Washington County commissioners hear TriMet, Metro briefing on TV Highway locally preferred alternative

TriMet and Metro officials on Feb. 11 presented the Washington County Board of Commissioners with a locally preferred alternative (LPA) for the TV Highway Transit and Safety Project, a proposed bus rapid transit corridor that project staff estimate would cost about $300,000,000 and put higher-quality stations, crossings and zero-emission buses along Line 57 between Beaverton Transit Center and Forest Grove.

The presentation described the project as a safety and reliability upgrade for a corridor TriMet staff said has among the region's highest pedestrian crash rates and is the highest-ridership TriMet bus line in Washington County. "It's the highest ridership in Washington County with over 6,000 riders a day," Metro principal regional planner Jess Sadev said.

Why it matters: Project managers said the LPA is sized to be eligible for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Small Starts program, which the presenters said can provide up to $150,000,000 in federal funds. Project staff told commissioners they need local partners to commit a combined $100,000,000 to leverage federal funding and to support a $50,000,000 request to the state in lottery-backed bonds. Washington County staff told the board the county's planned contribution is $12,000,000, to be repurposed from previously set-aside local funds.

What the LPA…