Portland Aerial Tram Informations

The Portland Aerial Tram or OHSU Tram is an aerial tramway in Portland, Oregon, carrying commuters between the city's South Waterfront district and the main Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) campus, located in the Marquam Hill neighborhood. It is one of only two commuter aerial tramways in the United States, the other being New York City's Roosevelt Island Tramway. The tram travels a horizontal distance of 3,300 feet (1,000 m) and a vertical distance of 500 feet (152 m) in a ride that lasts three minutes.

The tram was jointly funded by OHSU, the City of Portland, and by South Waterfront property owners, with most of the funding coming from OHSU. It is owned by the city and operated by OHSU. While most passengers are affiliated with OHSU, it is open to the public and operated as part of Portland's public transportation network that includes the Portland Streetcar, MAX Light Rail, and TriMet buses. After opening in December 2006, the tram carried its one millionth passenger on October 17, 2007 and its ten millionth rider on January 8, 2014. A round-trip ticket costs $4.70 but is free for OHSU patients and certain visitors; OHSU employees and students ride free by showing their ID badges.

The tram cost $57 million to build—a nearly fourfold increase over initial cost estimates, which was one of several sources of controversy concerning the project.

The tram consists of two stations and a single intermediate tower. Two tram cars operate in a pendular mode on parallel track ropes and are pulled in unison by a haul rope which is driven by an engine at the lower terminal; when one car is at the upper terminal, the other is at the lower terminal, and vice versa. The lower station is located beside an OHSU facility in the South Waterfront neighborhood, adjacent to a stop on the Portland Streetcar line, which connects the South Waterfront neighborhood with downtown Portland.The upper station is located adjacent to OHSU Hospital, on the university's Marquam Hill campus. The two stations are exactly east and west of each other separated by a horizontal distance of 3,300 feet (5⁄8 mi; 1.0 km) and a vertical distance of 500 feet (152.4 m). The maximum vertical clearance between the tram and the ground is 175 feet (53.3 m).

The tram route crosses over Interstate 5 as well as major thoroughfares such as Barbur Boulevard, Oregon Route 10 (Naito Parkway), and Oregon Route 43 (Macadam Avenue). The intermediate tower is located east of Interstate 5 close to the South Waterfront station. As a result of this configuration, much of the journey is significantly elevated above the ground, making the tram easily visible for some distance, and providing tram riders with good views of the eastern metropolitan area and the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington. The alternative to riding the tram is via public roadways which require a 1.9-mile (3.1 km) route with numerous stoplights and intersections. This route includes a short stretch of busy U.S. Route 26, as well as twisty Sam Jackson Park Road which ascends the side of the Tualatin Mountains to the hospital campus.

The lower (South Waterfront) station houses the tram's engines in a reinforced concrete basement and also has ticketing facilities and the control room.

The upper station is a freestanding steel and concrete tower 140 feet (42.7 m) above grade and houses the tram's counterweight. It is structurally separate from nearby OHSU Hospital and connects to the hospital's ninth floor via a skybridge over SW Campus Drive, which winds through the middle of the University. Structural separation between the tram and the hospital is necessary to avoid vibrations from tram machinery interfering with delicate microsurgery performed in the hospital.

The 197-foot (60 m) intermediate tower allows the tram to gain elevation quickly once leaving the lower station to provide adequate clearance over Interstate 5. The tower is 22 feet (6.7 m) wide and 20 feet (6.1 m) long at its base, 8 by 8 feet (2.4 by 2.4 m) at its narrowest point—nearly two-thirds up the tower—and 32 by 8 feet (9.8 by 2.4 m) at the top. It rests on a pier cap 5 feet (1.52 m) thick supported by 35 piers. The tower was fabricated in nearby Vancouver, Washington, and barged in three pieces up the Willamette River.

Nearly 1,250 short tons (1,120 long tons; 1,130 metric tons) of steel and 450 short tons (400 long tons; 410 t) of concrete are in the two platforms and the intermediate tower; the lateral loads on the upper platform range from 500,000 to 800,000 pounds-force (2,200,000 to 3,600,000 newtons) or 250 to 400 short tons-force (2,200,000 to 3,600,000 newtons).

Each tram car travels on a pair of 2-inch (51 mm) steel track ropes, totaling four cables. The track ropes combined are tensioned at over one million pounds-force (4,400,000 N). A fifth cable—the haul rope—is a continuous loop which winds around the drive bullwheel at the lower station, connects to one car, winds through a counterweighted bullwheel at the upper station, then to the other car, before joining itself. The haul rope length is over 7,000 feet (2,134 m).

The tram cars each weigh approximately 12 short tons (10.7 long tons; 10.9 metric tons), with cabin dimensions of 25 by 11 feet (7.62 by 3.35 m). Each car has a capacity of over 13 short tons (11.6 long tons; 11.8 t) and there is sufficient room in the cabin for 78 passengers and one operator. The tram cars were built by Gangloff AG, of Bern in Switzerland, and were shaped and painted to look like the architectural firm's vision of "bubbles floating through the sky". The surface of the cabins reflects and refracts light, minimizing their visual impact to the neighborhood underneath. The north and south cars are named Jean and Walt, respectively, after Jean Richardson, the first female engineering graduate from Oregon State University, and Walt Reynolds, the first African-American to graduate from OHSU, then known as the University of Oregon Medical School.

The tram is propelled by three independent drive systems. The primary drive is a 450 kilowatts (600 hp) variable-frequency electric motor. Two hydrostatic diesel engines are also part of the design: one is a standby drive, permitting operation during a power outage; the other is an emergency evacuation drive. A 40-short-ton (35.7-long-ton; 36.3-metric-ton) counterweight offsets the weight of the cars. The tram is capable of operating at speeds up to 22 miles per hour (35 kilometers per hour)In addition to the redundant drive system, the tram has numerous other design features intended to ensure the safety of passengers and persons on the ground under its route. Communications systems permit the tram car operators to communicate with the control room. Automatic supervisory and control systems monitor the condition of the ropes and the drive systems. The tram was designed to safely operate in the earthquake-prone Pacific Northwest, with a structural design exceeding U.S earthquake standards, and operate in sustained winds of up to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h).

The tram operates from Monday through Friday from 5:30 AM to 9:30 PM and on Saturdays from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Pacific Time. The tram is closed on Sundays and major holidays, except afternoon summer Sunday service is available. The tram is free for OHSU employees, students, patients, and visitors. TriMet, C-Tran, and Portland Streetcar monthly and annual passes are honored. A ride on the tram normally lasts three minutes.

Transportation officials originally estimated the tram would carry over 1,500 people a day, a figure that was expected to rise to 5,500 by 2030. Those initial estimates proved to be conservative: the tram attracted one million riders in its first 10½ months of operation, and averaged 10,000 riders per weekday as of 2016.

In late 2001, OHSU purchased property in the South Waterfront (then known as North Macadam) area, with plans to expand there. After studying several ways, including shuttle buses, gondola lifts, tunnels, and even funiculars, to connect OHSU's primary campus on Marquam Hill with this area of planned expansion, the university sought 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 Bureau of Transportation (at the time known as the Portland Office of Transportation, and abbreviated as PDOTsic) to undertake an independent analysis of the connectivity options considered earlier by the university and its development supporters. In May 2002, the city council accepted PDOT's process proposal and also accepted PATI as the project sponsor. PDOT's assessment 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 SW Barbur Boulevard. In July 2002, 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 ways to mitigate the tram's impact and identify other desired neighborhood improvements which should accompany the project. One of the results of that process was the Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge, which was completed mid-2012.

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, Los Angeles/Zurich-based Angélil / Graham / Pfenninger / Scholl, was announced on March 26, 2003. In November, PATI chose Doppelmayr CTEC to design, fabricate and install the tram. The first public review of the project's status was November 2003.

Construction began in August 2005, with work on both platforms and the intermediate tower occurring through the summer of that year. The bulk of the construction occurred in 2006. Installation of the engines and other equipment occurred during the spring and early summer of 2006, which was followed by installation of the cables during the late summer and early fall.

On October 29, 2006, the tram's two cars arrived from Switzerland after a week-long delay. An inaugural run of the tram was conducted on November 9, 2006. Four tram construction workers were the first to test ride the tram while harnessed to the roof and suspending arm. Testing on the tram continued through November. The tram opened to OHSU employees on December 15, 2006. The tram opened to the public on January 27, 2007.

The project suffered significant cost overruns during its construction. Final cost was nearly four times the initial estimate, a development that nearly led to the tram's cancellation mid-construction. Operating costs are nearly twice original projections. When the city approved the tram project, it was understood that OHSU would pay for most of it. While the taxpayer share has grown, OHSU paid for 85% of the total cost of the tram though it is operated as public transit facility.

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