clvlndr

I noticed last weekend (when it was still "summer"), the Prospect end of the street was blocked with movable orange bollards. Is this a new policy by MRN or was it the MVP valet attempting to limit congestion of cars (and taxis) turning into E. 4th?

Well, at least TC has somehow held onto Brooks Bros... and if BB isn't high-end enough for MyTwoSense, I don't think we'll ever reach his economic stratosphere.

Wouldn't that make it too narrow to live in? I confess, you got me...

^Oh, I see what you're saying. Well, under the RTA proposal this may present a diff problem: Blue and Green Line trains would be diverted away from Public Sq, still the cross roads and hub to all transit traffic, to chug slowly along city streets until they finally reach the Square after looping around Downtown's perimeter... Essentially, this is returning the Shaker system to the pre-1930 routing before the grade-separated route into TT/Public Sq. (as MTS noted) And unlike the old Shaker 1920s route, which I believe was more direct to Pub Sq, this one is round about... Essentially, won't we be moving backwards and not forward? (maybe not if some cars still will go directly into Tower City ... I guess. I suppose that's why I'd prefer the latter proposal over RTA's -- with a strong push to extend a subway under Huron under Playhouse Sq. before rising to the surface at CSU. Trains on the surface along Huron through 5-points/New Center (Prospect/Huron/E. 9th) and Playhouse Sq. would be a nightmare in traffic, esp after any Indians game or major event at the Q (... and picture St. Paddy's Day -- trains would take an hour to move through the area at peak parade time)...

Skin!!!!

This looks really nice: the front's catching up to the rear. Hope B&N increases it's hours once more storefronts, and the apts, open. I mean, 7p weeknight closures is for the birds, esp on a major college campus in a superior arts district.

As to KJP's point about RTA not trusting it's drivers to obey single-track signals, ... it speaks volumes about the training, or lack-thereof, of RTA drivers, and that's sad... Baltimore's 20-year old LRT was, until recently, mostly single-track; they've since double-tracked most of it (save the Hunt Valley extension and the short stub branch into Penn Station). IIRC Balto's LRT used old-fashion track-side signals like most of the Blue/Green Lines... To my knowledge, there were no head-on collisions in Baltimore on single track sections.

If done right, the WFL loop could work. The one concern I have is dumping loop traffic back onto the inbound Red, Blue and Green lines. Congestion/delays on the E.55-Tower City segment is bad enough during rush periods, like Browns games. Imagine what it would be like with the added WFL traffic on a regular basis.

Since the Hawks' game, we seem on the downward trend, again. Samardo, against the Magic, had a near perfect stat sheet: zeros all the way across, spoiled by 1 steal... ... It has been a fun season, and these guys are generally fun to watch; the future looks great. But really, the organization realizes that there are only 4 guys on which to build a playoff regime: Kyrie, Thompson, Andy and Gee. Everybody else ... journeymen/filler.

Nice article about the Warr-Van Aken development. Even though the writer mentions Shaker Towne Center, it doesn't detail how ineffective that 22 year old rebuild was, in essentially creating a strip shopping center on the North side of the street after demolishing buildings that addresed the sidewalk and had parking in the rear... He does make interesting points about the demographics in the immediate area of Warr-Van Aken as well as the suburb's residence of individuals knowledgable about modern urban planning.

As to Biker16's earlier comments, while I'm not wild about the tram proposal, I do agree that transfering shouldn't be a major issue in a downtown area (since many rail riders into downtown liberally transfer to/from the free Trolleys as well as the HL to downtown points like Playhouse Sq. or CSU). Both of these routes have high frequency, esp during rush hour.

MTS, KJP is correct about this. If you notice, btw Tower City and E. 55, Red Line and Blue-Green cars draw on the same power lines; you see this esp in the E. 55th Street yard, where you often see a Red Line car sitting on the same track behind a Blue/Green LRT... As KJP noted, Blue/Green LRTs can negotiate Red Line tracks, but not vice-versa. This is mainly because of the snaky, tight-radius curves on several spots along the Blue/Green-Waterfront trackage, most notably: the Blue Line immediately after it branches off the Green Line just east of Shaker Sq (hell, you could stroll over from your comfy digs at Moreland Courts and take a look at it! :-D), and several points along the Waterfront Line, esp at the base of the ramp from Tower City and along the several sharp curves on the elevated section above the NS tracks right near the a-building FEB tower. There's no way those long, non-articulated Red Line cars could negotiate those curves (just as they couldn't handle the tight turns on Chicago's L along the Loop).

^the best upgrade is for RTA to execute the planned permanent station rebuild that it has highlighted on it's website; under "Major Projects".

AMEN!!!!

Thanks Murray... looks great... its time for a B&N visit to check out the new digs.

^I never realized that was an issue, Strap (must have missed it)... It would definally cost some $$. There are street lamp poles that light the parking lots along Van Aken... wonder if lines could be extended from those (hey, I'm no electrician)... Also wonder if extending POP could be the type of capital improvement that FTA could help subsidize?

This is interesting Clvlndr--I'm going to have to do some reading up on the Shaker Rapid Station when I have some time to do some Googling. I've always wondered why a transfer connection corridor couldn't be somehow engineered in to allow for passengers to switch from Red to Blue/Green lines. It is a pain, especially when riding with my kids. ... and apparently the old Shaker tracks and platforms are still there, just sealed up by walls errected when Tower City opened in 1990. You may notice non-revenue tracks branching off to the north the main ones at the east and west approaches to Tower City. I think the issue is the incompatible payment systems on the two modes and the firm no transfer policy. - StrapHanger You're right. However, this could be eliminated if the Blue/Green Line went to the Proof of Payment system that is currently allowing for longer, faster (off-peak boarding) trains on the Red Line.

Tonight's game upset my tummy. Cavs threw away 2 golden opps to win, one in regulation and one in OT, both orchestrated by Kyrie Irving heroics once again, but his teamates... I really like Antawn Jamison in many respects, and he is the only legit reliable scorer outside Kyrie, but his D lapses and often poor shot selection kill us often, as they did tonight... That overtime sequence when, with a 3-point lead, following (perennial Cavs killer) Joe Johnson's 3, really hurt us: AJ heaves up a totally ill-advised, off balance shot early in the shot clock which ignited a Hawks' fast break culminating in a a Josh Smith and-1 layup after being fouled by, ... who? And let's not even discuss Gee's blown easy put-back potential game winner at the OT buzzer... suffice it to say, Alonzo needed the Heimlich maneuver after that one.

"... the arrangement of the station limits train movement." This much, I agree with. A 4-track layout (Green-Blue outside 2 tracks, Red Line, outside 2-tracks), would not only allow Red and Blue/Green trains to platform simultaneously and not be stuck one behind the other, as the currently are with the same-track "bays" at opposite ends of the station(s), there would have been other benefits... cross-platform Blue/Green-to-Red transfers (and vice versa) -- rather than forcing riders, esp those with packages, suitcases, small children w/ strollers, etc., to endure 2 sets of electric entrance control barriers (nee: turnstiles), plus much longer platforms for all trains, allowing up to 5-or-6 car trains, if need be... The current arrangement is good for passenger ingress/egress in an out of the station but not for trains. But anyway, that's $Billion makeover that's not going to happen... I do, however, fantasize the old Shaker Rapid station being, someday, used as a terminal/major hub station for a subway (via Huron) -surface, converted Health Line... something the Van Sweringen's envisioned and planned for 80 years ago... ... anyway, back to your locally based reality TV station...

Actually, the huge National Terminal apt. complex is right across the street (Main Ave + the Bridge) from FEB.

If RTA brass doesn't trust its train operators to run on a single-tracked extension of the Blue Line, I doubt they'd trust a train operator to cross over into opposing traffic on the busiest transit-riding day of the year. They only do this during repairs/construction which is typically left to off-peak or overnight hours, and they place a sh!tload of flaggers trackside to keep train operators from instigating head-on collisions. Actually, I was surprised to find they still had a pocket track at Puritas. Too bad they don't have one any more at West 117th. That could have helped riders at inner stations get on trains without having to ride out to Hopkins first. Good point. I also think that the signal tower damage also limited movement... I know years ago, they were running Waterfront Line Shuttles -- we were outbound (leaving a Browns' blowout earlier), and had to wait for an empty, 2-car train to turn just east of the Carneigie bridge, and head back west past us for another run.... I'm kind of surprised RTA didn't build a pocket track east of Tower City to allow for easy turnarounds for WFL trains, so they're stuck with the crossover tracks, switching into oncoming traffic.

She's one of the PD's best imho.

^^KJP, does RTA actually need a pocket track to turn trains or simply a crossover track to turn after the in-bound train clears?... Keep in mind, the heavy traffic was in-bound/Eastbound, so having outbound/Westbound passengers wait a few mins until Eastbound trains clear shouldn't be a major problem....at least, I wouldn't think....don't rush hour/short turn Brookpark trains reverse at the Brookpark stations w/o a pocket track?

"I'm not being an apologist, but where is the money to do all this coming from?" MyTwoSense, RTA needs to find the money or simply throw in the towel and shut down on St. Paddy's day because they admittedly can't handle it... In truth, I don't think money is the issue. Poor planning was. IIRC RTA calls all available personnel to duty and pays a ton of OT to those who normally don't work during that time. Besides, we know that RTA has something of a surplus (I forgot how it got it), which is why the agency is putting on MORE buses and trains and increasing service on some lines (like 15-min Red Line trains this summer as opposed to the current 20-min intervals). "clvlndr, how do you run express trains on two tracks from the westside? Having express trains skip stations, stations with many people, would only infuriate those waiting. You cannot compare a 4 track CTA system to a 2 track GCRTA system. That's comparing apples to oranges." Actually, MyTwoSense, it's comparing apples to apples. If you space trains properly, you can run express trains on 2 track RRs -- If RTA is running trains even in the 7-8 min intervals which it usually does during rush hour on the West Side Red Line, it can run expresses over it's 2-track railroad... Philadelphia runs express trains on the 2-track PATCO line to NJ. Ditto, for the Philadelphia's "Eagles Express", SEPTA runs non-stop Broad Street express trains from City Hall/Walnut Street directly to Pattison (end of the line) every Eagles games -- that stretch is a 2-track railroad. I think you miss the point MTS. The idea is to relieve crowding, not to acheive speed. Fact is, from what we're reading/hearing, RTA was essentially running expresses anyway since UOers are saying that packed trains were not stopping at inner stations anyway. But if RTA ran empty trains to, say, W. 117 and turned them back, the poor folks at the close-in stations would at least be moving into downtown...

^Interesting lesson in (an aspect) of railroad jurisprudence I wasn't aware of... I'm not anywhere near the RR expert you are, but it has long seemed to me that America should have some element of "socialism" re its RR's because of situations like this: where the private RR and it's prized clients, like Ford, can trump the public good of fast, efficient rail passenger transportation.... I suspect this scenario exists in many other parts of the country ... except, of course, in the NEC where Amtrak owns practically all of Boston-Washington route (I did read somewhere that don't own the ancient 70-mile stretch from New Rochelle- New Haven -- I'm guessing the Metro-North commuter line owns that stretch although I could be wrong).