In Portland, Oregon, the Red Line is the MAX that runs from downtown to the airport. Between downtown and Gateway TC, it follows the same tracks as the Blue Line, the East-West MAX line. The Red Line turns north and runs about 6 kilometers to the airport, more or less following the line of I-205.

The Red Line was completed in a very short amount of time, about two years, much less then the other MAX lines. Of course, the Red Line didn't involve boring through several miles of rock hundreds of feet underground.

As much as the Red Line was a great accomplishment in being built with a minimum amount of disruption, and very efficiently in terms of money and time, it had the bad luck to open on September 10th, 2001, surely not a very fortunate date for a transportation link to an airport.