3rd Avenue Transit Center
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Hillsboro Central/Southeast 3rd Avenue Transit Center, also known as Hillsboro Transit Center, is a
light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...
station and transit center on the
MAX Blue Line The MAX Blue Line is a light rail line serving the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Operated by TriMet as part of MAX Light Rail, it connects Hillsboro, Oregon, Hillsboro, Beaverton, Oregon, Beaverton, Portland, and Gres ...
in
Hillsboro, Oregon Hillsboro ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County, Oregon, Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many High tech, high-te ...
. Opened in 1998, the red-brick station is the 19th stop westbound on the Westside MAX, one stop from the western terminus of the line. Physically the largest station on the line, it is located at a former stop of the
Oregon Electric Railway The Oregon Electric Railway (OE) was an interurban streetcar, interurban railroad line in the U.S. state of Oregon that linked Portland, Oregon, Portland to Eugene, Oregon, Eugene. History Service from Portland to Salem, Oregon, Salem began in ...
and includes artwork honoring the history of the community.


History

Construction of the Westside MAX project began in 1994, while construction on the Hillsboro Central station was completed in August 1998, with a ceremony held on August 13. On September 12, 1998, Hillsboro Central opened along with the Westside MAX line. By 1999, the station was the third busiest on the westside line. In 2000, a plaque honoring former Hillsboro mayor Shirley Huffman's work getting the westside MAX extended from 185th Avenue to downtown Hillsboro was added to the station. Huffman lobbied federal officials to extend the line into downtown Hillsboro, including lecturing the
Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...
's leader. When Hillsboro Central opened, the
Hillsboro Public Library The Hillsboro Public Library is a two-location public library system in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. First opened in 1914 in a Carnegie library building, the system provides services to a population area of 137,000 people. As of 2015, the sy ...
operated a small branch at the station called Books by Rail, which was the only library on the West Coast located at a mass transit station. Because of budget cuts in the library system, the branch was closed in June 2003; in October 2003 TriMet began letting the Hillsboro Police Department use the space for its bicycle patrol. In March 2011, TriMet received a federal grant to pay for the installation of security cameras at the station.


Details

Located on Southeast Washington Street between Third and Fourth avenues in downtown Hillsboro, the station is decorated with dark red bricks. Overhead is a steep-pitched roof, with the station's floor in the vestibule built of concrete planks in homage to the cedar-planked roads that formerly existed in the town. Designed by the architectural firm OTAK Inc., the station is the largest of the MAX stations on the westside line as it extends most of the length of the block between Third and Fourth avenues. Hillsboro Central sits on the same site of the old
Oregon Electric Railway The Oregon Electric Railway (OE) was an interurban streetcar, interurban railroad line in the U.S. state of Oregon that linked Portland, Oregon, Portland to Eugene, Oregon, Eugene. History Service from Portland to Salem, Oregon, Salem began in ...
station for the Hillsboro area and has a station building that is designed to look like an old railroad station with features similar to those at a Grand Central Station type of facility. Other features include false chimneys and copper roofing on the main building that serves as the passenger shelter for people waiting for buses or westbound MAX trains. There is also a passenger cover on the single island platform between the two tracks and an additional cover for waiting bus passengers. Hillsboro Central has bike lockers and is handicapped-accessible, but does not have a park-and-ride lot. The station is a hub for bus services in Hillsboro and connections to Cornelius and Forest Grove to the west. This station is served by the following bus lines: 46-North Hillsboro, 47-Main/Evergreen, 48-Cornell, and 57-TV Hwy/Forest Grove.


Art

A variety of public artwork adorns the brick station. The collective works, entitled Niches, are a montage of the everyday lives of residents. Inspiration and materials for the artwork were collected from the Washington County Museum, the Washington County Fair, and the
Oregon Historical Society The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the State of Oregon, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, pres ...
. Bill Will, Fernanda D'Agostino, Valerie Otani, and Jerry Mayer were the artists responsible for the theme at the station. Items include granite pavers that have memories of past Hillsboro citizens carved into the stone and photographs etched onto glass. Photographs range from pioneer times to life in the 1990s. There are also letters etched in glass from people such as Albert E. Tozier, Robert Summer, Chavela Mendoza, Lester C. Mooberry, Mary Ramsey Wood, George Iwasaki, and
Howard Vollum Charles Howard Vollum (May 31, 1913 – February 5, 1986) was an American electronics engineer, businessman, and philanthropist in Oregon, United States. He was the co-founder of Tektronix Corporation, and endowed the Vollum Institute. Bac ...
. Gunfights, hangings, funerals, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, and an outbreak of
diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacteria, bacterium ''Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild Course (medicine), clinical course, but in some outbreaks, the mortality rate approaches 10%. Signs a ...
in the 1890s are among the events represented. More recent photographs show the defunct
Oregon Electric Railway The Oregon Electric Railway (OE) was an interurban streetcar, interurban railroad line in the U.S. state of Oregon that linked Portland, Oregon, Portland to Eugene, Oregon, Eugene. History Service from Portland to Salem, Oregon, Salem began in ...
, which the westside line often uses the old
right-of-way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...
of the former line, and employees at
Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...
dressed in
cleanroom suit A cleanroom suit, clean room suit, or bunny suit, is an overall garment worn in a cleanroom, an environment with a controlled level of contamination. One common type is an all-in-one coverall worn by semiconductor and nanotechnology line product ...
s. Also on display is a burden basket created by basketmaker Sophie George in the design of the baskets used by the
Kalapuya The Kalapuya are a Native American people, which had eight independent groups speaking three mutually intelligible dialects. The Kalapuya tribes' traditional homelands were the Willamette Valley of present-day western Oregon in the United Sta ...
, the Native American tribe that formerly inhabited the
Tualatin Valley The Tualatin Valley is a farming and suburban region southwest of Portland, Oregon. The valley is formed by the meandering Tualatin River, a tributary of the Willamette River at the northwest corner of the Willamette Valley, east of the Northe ...
. As few members of the Kalapuya remain and none had the knowledge of how to make the basket, George visited the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
to find an example of a basket in order to design the replica. A bronze cast was created and is displayed at Hillsboro Central. The station also includes a weather vane, one of a series of eight on the Westside MAX. Designed by Keith Jellum and located on the roof of the station building, the vane resembles old train signals. Constructed of bronze, the
semaphore Semaphore (; ) is the use of an apparatus to create a visual signal transmitted over distance. A semaphore can be performed with devices including: fire, lights, flags, sunlight, and moving arms. Semaphores can be used for telegraphy when arra ...
signals stop and approach.


Bus lines

The transit center is served by the following bus lines: *46-North Hillsboro *47-Main/Evergreen *48-
Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...
*57- TV Hwy/ Forest Grove * Yamhill County Transit (33 McMinnville–Hillsboro)


See also

*
List of TriMet transit centers TriMet transit centers are defined by TriMet as "major transit hub served by several bus or rail lines". These transit centers are often key areas for accessing public transportation throughout the extended Portland metropolitan area. Current ...


References


External links


Hillsboro Central Transit Center
– TriMet page {{DEFAULTSORT:Hillsboro Central Southeast 3rd Avenue Transit Center 1998 establishments in Oregon MAX Blue Line MAX Light Rail stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1998 Railway stations in Washington County, Oregon Transportation in Hillsboro, Oregon TriMet transit centers