TriMet has begun two weeks of construction along the MAX Blue Line east of the Gateway/NE 99th Ave Transit Center. Monday, April 28, is the first weekday of the East Burnside MAX Improvements Project, and MAX Blue Line riders in East Portland and Gresham will use shuttle buses instead of MAX trains to travel between the closed stations. They can check travel times by going to trimet.org/planner.
Shuttle buses between the Gateway Transit Center and the Cleveland Ave MAX Station depart about every 10 minutes, but due to limited bus space, they may fill up more quickly than a MAX train would. TriMet encourages riders to plan an extra 30 minutes for their trips.
During the first week of construction, April 27-May 3, shuttle buses will serve closed stations between the Gateway/NE 99th Ave Transit Center and the Cleveland Ave MAX Station. During the second week, the disruption will be shortened, and shuttle buses will serve stations between E 172nd Ave and Cleveland Ave.
- Crews will make three significant improvements during the project:
- Replace about 8,000 feet of contact wire, the power source that feeds electricity to MAX trains
- Install a new contact wire tensioning system to help keep trains moving when temperatures soar above 90 degrees, causing the wires to sag
- Replace the heavily used rail crossing at Northwest Eleven Mile Avenue
Additionally, crews will replace some track and rail ties and deep clean stations during construction.
Source: TriMet