A massive expansion of transit services on Southeast Division Street, a busy corridor connecting the cities of Gresham and Portland, is poised to begin.
TriMet, the transportation agency for the Portland region, officially received $87 million from the federal government Thursday to create a speedier bus service along the thoroughfare. That money will be pooled with an additional $87 million TriMet has secured from local governments and transportation agencies.
K. Jane Williams, the acting administrator for the Federal Transit Administration, stopped by Portland Thursday to award the check.
Now that the agency has the funds in hand, Roberta Altstadt, a spokesperson for TriMet, says, after five years of planning, the agency’s set to start constructing new bus platforms for the route in the next week.
By the fall of 2022, Alstad says Portlanders can expect to see a new fleet of 60-foot buses chugging along Division Street. These buses will run often — every 12 minutes at most — and will move along new bus lanes for a portion of the journey. Riders can board on doors in the back of the bus to create quicker stops.
The agency anticipates these changes to cut bus riders’ travel times by one-fifth.
The project also promises new options for those moving down SE Division on a bike or on foot. These changes include new stretches of bike lanes and sidewalks, freshly marked crosswalks and redesigned bus platforms.
Altstadt said, at its core, the undertaking — officially called the Division Transit Project — is not just about making buses faster, but making commuters safer.
“This is not just a transit project,” she said. “It is a major safety project, especially along Outer Division, where there have been fatalities. … It’s really going to transform the whole street and make it a much more safe and comfortable place to walk and ride and be.”