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Tram Construction Will Close Upper Campus Drive

Erection of the tram's upper terminal will ban all traffic from the roadway from July 16 until September 17 requiring rerouting of buses, but the Kohler Pavilion garage will remain open

The upper section of S.W. Campus Drive, which runs through the tram construction zone on Marquam Hill, will be closed from 10 p.m. Sunday, July 16, until 6:00 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 17. All traffic will be barred from the roadway during that period to permit completion of the upper tram tower and terminal.

Closing the roadway will require the rerouting of Tri-Met buses, which will add several minutes to the commutes of some bus riders.

The affected section of Campus Drive runs from just below the entrance to the new Peter O. Kohler Pavilion parking garage to just above its rear loading dock. The Kohler garage will remain open.

All TriMet bus routes leaving OHSU will use S.W. Sam Jackson Park Road instead of Campus Drive to descend Marquam Hill. Bus lines 8, 66 and 68 will continue on to S.W. Sixth Ave. and their regular routes.  Commute times on those routes should not be affected, TriMet officials say.  Bus lines 61, 64 and 65 will turn south on S.W. Terwilliger Parkway after descending the hill to continue on their regular routes. The change will add an estimated five minutes of commute time on those routes.

Shuttle bus service will be available for TriMet or C-TRAN riders normally using any of the four stops on Campus Drive that will not be served during the closure. The shuttle will transport passengers between a temporary bus stop zone across the street from the Carnival parking lot area where Terwilliger Parkway meets Sam Jackson Park Road at the bottom of Marquam Hill.

Because the lower portion of Campus Drive is not in the construction zone, entry and access to all parking structures served by that part of the roadway will remain open. The Casey Eye Institute, Doernbecher and Campus Drive parking structures will be accessible to vehicles coming up Campus Drive from S.W. Terwilliger Parkway. Motorists will be able to access the Canyon parking structure from the lower section of Campus Drive or from S.W. Veteran's Hospital Road. The roadway through the parking structure will continue to be available as a secondary detour route.

Here is the link to a map that shows where the section of Campus Drive to be closed is located and where buses will be routed: www.ohsu.edu/ohsuedu/newspub/releases/upload/000406_CampusDriveClosureMap.pdf

For the convenience of patients, the Physicians Pavilion garage will continue to be dedicated entirely to a free valet parking service.  Entry to valet parking is at the P1 level of the garage, which is open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Emergency Department also has free valet parking for patients. Visitors to the Emergency Department may leave their vehicles with a parking attendant at the front entrance from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week.

The tram is about 60 percent complete. The upper terminal, which will be linked by skybridge to the Kohler Pavilion, is progressing rapidly. The 200-foot elevator and stair-core tower, has been topped out, the electrical and control room floors have been poured and erection of the terminal's steel support structure is under way. At the lower station in the South Waterfront district, the drive equipment has been installed and the roof and ropeway saddles are in place. The 196-foot intermediate tower next to S.W. Macadam has been erected and installation of the saddles at the top of the tower has begun. Fabrication of structural, mechanical and hydraulic components as well as of the tram cabins has been completed. Installation of the ropeway is expected to begin in late August.


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More information about the aerial tram and the new OHSU buildings on Marquam Hill and in the South Waterfront is available at www.ohsu.edu/transformation

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