred to as "Close the
Loop",[58] which was later changed to "Complete the Loop",[59] extended the streetcar
tracks from OMSI across the Willamette River to the South Waterfront.[58][60] This phase
had awaited the Portland–Milwaukie project's new river crossing, [50] which finally began
construction in 2011.[61] The project had a total cost of $6.7 million and
included automatic train stop upgrades.[62] Construction of the streetcar components
started in August 2013 with the installation of a turning loop on the intersection of
Southeast Stephens Street, Grand Avenue, and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
[63]
 From September to October that year, crews expanded the SE Water/OMSI streetcar
platform and installed the streetcar-track connection with the new bridge. Shuttle
buses carried riders in sections where the streetcar tracks were temporarily closed.
[64]
 From June 26 to August 17, 2015, CL Line service ceased operating as part of
Multnomah County's closure of the Broadway Bridge to make way for repainting. [65]
On August 30, 2015, a new temporary schedule eliminated the name CL Line in favor of
two separately named routes: "A Loop" and "B Loop". A Loop and B Loop took over the
CL Line route and were further extended on the west side via existing tracks from
Southwest 10th and Market streets in downtown Portland to Southwest Moody and
Meade streets in the South Waterfront. Streetcars began crossing the new bridge,
which by then was named "Tilikum Crossing", but without carrying passengers across it,
during a two-week transitional "pre-revenue service" phase. [66] The CL Line was formally
re-branded as the "A and B Loop" on September 12, 2015, [67] when Tilikum Crossing
opened to the public and began permitting streetcars to carry passengers on the route
section across the bridge.[68][69]
Impact and later developments
Portland city and streetcar officials have credited the eastside extension with
encouraging development along and near its route; they have claimed that major
redevelopment projects in the Lloyd District,[70] including years-long efforts by Metro to
build a convention center hotel,[71][72] began or were announced after the extension had
started construction.[70] In 2013, Hassalo on Eighth broke ground at the Lloyd 700
"superblock", where the eastside extension was deliberately routed to support
redevelopment.[73] OMSI began pursuing redevelopment plans for its location in
Southeast Portland in 2008. Days before the eastside extension's opening, OMSI's
senior vice president stated that the streetcar's presence "will be an important element
in the development of the lower eastside".[70][74] In December 2021, OMSI submitted a
formal proposal to the city for the "OMSI District", which plans to develop 10 city blocks
into mixed-use buildings and includes up to 1,200 new housing units. [75] A study
published for the Transportation Research Record in 2018 noted that observed stations
along the CL Line increased employment around their areas by 22 percent, compared
to just eight percent by Multnomah County, between 2006 and 2013.[76]
In February 2020, the Portland City Council adopted the Rose Lane Project in an effort
to improve bus and streetcar travel times within the city. [77][78] The ongoing project aims to
create red-painted dedicated lanes, remove or restrict on-street parking, and
implement traffic-signal priority for buses and streetcars.[79] That October, the Portland
Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) launched the MLK/Grand Transit Improvements
project, a complement to the Rose Lane Project that added red lanes to the streetcar
alignment on Grand Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. [80] Work started on
October 7 and was completed after four weeks.[81]
In April 2022, the City of Portland filed a lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit
Court against TriMet and Stacy and Witbeck for negligence and breach of contract. The
city alleged that TriMet failed to oversee the contractor, whose workers, in turn, failed to
"perform the work in a professional and workmanlike manner", in the construction of an
elevated section of the streetcar near OMSI after cracked walls and foundational flaws
were discovered. The city is seeking $10 million from the defendants for the cost of
repairs.[82][83]

Service
Oregon Convention Center station

NE 7th & Holladay station

As of January 2022, the A and B Loop operates from 5:30 am to 11:30 pm on

weekdays, from 7:30 am to 11:30 pm on Saturdays, and from 7:30 am to 10:30 pm on
Sundays. Headways in each direction range from 15 minutes between 10:00 am and
7:00 pm on weekdays and Saturdays to 20 minutes for all other times. Traveling a
complete loop in either direction takes just under one hour. [84]
Ridership
In August 2022, the A Loop carried an average of 1,541 riders on weekdays while the B
Loop carried 1,369 riders.[3] Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted public
transit ridership globally, the route had served significantly more riders; the A and B
Loop carried 3,612 and 3,064, respectively, on weekdays in September 2019. [85] During
the first two weeks from opening, about 3,200 riders used the eastside extension per
day on weekdays, 1,700 fewer riders than what the westside line recorded when it
opened.[86] Six months later, PBOT reported the streetcar collected only 55 percent of its
expected fares; PBOT had projected fare revenues of $1 million annually, which would
have resulted in an 11-percent farebox recovery ratio of its $8.9 million operating
expenses.[87]
Forecasts used to help justify federal funding for the Portland Streetcar Loop Project
predicted 8,100 average weekday trips during the first operating year, while an
alternative forecasting method predicted 3,900 average weekday trips for the same
period. The FTA recorded an actual usage of 2,500 average weekday trips for the first
year. Analysis attributed the lower-than-anticipated ridership to less frequent service
than planned (15-minute actual headways versus the planned 12 minutes) and
overstated projections for the number of commuters transferring from outside the
Central City.[4]: 20–22  The overall system set a ridership record in February 2017; that year
saw ridership increase by 10 percent, mostly along the eastside. The streetcar set
another record in April 2018, when the A and B Loop recorded 7,424 riders per day on
weekdays.[88]
Route
The A and B Loop is a circle route that runs across subdistricts contained within
Portland's Central City,[89] namely downtown Portland, Pearl District, Lloyd
District, Central Eastside, and South Waterfront.[90] It consists of two services that for a
majority of the route operate in a one-way pair: the 6.1-mile (9.8 km) A Loop, which
runs clockwise, and the 6.6-mile (10.6 km) B Loop, which runs counterclockwise.
[91]
 From Southwest Market Street, the route travels north through downtown Portland to
the Pearl District via 10th and 11th avenues. It turns east on Northwest 10th and
Lovejoy towards the Broadway Bridge and crosses the Willamette River. [90] After the
bridge, the tracks traverse Broadway and Weidler streets. The B Loop then turns right
onto Northeast Grand Avenue, while the A Loop turns right on Northeast 7th Avenue,
left on Oregon street, and another left onto Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The lines
reconnect at a turning loop on Southeast Stephens Street and enter an overpass at
Harrison Street, which carries the route to OMSI. [50][90][92]
From OMSI, the streetcar tracks connect with the MAX tracks just west of
the OMSI/Southeast Water MAX station as they approach Tilikum Crossing to cross the
river back to the west side.[93][94] They split at the four-track South Waterfront/South
Moody MAX station, where the streetcar tracks run in the middle of the station's island
platforms but don’t stop at the station.[95] The route connects with the westside streetcar
alignment on Southwest Moody Avenue then heads north towards RiverPlace. The
tracks turn left on Southwest River Parkway, right on 4th Avenue, left on Montgomery
Street, and split again on 5th Avenue. From the intersection of Southwest Montgomery
and 5th, the A Loop crosses PSU's Urban Plaza diagonally for Mill Street, while the B
Loop turns right onto 5th Avenue. The A Loop returns to Southwest 10th Avenue from
Mill Street, while the B Loop turns left onto Market Street and proceeds until it returns to
11th Avenue.[90]