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^Nice map... As you may know, Google Maps has recently added light brown commercial-district coloring to its urban maps, but it still lacks the detail of these maps and also doesn't show industrial areas as these do, either... ... I've always broken down the West Side Red Line into 2 parts: from TC to W. 117 is the urban portion, with more walkable residential and commercial areas, whereby beyond W. 117 is more suburban, where park n' ride is more prominent. It could have been different at Lorain-W. 143rd if RTA had relocated the West Park station closer to the street.

I don't know for sure, but I presume so on all questions. I think Melbourne, Australia has this arrangement whereby a private company runs the city's massive commuter rail network which is roughly similar to Philly/SEPTA's regional rail. I also think Maggie Thatcher inspired British Rail to try this setup until a decade or so ago, but it failed because the company was incompetent and there were too many train wrecks... Correct me if I'm wrong.

And this follows the Red Line shutdown Wednesday into the airport. I'd like to know why the rail line keeps shutting down and who is responsible. More importantly, I'd like to know if GCRTA will reconsider the offer by Siemens to take over the rail system and bring it up to a state of good repair, including infrastructure and rolling stock. Word is that Joe Calabrese refused to consider Siemens' proposal because he didn't want to relinquish control over hiring and firing in the rail division. Once again that this very important public agency seems more like Joe C's private fiefdom where he rules beyond questioning.

In the last 2 games, we faced Portland, with one of the worst D's in the League and the Mavs, declining anyway and now banged up, who are currently the worst team in the NBA. Still the Cavs combination of depth, weapons and some quality D, added to a championship swag and comfort level, make the Cavs THE BEAST in the NBA right now. We're not just beating teams, we're doing it effortlessly -- yes, we've had an easy schedule and even the tougher teams we've faced, have had key guys out (Toronto: Carroll, Detroit: Reggie Jackson), but we still are impressive in dispatching these guys. As usual, of course, the elite comp for us still lies west of the Mississippi and the Clippers next week will be an interesting test. Still, at the moment, I like the Cavs in a playoff series against everybody; including the KD/Curry-hyped Warriors.

^At least shutting service due to a "motor vehicle accident" along the street level portion of the Van Aken route makes more sense and is more descriptive than "mechanical issues."

^As long as 'moderate' John Kasich and Republican friends run ODOT and the Statehouse, it'll continue to fall on deaf ears. And this photo is of East Lansing where Michigan State Univ is; that's not even the busier, more frequent Wolverine Line that connects Detroit, Ann Arbor, Pontiac and north Detroit burbs to Chicago (as does E. Lansing's Blue Water line).

Not only is the timing horrible, RTA once again falls short in the communications-to-riders department... "Mechanical issue" is not good enough; and it's not just Twitter; this same explanation is on RTA's website. I didn't see anything on cleveland.com about it... Guess we should be happy they warned people not to take the trains... I guess.

... yeah and, although conservative, the Mormons there, at least generally for a while, rejected Donald Trump as uncivil and antithetical to their teachings... That's more than I can say for a lot of Evangelical Christians who sold out and backed this crazy and dangerous man... ... but I digress... The 2002 Winter Olympics (awarded to SLC in 1995) was a major catalyst to building and expanding their TRAX LRT... now, of course, they also have 88 miles of commuter rail to add to this (the Frontrunner)... Eat your hearts out Cleveland RTA and Ohio! Little Salt Lake City really knows how to do mass transit.

Outstanding!

UC is already connected very well to the airport and downtown by public transit (one seat fast train rides to both). As far as traffic goes, I don't understand the repeated claim by people that traffic is bad in this area. The time I have had to drive between University Circle and downtown at rush hour, I have never had a problem. And that includes all the times recently where lanes have been severely restricted on either Carnegie, Cedar, or Chester. There are four major parallel roads within a half mile of each other already connecting these two areas. Traffic is not a problem. The OC probably will only shave a minute or two off the trip from the west side and nothing at all from downtown. As far as it not being practical to develop at least some of this area near the rapid stations along East 79th into a dense, functional residential neighborhood, has anybody here heard of Fall Creek Place in Indianapolis? It was a neighborhood in similar condition. Some streets had only one or two houses left on them. Now it's a nearly filled neighborhood of several square miles of market rate/low-income (about a 50/50 mix) homes. It's really an incredible urban success story, and there's no reason we couldn't do even better in Cleveland near some of the rapid stations. http://www.fallcreekplace.com/about-fall-creek-place/ You're right about traffic -- between downtown and U.C. (Carnegie, Chester ... even Euclid if you can deal with the 1-lane thing) is generally cake, even during rush hour. The U. Circle traffic jams (and they're big ones-- which I like because it signifies urban health; esp where, like U.C., there's great transit to avoid the backups) are within U. Circle itself, and the main arteries east into the Heights -- Cedar and (especially) Mayfield Aves -- the latter of which is 1-lane from the Euclid-Ford intersection at Uptown up to the top of the Hill near the main Lakeview Cemetery entrance in the Coventry neighborhood. The many experiences from the 50s and 60s should have taught planners that added freeways (and freeway-lites like the OC) don't relieve traffic, they often actually make it worse. Detroit's a good example.

The partisan angle is quite interesting... While it's very fashionable for Republicans in general, and in particular in Ohio, to hate on transit (it's 'social engineering', even 'communist' in some eyes; antithetical to the free/libertarian society the USA is... etc, etc), a number of big cities in conservative Republican states, most shockingly Salt Lake City, Utah, have quietly gone whole-hog into investing in -- and loving, rail mass transit... Go figure.

But that's just it, E Rocc. Did planners ever seriously attempt to develop TOD around the rail stations? I sure haven't seen it if they have... While the area is largely forlorn and vacant, there has been some light industrial growth, especially Miceli Dairy, which has significantly expanded its plant on E. 90th near Buckeye, and Orlando Bakery, which is expanding on Van Dorn's industrial cite at E. 79 near Woodland. KJP has noted the crazy EPA cleanup funding that is tied to road building, for some reason (IIRC), but he also pitched the logical idea of relocated the E. 79th Red Line station to at/near E. 89th and Buckeye and Woodland, ... but that fell on deaf ears, obviously.

If you review the body of my 'obnoxious, histrionic posts' you'll find I rarely get on the 'property owners been wronged' bandwagon as it's obvious that this is a low population area. I do recognize, however, that every person who owns a home does have rights and I was only reacting to a post that suggested Bower Street was dilapidated where, in fact, Google Street view indicated otherwise. My main thrust has been that I continue to believe the Opportunity Corridor is a counterproductive waste of taxpayer money ... and I stand by that.... It was pitched as a means to spur economic development as well as TOD growth in the so-called Forgotten Triangle. In reality it is going to be a commuter highway/roadway that is an extension of I-490 and will aid commuting interest of West Siders accessing Cleveland Clinic, mainly, and perhaps UH as well. Mayor Jackson, belatedly, is seeing the light as he recently threatened to withhold local support without some show of commitment to development of the area. The facts are clear: this is a high-speed roadway being built to the tune of $330M (which will likely escalate well beyond this sum), will parallel and likely siphon off many Red Line rapid transit commuters to University Circle from the West Side while, at the same time, flood a ped-friendly area with more, unneeded cars... And, oh yeah, we're spending this huge sum for this highway while, at the same time, RTA -- especially significant parts of the rail system -- is dying a slow strangulation-by-stingy-budget death, thanks to our pols, esp in Columbus. OC promoters have pitched this project as "saving" University Circle, despite the fact that UC is currently thriving without OC -- in terms of employment, RE appreciation, growth and popularity, University Circle is likely the hottest urban neighborhood in NEO and perhaps the entire state. And, oh btw, it is also one of, if not the, best-served neighborhood in Ohio by mass transit ... a transit system, again, that stands to loose passengers to the OC... I don't see how anyone standing back and looking at all this logically and honestly could come away with any conclusion other than this whole project just doesn't compute. But it is a done deal now, and rather than giving deference to the planners and promoters of the OC, it is time to, like the mayor, push these individuals to make good on their promises of growth for this neighborhood. Drinking the Kool-Aid and walking away from this project is not the answer and, no, I'm not a Kool-Aid drinker. So X, I ask you to: a) refute my premise and b) give me hard evidence how this roadway will actually benefit the community (aside from a few CC commuters)? Can you do that?

Could CC have held the proverbial OC gun to Cleveland leaders' heads as a condition to remaining in Fairfax? I have no direct knowledge of this, but it wouldn't surprise me. No way. That Heart Institute cost $500 million to build in 2005 dollars. The new medical school buildings is over $300 milion. The cost to rebuild the campus in any suburban location would cost many billions of dollars. Thank you 3231 for bringing logic and common sense to the previous comments. I find the histrionics about this project to be tiresome. Is it a good project? Probably not. Will it lead to economic development? We shall see. Are "families being uprooted"? Please. This is the silly hysteria I'm talking about from some commenters. Troll on good buddy... Maybe once you could, like, actually add something to a discussion. Guess that's asking too much.

Indirectly RTA related. The pastor/owner of the cafe in the Stokes-Windermere Rapid terminal is accused of meeting a 12-year-old, then taking her to an E. Cleve motel and raping her... terrible story. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/11/pastor_accused_of_raping_prete.html#incart_most-read_entertainment_article

Could CC have held the proverbial OC gun to Cleveland leaders' heads as a condition to remaining in Fairfax? I have no direct knowledge of this, but it wouldn't surprise me.

I also just did a Google Street View of Bower St. (circa 2014). The street looked better than I'd thought. While 2 of the houses looked a little shaky, the rest looked suprisingly in tact, including a larger wood-frame double home at the corner of Bower and E. 61st even featuring hanging planters. There were a few empty lots, but the grass was cut and there was no trash... This makes me even angrier that these houses are being torn down, families uprooted for this useless quasi-freeway ... ... Oh excuse me, the OC is not useless as it will allow West Siders and their adjacent fellow suburbanites to zip to/from work in U. Circle while avoiding having to deal with City folk, and that's real important. Much worthier than spending $350M of our tax money on pointless stuff like badly-needed RTA rail cars, seeking EPA cleanup funding or creating TOD in the area along the OC route that's already well served by not 1 but 2 RTA trunk rail lines... After all, we've gotta cater to Toby Cosgrove and his executive CC cohorts and the like.

This really sucks imho. Anytime people are thrown out of their houses for a commuting highway it sucks. I thought we learned from those mistakes of the 50s, 60s and 70s... And that absurd OC interchange at E. 55 is a waste of money, chops up the neighborhood and makes walking to the Rapid station that much more difficult. Terrible.

Nice photos. A2 is a fascinating small diverse university city. It almost seems like Cleveland in miniature... I'm sure your comments, however, will go over well with OSU UOers...

^That's definitely a start. With the current financial crisis Cleveland and Ohio transit is in, RTA is not going to seriously even plan for future expansion... which I think is wrong, btw.

The Public Square redesign plan has been in the works for years (a decade?). I just wonder why the RTA issue, especially quantifying greater bus expenses due to Superior's closing, wasn't addressed until now? RTA had mentioned their concerns about their passengers being inconvenienced by the removal of bus stations/terminals from the middle of the Square. But I don't recall RTA discussing/complaining about the amount of money they would lose due to the Ontario and Superior closures.

There are multiple problems. First is the fact of the transfer, and second is the gap between lines -- the bus transfer station at the bottom of Cedar Hill is still two long blocks (or one very long block) from the Healthline on Euclid. It's not a very pleasant walk from the Cedar Hill bus transfer area to the nearest Healthline stops. The combination has greatly reduced the ridership from the 32 toward downtown. I'm confused by your "2 long blocks" statement. According to RTA's website, the 32s, 9s and the 7 directly connect to the Health Line at their (32, 9, 7) termination points at Euclid & E. 89th Street on the Cleveland Clinic campus.

No question that the severe drop in jobs in downtown severely impacted RTA ridership from the Heights and on the old No. 6 (now the HL) since the 1980s. The extremely light frequency on the Heights buses (32s, 7 and 9s) makes outbound transfers very time-consuming and impractical for many especially if the buses are delayed, which often seems the case for outbound 9 riders crowded around the bus stop @ E.119/Mayfield Rd., with most having transferred from Red Line trains at the new Little Italy-UC station. Inbound likely wouldn't be as bad with trains running about every 10 or 15 minutes into downtown from that station. I'm guessing a similar situation exists a half-mile down the tracks at the still-newish Cedar-University station. It still seems there could be more, better integration with bus and rail in the RTA system than there currently is which would remove more buses from downtown/Public Square, especially on the West Side. Even though we've had the heavy jobs and rider loss from the city, what's the point of rapid transit at all if your going to run competing buses past stations and into the center city? ... Tons of buses pass within 1 block of W. 25 and even more could be removed by extending LRT over Detroit-Superior as I've suggested... Yeah I know some people would gripe, but in the long run people would come around (especially the millenials filling up hotter urban areas who are much more amenable to transit) and RTA would save money, the City would likely increase TOD density at these nodes (it's already happening at W. 25/Ohio City and W. 25/Detroit -- and down the street at Hingetown -- with all the new development)... And maybe, someday, the City can break through this conservative Ohio morass we are currently in and receive greater subsidy from the state, increase the sales tax as you've suggested or even get some kind of public-private partnership to somehow offset some RTA costs...

Greater Cleveland commuters are pampered compared to other cities like Washington or Boston; in those cities riders are forced to transfer and don't seem to mind. In Boston the comprehensive T subway lines intercept all the radial bus lines to the extent that only 1 or 2 bus routes enter downtown Boston, esp in or near Park Street (at Boston Common (garden) which is like an over-sized Public Square).. To me, the 32s and 9s should have been terminated at U.C. years ago even before the Health Line. You yourself have noted that a large bulk of employment trips are now in U. Circle/Cleveland Clinic area anyway, so a lot of 9/32 riders have a one-seat ride. And if one is working downtown West of E. 6th (or to me E. 9th), the Red Line is just as fast/convenient if not more so. I know the Red Line provides a superior ride in terms of comfort, space and, again, speed.

You would lose me as a frequent rider of the #55. The only time I would ride would be for fun, not for convenience as I do now. A better option is for the #55 to make a couple of stops along the Shoreway -- at the bottom of the ramps of West 73rd/Edgewater and possibly between West 49th-54th where this room for bus deceleration/acceleration lanes. But what if SOME not all buses were rerouted to W. Blvd? You could still pick and choose your direct-into downtown 55 bus... But as I mentioned, all these buses/BRTs will slowed down with the conversion of W. Shoreway to a boulevard.