Expo Center is a
light rail station on the
MAX Yellow Line
The MAX Yellow Line is a light rail service in Portland, Oregon, United States, operated by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. It connects North Portland to Portland City Center and Portland State University (PSU) with 17 stops fr ...
in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. It is the last stop northbound on the Interstate MAX extension.
This station is a large
park-and-ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rap ...
station located on the grounds of the
Portland Expo Center
The Portland Expo Center, officially the Portland Metropolitan Exposition Center, is a convention center located in the Kenton neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, United States. Opened in the early 1920s as a livestock exhibition and auction facil ...
. It is set up as a modified side platform station, with the two platforms serving three tracks. The extra track allows the storage of an overflow train for events at the Expo Center. The 300 park-and-ride spaces are free for commuters arriving before 10 am on weekdays for a maximum 24 hours. At all other times, drivers must pay the Expo Center's usual $7–8 parking fee.
Although tracks and electrification end directly inside the station, it is designed to allow a future northbound extension (to
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...
) to be easily constructed.
Both the landscaping and the
artwork at the station are themed in a
Japanese style. This recalls the temporary
Civilian Assembly Center that existed here during the early days of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, which processed Japanese-Americans upon the enforcement of
Executive Order 9066.
[Chuang, Angie (September 11, 2003). "Embracing the future, remembering the past: TriMet dedicates the Expo Center MAX Station, once a temporary WW II internment camp". '']The Oregonian
''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...
''.
Bus line connections
This station is at the Expo Center served by the following bus line:
*11 - Rivergate/Marine Dr
Unique station features
The station includes several unique decorative features relating to the internment camp theme:
*Timber Gateway: Traditional Japanese Gates, with steel internment tags strung among them
*Bronze Trunks: Provide additional seating.
*Bamboo Glass Blocks
*Plaque: A plaque showing the prohibited area as defined in Exclusion Order #26 for those of Japanese ancestry, both alien and non-alien.
Image:PortlandMAX_Expo_station_Art.jpg, Timber gateway and a waiting train. Facsimiles of historical newspaper headlines are at the base of the wooden poles.
Image:PortlandMAX_timber_gates.jpg, Timber gateway strung with replica steel internment tags.
Image:PortlandMAX_timber_gate_etchings.jpg, Example of etchings on timbers.
Image:PortlandMAX_bamboo_glass.jpg, Close-up of bamboo glass blocks on systems building.
Image:PortlandMAX_bronze_trunk.jpg, Bronze trunk seating. Inset shows tiled box from the other trunk.
Image:PortlandMAX_exclusion_order.jpg, A plaque of the exclusion order #26, showing the prohibited area.
References
External links
Station informationfrom TriMet
– more general TriMet page
– general TriMet page
{{TriMet railway stations, Yellow=y
2004 establishments in Oregon
Kenton, Portland, Oregon
MAX Light Rail stations
MAX Yellow Line
Railway stations in Portland, Oregon
Railway stations in the United States opened in 2004