Portland is a PR machine for light rail & streetcar

Here are Some Facts About Portland Oregon          

The Cost of Light Rail Including the Local Matching Dollars

MAX construction costs rounded to whole number of millions of dollars:

Data sources

Interstate MAX: http://trimet.org/about/history/yellowline.htm

Opened: May 1, 2004; Cost: $350 million; Federal Transit Administration: 74%

Airport MAX: http://trimet.org/about/history/redline.htm

Opened: Sept. 10, 2001; Cost: $125 million; no federal dollars

Westside MAX: Blue Line http://trimet.org/about/history/westblueline.htm

Opened: Sept. 12, 1998; Cost: $963 million; Federal Transit Administration: 73%

Eastside MAX: Blue Line http://trimet.org/about/history/eastblueline.htm

Opened: Sept 5, 1986; Cost: $214 million; Federal Transit Administration: 83%

Green Line MAX: http://trimet.org/about/history/greenline.htm

Opened: Sept 12, 2009; Cost: $575.7 million; Federal Transit Administration: 72%

Consumer Price Index from:

http://inflationdata.com/inflation/Consumer_Price_Index/HistoricalCPI.aspx?rsCPI_currentPage=0

Explanation of the above columns

MAX Line.Trimet Light Rail Line

Cost $.........Trimet's stated cost from the Trimet web site from links stated above.

Fed %.........Trimet's stated Federal percentage of the cost from the listed Trimet web site link.

Fed $..........Federal contribution to the LRT line calculated from the Fed %

Local..........The local portion of the cost (Cost-Fed $)

Opened.......Trimet's stated opening date.

CPI.............Consumer Price Index

ratio............Ration of CPI to inflation adjust all earlier lines to date of the most recent line

Cost $.........Inflation adjusted cost

Fed $..........Inflation adjusted Federal dollars

Lcl $...........Inflation adjusted local dollars

Calculation:

$829 million local match x 0.0804 amortization factor for LRT = $66.65 million annual cost.

For comparison:

The cost of the lowest cost bus line (the kind of line Trimet replaces with LRT): $0.34

The cost of driving a car: $0.254

Local cost of MAX Construction

(costs from Trimet with inflation adjustment)