advertisement

---

Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon's (TriMet) Portland-Milwaukie light-rail project has reached a new milestone by creating and maintaining more than 5,000 jobs and providing a record $103 million in contracts to Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) firms during the construction phase, agency officials announced.

Now 40 percent complete, the project has created 2,749 direct jobs, and 2,511 indirect and induced jobs. In addition, Tri-Met has contracted with 375 firms, of which 82 percent are based in Oregon and 51 percent are based in Washington, and 28 percent are DBE firms, agency officials said in a prepared statement.

To date, a record $103 million in project contracts have been awarded to firms owned by minorities and women, an amount that represents 13 percent of the total contract value through February, they said.

"This project is making a real difference to our local economy, while we expand and improve our transit system," said TriMet Capital Projects Executive Director Dan Blocher.

The 7.3-mile light-rail line is the region's sixth MAX construction project. The line will extend from the terminus of the MAX Green and Yellow lines at Portland State University in downtown Portland to South Waterfront, SE Portland, Milwaukie and North Clackamas County.