clvlndr

Buffalo is Cleveland's cousin.

Currently, a lot of employees cut over the Adelbert bridge (over the Rapid tracks), then walk down the walkway to the U. Circle station. During the evening rush, there's a ton of UH people getting on westbound trains; I see them streaming down the walkway from the hospital... You're right, though, that the Mayfield Station will be convenient to UH employees on the eastern part of the campus, most notably, those in the hugh new Seidman Cancer Center at Euclid & Cornell. Also, I'll bet there will be heavier feeder service on the #9 down Mayfield -- it's a much more direct connection than the current, roundabout connection to the Univ. Circle station. Also, it would be nice if some kind of shuttle service from the new station to Coventry could be established -- it's a 2 min ride up Mayfield (up the hill). Perhaps the UCI (greeny buses) could cover this.

^That would be great... this is going to be a busy station.

I thought Munich was pretty authentic; esp the central square and the Glockenspiel.

A long time Shaker resident tells us that this plan has actually been kicking around SH for decades... glad to see it's finally being executed. I sure hope at least 1/2 of the planned high-density housing units can be constructed.

Yes, this seems rather unusual for RTA station reconstruction as they've, in the past, worked w/in the existing track configurations -- sometimes to their peril -- I wish they'd moved the eastbound track over several feet to have created a wider station house/platform at W. 25, for example -- now we have the absurd situation of crowds of entering & exiting passengers squeezing past each other in that narrow W. 25 staircase... And of course (yes, I know I continue to beat the drum), I think that the choice of no escalators is a mistake, and RTA has obiously eliminated them from Mayfield, which is not the way to handle a potentially (and hopefully) busy station... But at Mayfield, I guess RTA figures that the expenses and disruption caused by moving the track is more bearable than the added expense of the 2 side platforms (and headhouses) as opposed to the island/single headhouse... I guess the they expect the Health Line to pick up the slack btw U. Circle and Stokes/Windermere during construction. I haven't read the entire 100+page, very detailed, report/study on the Mayfield station, but I would guess that it promises to be heavily patronized. It stands to be the best located station of any Red Line station, in terms of immediate accessibility to high density residential population (esp at Little Italy) and commerce... In a sense, it will be a more "traditional" rapid transit station -- the only heavy passenger station outside of downtown that will receive passengers from surface (bus) transfers or on foot with no RTA parking (at least as far as I know) besides University Circle 1/2 mile down the tracks.

Few cities have as many grand, beautiful Art Deco buildings as Detroit... Nice to see some of them get fixed up... IIRC, this building's on/near the corner of McNichols (aka Six Mile Road) and Woodward, at the edge of the exclusive Palmer Park Neighborhood on the NW side of the city (as noted).

RTA issues design change order for Mayflield Station http://www.riderta.com/usercontent/file/2012-2-7-MayfieldDesign.pdf

YOU are THERE!!! Very nice, jssdecker.

Agree wholeheartedly. In our trendy/hot neighborhoods: downtown, U. Circle/Little Italy, Ohio City, Det-Shoreway, Tremont and Shaker Square, ..... only Downtown and Shaker Square have a drug store (ie CVS, Rite Aid or Walgreen's), and both of those close by 8p (6p on weekends, downtown.).... While I love the fancy, diverse restaurants, our hot neighborhoods tend to be a little unbalanced. Supermarkets (which most have) are great, too, but 24-7 drug stores, with their diverse products and services, are really important ... even though not "sexy". I mostly agree, although DS does have a drugstore. I'd really like to see this development fill in with more "Revcos" and less "izakayas". I stand corrected; you're right, there's a Rite Aid (I believe) on Franklin & 65 just a block from Gordon Sq. Thanks for the correction.

Agree wholeheartedly. In our trendy/hot neighborhoods: downtown, U. Circle/Little Italy, Ohio City, Det-Shoreway, Tremont and Shaker Square, ..... only Downtown and Shaker Square have a drug store (ie CVS, Rite Aid or Walgreen's), and both of those close by 8p (6p on weekends, downtown.).... While I love the fancy, diverse restaurants, our hot neighborhoods tend to be a little unbalanced. Supermarkets (which most have) are great, too, but 24-7 drug stores, with their diverse products and services, are really important ... even though not "sexy".

^btw, thanks for the response, Jerry... including about the #48. I don't think the #48 serves Uptown or that Adelbert is a "short walk" away... but I appreciate the response.

EDIT: I was just thinking that, as the Flats East Bank died out at the end of the 90s and early 2000s, maybe there was a ridership decline that resulted? Perhaps with the rise of East 4th and its proximity to Public Square and the continued success of the Warehouse District, restoration of late-night service would be worth investigating? I would also think that the casino - both patrons and employees - would provide added ridership, if not 24 hours a day on the trains, at least extended a few hours. Excellent point, Urbanlife. I didn't even consider the aspect that casinos (all the ones I know) are 24-7, and ours literally will sit atop our transit up... Like KJP, during summer weekends we frequently used the late-night Blue/Green-to-Waterfront trains to the Flats in the late 90s... often-times, they were 2-car trains; there was always something going on in the Flats... The ultimate was when the Holy Moses Water Taxi charged you only $1 if you presented an RTA farecard -- IYRC, the Holy Moses had frequent 'ferry' trips (and those boats were a hoot) and they had a "stop" just a block (if that much) away from the Flats-East Bank station... So you could take the Rapid to the Flats and enjoy BOTH OF ITS BANKS... and party til' 2a without the worry of parking, traffic jams, etc .... trains would cruise right by the Old River Road back ups... Those were the days... Help us bring 'em back, Jerry!

Jerry, given the tremendous success of Red Line patronage last year (up +13%), coupled with the continued growth of the 2 core areas along Rapid Lines (downtown and Ohio City), might RTA consider expanding weekend service (Friday & Sat)beyond Midnight ... to at least 2-2:30p as existed prior to 2001? Also, in 1.5 years, the Flats East bank development will open and is likely to stimulate residential and restaurant/entertainment growth along the WFL. Since RTA plans (thankfully) to restore 15-minute Red Line base service, wouldn't the summertime/late night service make sense? 2 common gripes I hear from downtown weekend-evening patrons: parking/parking prices are ridiculous ... but there's little alternative because the ("damn") Rapids stop running so early...

While there is much discussion about an express bus to University Circle in connection with the Bllue Line extension proposal, in the meantime, I hope RTA is considering an extension of the #48 bus that currently connects with Shaker Square, so that it extends to the soon-to-open Uptown development in U. Circle.

If the new Lorain County Transit Alliance is able to get its legs under it and get a dedicated source of funding for transit in Lorain County, then commuter rail will move forward. Lorain County is the only Greater Cleveland collar county other than Geauga which lacks a dedicated funding source for transit. It's a shame considering Lorain County has 300,000 people. Bring back Betty Blair! If she's around, it'll get done.

That's a shame. Lack of cooperation, lack of progressive attitude dooms us again.. Oh well, looks like we'll be in the commuter rail Dark Ages for some time... at least until West Shore can be built a decade or so from now.

An AAO article (reflecting the UO thread) goes into great detail about Akron Metro RTA's plan for commuter rail, in part using the extant CVSR route. I'd like to think this could pose interesting possibilities for RTA, namely by providing some more umph for getting CVSR extended into Tower City. I see ex-RTA guy Richard Enty is heading up the planning, which can only be good news for the Akron program. Has there been any communication with Gilbert/Rock Gaming to set aside space for a CVSR terminal? It's a little embarassing that little brother Akron is more aggressive in developing commuter rail than C-Town (we are pushing the West Shore project), but if it leads to getting CVSR into downtown, who cares? Besides CVSR, is there any interest in developing the main N-S route through Hudson, where Akron Metro RTA has the proposed terminal of its branch line? Just curious...

^ that's a sound approach... For example, AAO's latest newspaper (which is excellent) notes that Lorain County has no transit service into downtown Cleveland at all (which I didn't realize), and that they crawl first (commuter buses covering this service) before running (the West Shore commuter rail line).... makes sense.

It could be the fact that people may feel that the fix is in; a plan has been chosen regardless of their voice... I tend to feel that way, myself, and why I didn't attend.

^yeah, and with all that midday rail traffic (and similar foot traffic at Shaker Sq) the logic is?? ... we don't need rail extensions, need more buses and sprawl... of course. (end venting).

Shaker Square ... what an urban/urbane neighborhood should look like!

327, I agree with most of your points, except re the WFL. There should have been better planning coordinated with the WFL to develop TOD around WFL stations, much like what is FINALLY happening at Flats East Bank (btw, I agree w/ your recent comment in the FEB thread about the foolish futility in tearing down the whole neighborhood to rebuilt the current Wolstein/Fishman project)... Don't forget, our Waterfront should be prime residential/retail land. At least, when the old Flats was in its heyday in the late 90s, the WFL was well used on Friday and Sat nights (and RTA even extended service in the summer months to handle late night crowds). So what happened development-wise along the WFL since it opened in 1996? - The old football-only stadium was replaced with a new, open air one which had the same limited use (about 10-12 dates per year) -- so with Indy reaping the excitement of a Super Bowl in a few days, how would (at least) a domed stadium looked in terms of all the other uses possible: concerts, NCAA final 4s, Super Bowls, even some convention exhibits.... - a promising large-scale apt/condo mixed us project called Davenport Bluffs was planned for the Muny Lot end-of-the WFL line... but infighting and controversy doomed that project, so that, instead, in its place we got 2 fortress-type, people unfriendly buildings in it's place: the regional FBI HQ, and Channel 3... - even with the Lake-blocking stadium several plans have come 'n gone for high-density residential development around the stadium. - at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, there was a plan for an extensive condo, apt, townhouse development -- to date, the planned relocation of the Port Authority has stalled and nothing has been built. - ... and of course, what little entertainment/restaurant activity that was in the Flats has died... My point? I think we aim at the wrong target w/ the WFL. Was it the ideal, top-priority rail project RTA should have developed? of course not; RTA and the City should have thrown it's weight behind Dual Hub,... but of course they didn't, it died and now we have Health Line buses. But since we did decided to make this (highly rare) rail extension along the Waterfront, it was incumbent upon the city leaders to develop the adjacent land to help both the WFL and downtown, generally, to be successful.... and, as we see, the effort has resulted in less-than-zero so, quite naturally, trains run empty outside of Browns' games and a few other scattered special events...

"... it should have happened years ago." You're right about that 327. The Van Sweringen's original plan for an east-west rapid transit was originally a Lakewood-Rocky River to East Cleveland/Euclid line along what's now N-S utilizing the route through Lakewood... way back in the 1920s!! Of course, CTS in the 1940s & 50s designed and built the current Red Line using much of that route, but it got no further than Windermere on the East, and on the West, they decided to turn the line to the SW toward the airport (along the main line N-S route) rather than going to through Lakewood per the Vans plan... IIRC KJP noted that sandy soil issues in Lakewood prevented the type of sunken/open cut method used up to Detroit W. 98th... My guess is that Lakewood residents wanted neither a surface or elevated line (given the high number of crossing streets) so extension beyond W. 98th never materialized.

Your guess is as good as mine, BuckeyB... It's so frustrating because Cleveland has the platform for a great transit network; cities looking to develop rail would give their eye-teeth for the infrastructure we have: (ie: Tower City, downtown-to-airport rail etc.)... And yet, the city has the history, since WWII, of producing more enemies of rail (Bert Porter, Norm Krumholz ... Lakewood), than we do champions of it.... not even Jane Campell, the mayor who grew up in Shaker and lived, as mayor, between/within walking distance of both the Blue and Green rapid lines.... I don't get it.