Hillsboro Airport/Fairgrounds   | ||||||||||||||||
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| General information | ||||||||||||||||
| Location | 601 Northeast 34th Avenue Hillsboro,Oregon USA | |||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 45°31′37″N122°56′46″W / 45.527066°N 122.94611°W /45.527066; -122.94611 | |||||||||||||||
| Owned by | TriMet | |||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 1island platform, 1side platform | |||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | |||||||||||||||
| Connections |  TriMet: 46 | |||||||||||||||
| Construction | ||||||||||||||||
| Parking | 396park and ride spaces | |||||||||||||||
| Accessible | yes | |||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||
| Opened | September 12, 1998 | |||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||
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Hillsboro Airport/Fairgrounds, formerlyFair Complex/Hillsboro Airport, is alight rail station on theMAX Blue andRed lines inHillsboro, Oregon,United States. It is the 16th stop westbound on the Westside MAX, and the last westbound stop prior to crossing theMain Street Bridge. The station is located close to the Westside Commons – the 2019-adopted new name for the Washington County Fair Complex – andHillsboro Airport, a major general-aviation facility in Hillsboro, and the location of theOregon International Airshow in the summer. Bus line 46-North Hillsboro serves the station.
Construction of TriMet’sWestside MAX project began in 1994, with the Fairplex station opening on September 12, 1998, along with the rest of the line west ofDowntown Portland.[1] A person was struck and killed by a MAX train at the station in April 2001.[2] In June 2004, the station was the site of a failedarmed robbery where the robber's gun failed to fire.[3] In 2007, plans for redesigning the county fairgrounds were announced and included a proposal to create a large exhibition hall that would connect to the MAX station via a publicplaza.[4][5] In March 2011, TriMet received a federal grant to pay for the installation of security cameras at the station.[6] TriMet announced the station would be renamed to "Hillsboro Airport/Fairgrounds" on August 25, 2024, concurrent with the extension ofRed Line service to the station on that date (with an inauguration ceremony three days later, on August 28).[7][8][9]
Located south of northeastCornell Road on northeast 34th Avenue, the station is adjacent to the Washington County Fair Complex – renamed Westside Commons in 2019[10] – and directly south of the Hillsboro Airport.[11][12] Passengers can travel west to downtown Hillsboro or east toPortland andGresham from the stop. The station has a park-and-ride lot and bus connections to the number 46 line.[11] Designed by architectural firm OTAK Inc., the station features anisland platform and aside platform along the two tracks, with a third track to the west used for parking extra trains utilized for increased capacity during special events such as the county fair and theOregon International Airshow.[11][13] The station also includes bike lockers and bike racks, is compliant with theAmericans with Disabilities Act, and has a seasonalconcessions stand.[11]
Across the street from the station's parking lot, a new 89,000-square-foot (8,300 m2)[14] conference center and exhibition hall, known as the Wingspan Event & Conference Center,[10] opened in August 2020,[15] replacing buildings demolished in 2018.
As with all stations along the Westside MAX line, the Fairgrounds station includes public artwork, with the theme of pride in achievement for this stop.[16] One item is aweather vane featuring fivemodel airplanes designed by Glen Geller and Curt Oliver.[17] These planes have a wingspan of approximately 2 feet (61 cm), are based on real historic aircraft, and include a Longster III, adirigible namedGelatine, the George YatesGeodetic, aCurtiss Pusher, andVan's Aircraft RV-3.[17] An additional piece of art at the station is a large metal sculpture of a trophy designed by Bill Will.[18] Entitled "World's Greatest", the wire cup is atopiary covered inivy sitting atop a cement block base.[18] Additionally, historic photographs featuring thecounty fair are etched into the glass of the windscreen, while tree rooms create shade.[19]
