Portland’s aerial tram is part of a culture of public transportation in Oregon’s biggest city. It connects a growing residential neighborhood along the city’s south waterfront with Oregon’s largest hospital complex located on a nearby mountain.
The tram’s gondolas travel 3,300 feet west from the Willamette River shoreline while also rising 500 feet to the top of Marquam Hill. Its aerial cable system crosses Interstate 5 in the process.
Atop the mountain sits Oregon Health & Science University. This teaching hospital is both the state’s biggest medical school and its largest medical facility.
One woman riding the tram today told Jim and me that the gondolas have helped simplify travel that previously relied on winding mountain roads. She was using the tram to travel from her shoreline home to visit her husband in the hospital.
Construction of the tram has drawn a few protests. Homeowners below the cables have bitterly criticized the loss of privacy caused by tourists and hospital visitors zipping back and forth overhead. One homeowner briefly hung a sign on his roof saying, “F**k the Tram.”
Meanwhile, the gondola trip to the mountaintop hospital has become a tourist attraction in Portland. Jim and I heard several other tourists mention the aerial tram, which roused our curiosity.
So today we went to take a look. I was amazed at what we saw. Here are the photographs to show why.
Robert Craig Waters 