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In case you missed it, the evening commute is insane today, with suspicious packages cropping up all over the place.

The Steel Bridge was closed while a Portland Police Bureau bomb squad investigated a toolbox that was left on the upper deck. Commuters were shunted from the MAX onto buses on either side of the bridge.

Then TriMet sent out this perfunctory statement: “There was a report of a possible suspicious item on a bus near SW 5th and Alder. It was nothing. The bus has been cleared and has returned to service.”

And then another:

There have been a number of reports and unsubstantiated claims about suspicious items. Portland Police Bureau is handling all information about the items. All inquiries should go to Pete Simpson. I will be updating TriMet service information as it develops. Due to the closure of the Steel Bridge, MAX service is disrupted. Riders can take regular bus service or shuttles from SW 1st and Oak or Union Station to Rose Quarter Transit Center. Riders should expect delays.

Good luck out there!

I'm a news reporter for the Mercury. I've spent a lot of the last decade in journalism — covering tragedy and chicanery in the hills of southwest Missouri, politics in Washington, D.C., and other matters...

6 replies on “Commuters Beware: Suspicious Packages EVERYWHERE”

  2. Someone had said that some suspicious-looking dude left a toolbox on the train tracks and fled. No idea if this was substantiated at all.

  4. happyhedonist: A maintenance truck dropped a toolbox onto the lower deck. Someone picked it up to get it out of the right of way, put it on the railing, and left on their bike. Someone else saw *that* and thought they were “fleeing” and called the cops. Then all this shit happened.

  5. Correction based on the Monday Roundup–it was an empty Trimet fare box. But the rest of the story remains. Good citizen clears path of obstruction, and thought to be terrorist.

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