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As preliminary planning begins for the region’s next high-capacity transit corridor, from Portland to Sherwood, a new approach is being employed.

鈥淭raditionally, transit planners start, go out and draw a line,鈥� said Tigard senior transportation planner Judith Gray. 鈥淭his is the first time that high-capacity transit will be planned with land use first.鈥�

The Southwest corridor was designated as TriMet’s next priority for planning high-capacity transit, after the Portland-Milwaukie light-rail line is laid and the Portland-Lake Oswego corridor is planned. The Southwest corridor runs along the line of Barbur Boulevard to Oregon Route 99W, from downtown Portland to Sherwood.

Tigard started developing a land-use plan, the city of Portland issued a request for proposals to create a vision for Barbur Boulevard, and more planning efforts are in the works. Elected regional officials will form a committee to oversee the Southwest Corridor Plan, which will officially kick off this fall.

In Tigard now, and along Barbur Boulevard and in Tualatin starting this summer, planners will work with residents and businesses along the Southwest corridor to identify areas that could become 鈥渟tations鈥� for any mode of transit.

鈥淲e know that transit can support a lot of growth around a station,鈥� said Metro transit project analysis manager Tony Mendoza. 鈥淲e want to make sure we’re putting it in the places where people want to grow and how they want to grow.鈥�

When transit alignment is determined without identifying possible station areas at a community level, there is less opportunity for the kind of development that the region would like to see around transit, Portland city planner Jay Sugnet said. He cited the MAX green line as an example.

鈥淚n terms of the green line, those station areas are right next to the freeway. And so once those went in 鈥� (there was) very little opportunity to create transit-oriented development around those stations,鈥� Sugnet said.

Planners want to create transit systems with healthy ridership and community connections.

鈥淥ne of the biggest determining factors of transit success is the accessibility to the passengers,鈥� Gray said. 鈥淚f we can find places where there will be density, those would be great places to capture transit riders.鈥�

Part of Tigard’s task will be to determine where residents want dense, multifamily development, and then to plan 鈥渟tation areas鈥� in those areas. The city also will listen to concerns from stakeholders as a more concrete plan is hammered out. Those voices are already being raised, Gray said.

鈥淧eople are concerned that there might be a plan to remove car capacity from 99W. We need to be clear that corridor is defined really broadly,鈥� Gray said.

The corridor has not been defined 鈥� though Barbur Boulevard and 99W have been used to describe where a transit line might go.

While some of the studies for this project will look at land only a half mile on either side of Barbur Boulevard and 99W, the overall study area deviates as far north of the highway as Washington Square and as far south as Bridgeport Village.

Planning for transit by considering land use first may be a new method, but planners think it is intuitive and should result in greater success.

鈥淭his is the way the industry is going,鈥� Mendoza said. 鈥�(Metro) is out in the front pack, but eventually you’ll see more projects working this way.

鈥淚t could lead us to exactly where we’ve been going, but we’ll let the community lead this time.鈥�