Metro's RTP commissioned studies for the I-205 and McLoughlin Boulevard light rail proposals, and in September 1989, Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield and Washington Senator Brock Adams, who were members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, secured $2million from the federal government to assess both segments. At the request of the two senators, a segment farther north to Vancouver and Clark County in Washington became part of the proposals. As the studies analyzed alternative routes, the project's advisory committee increasingly favored an alignment closer to downtown Portland along the busier I-5 and Willamette River corridors. In 1994, Metro finalized a route from Hazel Dell, Washington, through downtown Portland to Clackamas Town Center, which TriMet formally called the "South/North Line".