Portland Streetcar
The Portland Streetcar debuted in 2001 as the first modern streetcar in America, and has become a model for other cities looking to increase their transportation portfolio. The streetcar runs on a 14.7 mile system made up of two lines, the NS Line (North-South Line) and CL Line (Central Loop).
History
During the first streetcar era (roughly from the 1880s to the 1930s), Portland had an extremely extensive network of streetcar lines. One of the practices of this era was to build commercial developments at the terminus of lines, resulting in many of the business districts such as Belmont and Hawthorne that we take for granted today.
The original streetcar system ran in a large L-shaped loop from NW 23rd Avenue east to the Pearl District, and then south to Portland State University. A later addition to the line extended the line from PSU down to South Waterfront.
