Courtesy of Portland Diamond Project

When Portland’s would-be baseball delivers unveiled designs Thursday for a Willamette River waterfront park with a tram and views of Mt. Hood and lots of inexplicable metal, one major question emerged: How the heck will we all get there in less than six hours?

The renderings of the metallic Gateway Arch-like, 32,000-seat stadium – tucked north of downtown in industrial Northwest Portland -- prompted childlike wonder for many baseball lovers and visions of bumper-to-bumper traffic for others. It's not hard to see former T-ball All-Stars from across the metro area cutting through St. Johns to get to the ballpark or driving over Cornelius Pass Road from the westside to avoid the cluster along Portland's downtown waterfront.

Port of Portland’s Terminal 2 sits about two miles from the nearest light rail station and 1.5 miles from the nearest streetcar stop. The No. 16 bus is the only public transit service running past the proposed stadium site. There’s not even nearby freeway access, meaning getting to and from the Fremont Bridge would become an odyssey. There’s potential for good bike connections along Northwest Front Avenue, but those don’t exist today.

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Courtesy of Portland Diamond Project

The only long-range public transit proposal with any legs is an $80 million streetcar extension that would create a loop running east-west between Montgomery Park and Northwest Lovejoy/Northrup. It's not that close to the proposed stadium.

Portland is poised to make a case in 2020 for a regional transportation bond, which could cost as much as $20 billion, and it’s unlikely a baseball-driven infrastructure item would bump projects that could benefit the entire region.

So why not go for a baseball stadium closer to established transit service? Here are a few options that may be better.

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The Gateway District could be transformed by a new baseball stadium and surrounding affordable housing and bike and pedestrian improvements (The Oregonian/File)

Gateway Transit Center

Nestled at the junction of two already busy interstates, this site has a variety of transit options already. The Northeast Portland MAX station has seven bus routes and three light rail lines running through all day every day. TriMet has a 3.5-acre property (and a park and ride) at the station itself, but if the baseball backers have as much money as they claim, the footprint could easily be expanded east and coupled with the station. It could put Gateway on the map in a way city planners never could have dreamed.

Combine the stadium with an earlier pledge from baseball backers for 8,000 units of affordable housing, and the city and Portland Diamond Project could be poised to bring much needed development to the Gateway neighborhood. Do it right, and this could be a win for everyone. There would still be picturesque views of Mt. Hood, too, and maybe even other Cascade peaks.

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The Sunset Transit Center in this file photo

Sunset Transit Center

What about the westside, baseball lovers? The Sunset Transit Center sits just north of U.S. 26 and near the intersection with Oregon 217. It’s a never-ending traffic situation there, and that’s never going to change. Why not take out the park and ride facility here, which is 22 acres and just benefits cars, and put in a baseball park. Six bus routes and two light rail lines serve this station, too.

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A plane landing at Pearson Field in 2013 with the Interstate Bridge in the background (Dean Baker for The Oregonian)

Pearson Field

Hey, what if I told you Vancouver also has views of mountains and rivers and things? In case you forgot, there was a plan to build a new Interstate Bridge with light rail once, and if that ever resurfaces with a vengeance, there could be a baseball stadium waiting in the wings. Pearson Field, a small airport used by a handful of pilots, is about 140 acres of prime real estate. That's plenty of room for a baseball stadium. What's that, you say? This site isn't close to transit and violates all your principles for this post? Well, it's 1.3 miles to the nearest C-Tran high capacity bus line, something we don't have in Portland yet. And it would be a short walk from a downtown Vancouver light-rail terminus along Interstate 5.

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Horse racing fans in Oregon gathered at Portland Meadows race track on Saturday, May 5, 2018 to celebrate festivities surrounding the 144th Kentucky Derby (Mark Graves/Staff)

Portland Meadows

There will be views, there will be sports betting but there will no longer be horse racing. The 64-acre Portland Meadows racetrack site sits right on a coolly named street (You could say, "The Portland Salmon really Schmeered the Mariners during the series this week"), and it's still much closer to a MAX station than the Terminal 2 location (less than 1 mile). In lieu of a horse race track, baseball fans could still welcome our animal friends by having a Pooch Porch in right field, where they could bring their best friend or meet a new canine bestie while pretending to care about the 56th home game of the season. Think of the beer-branding opportunities here. Kentucky Derby enthusiasts could be courted with Derby day festivities at the ol' ballpark.

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An aerial view of the Rose Quarter in 2013 (The Oregonian/File)

Rose Quarter

The Portland Diamond Project, which previously put in an offer the Portland Public Schools' 8.5-acre headquarters site in North Portland, hasn't approached TriMet about transit possibilities at the Terminal 2 site. "Obviously we liked the PPS site, as it is better served by transit," said Roberta Altstadt, a TriMet spokeswoman. The Rose Quarter Transit Center is on the southern end of this property, but it is still closer to trains and several bus lines than Terminal 2.

If the PPS headquarters site wasn’t the right spot, how about a truly, to borrow developers’ lingo, catalytic transformation using Memorial Coliseum and the riverfront acreage across Interstate Avenue owned by the late Paul Allen. Combine the two with the river site, a 3.21-acre property known as the Thunderbird location, and voila, stunning views of downtown – and the ability to actually get there.

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The WES train has struggled with ridership for its entire existence (Andrew Theen/Staff)

Bonus:

TriMet's Westside Express Service commuter train continues to struggle to attract riders. What about putting a baseball stadium on the sea of parking acreage at its Wilsonville terminus? All of your traffic logjams, Portland area, can be traced back to Wilsonville anyhow, might as well put a stadium there.

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-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen