Portland Aerial Tram

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The Portland Aerial Tram is an aerial tramway under construction in Portland, Oregon. It will connect the city's South Waterfront area with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and the Marquam Hill neighborhood surrounding the university, and introduce yet another mode of transportation in Portland. A schedule described in October 2005 by the project's manager as "extremely tight" has the tram complete by December 1, 2006. Its costs, estimated at $15 million in 2003, reached an estimated $55 million as of February 2006.

The tram will travel a horizontal distance of 3300 feet in a ride planned to last two minutes, 40 seconds. Its upper terminal will be adjacent to OHSU, 140 feet above grade, and connected to the ninth floor of a new patient care facility on the university's campus. Its lower terminal in the South Waterfront will be the focal point for a mass transit center and development in the surrounding area by OHSU and others.

A single tower will support the tram's cables between the two terminals, allowing the tram to rise 500 feet over Interstate 5.

The tram cabins are shaped and painted to look like "bubbles floating through the sky"; the surface of the cabins will reflect and refract light, minimizing their visual impact to the neighborhood underneath. The cabins will be designed to limit passenger's view of the Lair Hill neighborhood below.

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Early history

In late 2001, OHSU purchased property in the South Waterfront area, with plans to expand there. After studying several ways, including shuttle buses, gondolas and even funiculars, to connect OHSU's primary campus with this area of planned expansion, the university decided to ask for city support of an aerial tram.

In early 2002, Portland Aerial Transportation, Inc. (PATI) was formed as a non-profit board. One of its first public actions was to request the Portland Office of Transportation, also known as PDOT (sic), to undertake an independent analysis of the connectivity options considered earlier by the university and its development supporters. In May, the city council accepted PDOT's process proposal and also accepted PATI as the project sponsor. PDOT undertook an assessment, which led to the same conclusion OHSU had reached earlier: an aerial tram was the preferred approach. PDOT also recommended a second tram linking the Marquam Hill area with a nearby transit center on Barbur Boulevard. The city council accepted PDOT's recommendations and asked PDOT and PATI to proceed to the design phase, including a design competition. Both were also asked to work with residents of the affected neighborhoods to identify any ways to mitigate the tram's impact and identify other desired neighborhood improvements which should accompany the project.

The design competition started out by identifying four firms which would participate in the contest. The competition officially began in January 2003, with firms from New York City, Amsterdam, and Los Angeles/Zurich as finalists. The winner, the firm from Los Angeles/Zurich (Angélil / Graham / Pfenninger / Scholl), was announced on March 26. The construction estimates at that time were $15.5 million. By November, PATI chose Doppelmayr CTEC, which built the Roosevelt Island Tramway, to design, fabricate and install the tram. The first public review of the project's status was held in November.

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Cost estimates rise

In April 2004, the second public review was held, to present the projects recommendations prior to a May review by the city council. The costs by then were estimated to be $28.5 million.

In March 2005, the price was readjusted upwards. The new cost was $34.2 million, with a construction delay of six months. Higher steel costs, a weakening dollar, and engineering modifications are blamed for these changes.

Construction began in August 2005; by October, The Oregonian was reporting that steel costs had led to bids pushing the project's price (with contingency funds) to $45 million. The increased cost is expected to be met through South Waterfront urban renewal contributions which would have otherwise been spent on streets and parks.

According to Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams, who inherited responsibility for the project midway, a cheaper alternative, which would have changed the tower's designs to a lattice style used in electrical transmission towers, is not being considered because the result would look like a "cheap ski lift at a bad ski resort" and leave the city with what Adams called an "ugly postcard" that could last 100 years.

The spiraling costs led to a month-long independent audit and risk assessment, which was published February 1, 2006, at a point where construction was over a third complete. While complimenting the tram as "a dramatic, one-of-a-kind facility that will become a Portland landmark," the report noted the design was difficult to construct, requiring the tall, thin, complex Tower and the tall, heavily loaded upper terminal to be built within very tight tolerances. Special risks cited include:

  • an extremely restricted site for construction of the upper terminal;
  • a complex, European mechanical/electrical system with a sophisticated American steel structure and infrastructure — the integration of the two has technical challenges and risks conflicts between the two business cultures and management procedures.
  • the need to install tramway cables over an interstate highway and two streets which are also state highways.

The audit/risk assessment increased the estimate of the final project cost to $55 million, which includes a $5 million contingency fund. This amount is after a $457,000 lower station shelter was eliminated.

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External status updates

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Other external links

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