[3]: 2–46 [4]: 1 In January 2011, The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) granted Metro $2 million to begin studying the formally named "Southwest Corridor".
[4]: 1 In June 2013, the project steering committee selected light rail and bus rapid transit as the alternatives for further consideration.
[9] The following year, proposals to serve Marquam Hill and Hillsdale with tunnels were dropped from the plan because they would be too costly, have severe construction impacts, and attract few new transit riders.
[10][11] In May 2016, the steering committee selected light rail as the preferred mode alternative over bus rapid transit.
[17][18] In light of a budget gap of $462 million, planners proposed reducing lanes on Barbur Boulevard and shortening the line's route to terminate in downtown Tigard.