Metro will study MAX tunnel underneath downtown Portland and Willamette River

Metro and TriMet are taking concrete steps this summer to determine if it’s feasible to build a tunnel underneath downtown Portland and the Willamette River to speed up light rail trains and provide an alternative river crossing to the aging Steel Bridge.

The regional government quietly posted a new website this week dedicated to the MAX tunnel project, which would put MAX trains underground from roughly the Lloyd Center to Goose Hollow in Southwest Portland. The website includes a public survey asking for comments on the tunnel concept.

Right now, Metro officials stress they are just trying to study the idea, likening it to a plan for planning.

“The MAX Tunnel study is a feasibility exercise to determine what it would take to do the entire environmental (EIS) planning process and all the engineering and design necessary to build a project like this,” Eryn Kehe, a Metro spokeswoman, said in an email. “By this September when we finish this study, we should have a cost estimate for the planning/design process and an idea of how long it would take.”

Read more: https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/2019/06/metro-studies-max-tunnel-underneath-downtown-portland-and-willamette-river.html