Portland balances freight movement, livability

Portland balances freight movement, livability    The Port of Portland could be a case study in how maritime engines of commerce are trying to minimize the impact of their industrial footprint to better coexist with citizens in nearby communities.
   Several projects on the drawing board would improve the efficiency of port tenants and quality of life for the city, which prides itself on its transit system, bike paths, parks and sustainable development.
   One of the projects involves realigning a freight railroad track to mitigate train horn noise and separate road-rail traffic in the St. Johns-Cathedral Park neighborhoods.
   The goal is to move the track out of the middle of the street and erect crossing arms so trains serving the Toyota auto processing facility on Terminal 4 and other manufacturers don't have to blow their horns at every cross street, said Scott Drumm, manager of research and strategic analysis for the port, during a session at the Transportation Research Board's annual conference in Washington late last month.
   Relocating about 1,800 feet of track will eliminate intersections so that both directions of parallel traffic are on one side of the track and can be used without having to cross the track. The change would also benefit industrial facilities in the area so that trucks serving them don't have to sit until the train clears, he said.
   Port officials believe that addressing community concerns is important to ensure that it doesn't lose the carmaker as a tenant in the future due to burdensome ordinances or other types of backlash, Drumm said.
   The port authority has been unsuccessful so far in obtaining local or federal grants to fund the project, he said. The project is ineligible for a state-level program that covers non-road infrastructure, lost out to a study for a pedestrian bridge in the city from the metropolitan planning commission, and didn't receive any stimulus funds from the $1 billion U.S. Department of Transportation TIGER I grant program designed to reward high-benefit intermodal or regional projects.
   Another unrealized priority for the port authority is to build a new access road to Interstate 84 from the 350-acre Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park that it owns. FedEx Ground opened a regional sort facility there last year.
   The street extension is needed, Drumm said, to shave a mile in each direction from the roundabout route between the park and the highway. The port is responsible for constructing the new road, but doesn't have the money at the moment.
   Port officials are concerned, Drumm said, that without a new connector road it will be difficult to attract manufacturing and logistics activities to the brownfield site, which is near the port and the Portland International Airport. Troutdale is one of the few industrial parcels within the metropolitan area that has available land and if companies establish facilities further out of town it will add more truck trips, congestion and diesel emissions, he added.
   Facilities that are built north of the Columbia River will also put more traffic on the congested Columbia River Crossing, an obsolete two-bridge lift span that the port, city and state officials are trying to replace.
   The port authority has also developed a truck strategy for the St. Johns district to help balance the needs of local residents and businesses that depend on trucks. The plan calls for traffic engineering measures such as upgraded traffic signals, improved turning radii, signs, curb extensions and other improvements designed to keep trucks on designated routes. ' Eric Kulisch