Oregon Public Broadcasting

Work crews laid the last piece of rail on the downtown transit mall project in Portland Friday.

The MAX light rail project is a 3-mile loop to connect Portland State University and Union Station.

The last section of rail is on Sixth Avenue between Jefferson and Columbia Streets.  Crews still need to finish sidewalks and get electrical wiring in place.

Bill Bruce is the project manager.  He says it's significant to have all the rails in the ground.

Bruce estimated crews of 250 or so have put in half a million hours of work so far.  He said the project is the most difficult he's been part of.

Bill Bruce: "You know everything from pulling the buses off the mall two Januaries to working two shifts a day till 11 o'clock at night.  It's been a challenging challenging project.  But it seems like every part of it came off just fine."

The MAX green line is slated to open in the Fall of 2009.