clvlndr

Yes, a number of streets could be dead-ended at the tracks. A plan was floated years ago to reroute all the remaining frieghts off this route, so it could totally be used by Rapids, and yes, that removed 2nd track could be reinstated since there's room for it, as you note. It's not totally out of the ordinary for HRT's to cross streets and make stops at surface level. Both the Chicago L (limitedly) and the New York's Long Island RR (extensively), do this and both of these use live 3rd-rail power sources... Our Rapid would have the advantage of using power catenary, which is out of reach of pedestrians-- similar to how LRTs run in Shaker and down in the Flats... a rail bridge should be erected over W. 117, given that it's a busy, main N-S artery. Even the giant RR bridge across the Rocky River could be used by Rapids.

NOTE: Lakewood has a dense, walkable downtown among its many cool attributes... I always shake my head at how RTA, and it's predecessors, have been unable to extend the Rapid (of the rail kind) along NS into this quality urban-suburb. Talk about putting trains where the people are -- this is it. But, no, Joe C loves his buses, ... er, BRT Lite. 9 Reasons why Lakewood really is Cleveland's coolest suburb http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/04/9_reasons_why_lakewood_really.html#0

Really!? How about: what Cleveland pols and leaders wanted. In 1953 Cuyahoga County voters voted 2-1 to build a downtown loop subway. Yet, the County Commissioners, egged on by County Engineer Albert Porter, thwarted voters' wishes, and didn't build it... In the 1990s, Cleveland was poised to build the Dual Hub Subway up Euclid, but instead, decided it was too expensive and, hence, we have the cramped, slow-moving, Health Line BRT. RTA had a transit chief, Ron Tober, who wanted to expand rapid transit and develop commuter rail in many of the ways discussed up thread (Tober btw pushed hard for the Dual Hub rail subway project), but local leaders thought him to be too grandiose and ran him out of town -- he landed in Charlotte and led development of Charlotte's first (and expanding) LRT system. Instead, leaders opted for the more conservative Joe Calabrese who was more their speed. How different would Cleveland have been if these projects had been built? It was leadership, not the people, who did this. ... Oh yeah, and it was also leadership who opted to build the $350M Opportunity Corridor highway through the city, led by Gov/Pres hopeful John Kasich, at the same time the State has become among the stingiest in the nation toward funding public transit...

^Agreed. Golden State made it to the finish line for the best reg season record, but they showed some signs of vulnerability, esp losing to teams like the T-Wolves. Yes in many of those later games Andre Iguodala, last year's Finals MVP, wasn't playing, but I still believe a fully healthy Cavs team clicking on all cylinders, as they've looked much of the time against this feisty, well-coached Pistons team, could take out Golden State in 6 or 7 games ... this year.

Renderings look nice. However, I still don't get that building, which looks like parking, blocking the end of the Blue Line; nor do I understand why the Fresh Market, which I thought was integral to the project, is being moved across busy Warrensville Center Rd to the site of the auto dealership.

^We could have had the Green Line extended 1.5 miles to a new interchange at I-271 in the 70s, but a coalition lead by Norman Krumholz killed it. Even still, the large Green Rd lot is used by commuters from a wide area of Heights and Chagrin Valley suburbanites. Roadways funneling along Shaker Blvd and into the Green Rd parking lot are fast moving and relatively lightly traveled, making LRT commuting attractive from folks far beyond the Green Line terminal. As for a WFL Loop, I only favor a tight loop down E. 17, over to Prospect then Huron and into a subway tunnel connecting to TC through the old Van-built tunnel connection from the late 1920s. Ideally LRTs would drop down into a subway just east of CSU with a major station at 5-Points under Prospect/Huron/E. 9th with a station entrance near PHS. -- I know the prevailing view here is that even thinking about a subway is crazy for Cleveland. Yet subways are being built in other mid-sized cities-- Seattle for one, is building an extensive subway to the north of downtown -- the 1st segment opened to the University of Washington a month ago... Even Pittsburgh built a deep, expensive tunnel under the Allegheny River downtown with 2 new stations (one of these, Gateway, was relocated). In Cleveland, it's hard to fathom how effective a slow, surface steetcar-like LRT through 5-points would be effective. This area is prone to backups as it is on warm weekend nights; it's even worse when there's a Cavs or Indians game; imagine how it will be routinely once the ginormous nuCLEus project is built in this area. I can see a few more Rapid extensions being built: I strongly felt that an extension through Lakewood, and Rocky River, possibly using NS tracks if its freight trains could be rerouted to other rail lines to the south of the city. Lakewood is the most densely populated city in the state and has the Red Line at its edge. It's really bassackwards that this route was ignored in favor of the BRT-Lite built a few blocks north along Clifton Blvd and, yet, Calabrese's people are pushing (very lightly) a Red Line expansion to Euclid along a much more sparsely populated corridor. I also think LRT from TC under the Detroit-Superior bridge rising to the surface and heading down W. 25 and Pearl Rd to Parma (or even a cheaper LRT branch off the Red Line just south of the W. 25th-OC station). It is a crowded, dense corridor with several walking districts (brushing past lower Tremont) and even the large Metro General Hospital complex. Yet once again, Joe Calabrese has trumped rail with his trusty BRT plan before rail can even be discussed -- similar to what happened over in Lakewood (do we see a pattern here?) Traditionally, and ideally, rapid transit was meant to serve the central city and its close-in suburbs while commuter rail, using larger, conventional passenger trains along RR corridors with rush-hour focused schedules serving outer-ring suburbs, collecting them at a single CBD terminal. That's what cities like Boston, Philly and Toronto have done. On a larger scale, LA's newer Metro/Metro Link network follows this same traditional model. With all of the RR ROW's, some either lightly used or even abandoned (ie the old Erie-Lackawanna RR route into the SE suburbs), branching deep into the CLE metro area, it would seem that commuter rail would be the way to go... But this is dysfunctional (transit-wise) Cleveland in conservative Ohio, were even large, populous (and growing) counties like Lorain refuses to pony up and subsidize a local transit system. Elsewhere, cities are building commuter rail... Ain't happenin' here.

Really? Even for my friend, a woman walking in high heels after a long day at work walking down over and down the steep hill into the Flats? (my guest-imate was correct: it's exactly 1 mile from the front door of the Winking Lizard to the front door of the Alley Cat in the Flats.).. Not everybody is Superman or woman, y'know.

Not true at all, especially in this case. First. Walking distance was not an issue. My friend's parking garage was further from the Winking Lizard than the WFL station at E. 9th. Second, the waiting time for the WFL was nil because of the RTA "Next Train" feature I used on my smartphone (the same, btw, could have been accomplished with the paper Blue/Green Line schedule). We arrived at E. 9th 2 mins before the train arrived. Three, what anti-rail hitmen fail to factor in is all the time and aggravation saved by riding the train, in this case the WFL, as opposed to sitting in traffic (and burning extra stop 'n go gas) and searching for a parking space which, even late last summer when, in it's fledgling rebirth, the FEB would have posed for us on this particular warm, Friday evening -- a scenario that is likely to be repeated, ad infinitum, into the future given the likely growth of both the size and likely popularity of FEB.

^No, you mean $2.25 -- for her WFL fare, alone (we figured in cabbing or Uber-ing back to her car given the late hour and the fact her car was in an unattended garage). My $5.00 was a sunk cost because I was coming in by Rapid anyway. Had she insisted on driving to the Flats, I would have both gladly eaten $2.75 that I would have booted for the only 1-ride rail trip into down, I would have also paid whatever parking fee we would've encountered in the Flats-- I tend not to fret over such minor things when I'm having fun with great company and loving the experience and the crowds at the revitalized FEB -- we also strolled the new boardwalk, as well. Had I decided to drive into town and meet her, I would have encountered a bunch of added costs and aggravations: gas, paying to park, twice (once at Winking Lizard, once down in the flats), along with the hassle of driving, the wear & tear on my car -- lest you forget those dreaded Cleveland potholes, etc...

1 other woman. From her badge, she appeared to be a Rock Hall employee. This isn't relevant on 2 counts, First, my friend and I didn't meet at in PHS, we met at the Galleria. If we had met in PHS, I/we would have likely used the HL or the Trolley into Public Sq and then, maybe walked down to FEB, although the WFL from TC could have been a possibility. Secondly, if someone were visiting and staying at the Schofield or The 9 and wanted to meet nearby for food/drinks, then the same would have been true as what I just mentioned. However, if and I was coming from in from Shaker or somewhere East along the Blue or Green Lines to meeting them, the scenario would have been similar to what actually happened with my friend, as those 'visitors' would have likely have traveled the short distance -- probably on foot -- up E. 9th for our meeting for food/drinks at the Winking Lizard, then WFL to FEB/Alley Cat, etc... The point being is that the WFL should be viewed in the arsenal of RTA routes that allows flexibility and the ease of travel. People seem to think it's acceptable to use the Trolleys to move about downtown because they are unique/cool looking and, most importantly, FREE... But why would one rule out the possibility of the using the WFL from the Erieview/North Coast area to the Flats?... It's literally a mile away and down a steep hill (and up that hill if you're going the other direction), so the WFL would seem the way to go; it's just 2 blocks from anywhere in the Erieview/North Coast area... By the way, the arm-twisting of my friend ended when I noted to her the thought of her likely having to go fetch her car only to have to pay another $10 for parking at FEB -- the place was packed that night, and even just trying to find an empty space, even in the pay lots, would have been a major pain in the a$$. Of course, gentleman that I am, I would have footed the 2nd parking fee, but even she asked: why even do this? Let's ride! I agree completely. The fact that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and (then) Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis rides/rode their rapid transit systems to work are/were huge examples for their constituents to ride (of course, in both Chicago and Boston, quite obviously such high profile examples are not needed to motivate their locals to ride)... Having Mayor Jackson and Valarie McCall (a local and national transit official, no less) to ride RTA would set major examples to our skeptical riding populace here... Several times I've lamented the fact that ex-Mayor Campbell didn't ride the rails, when with the Blue Line stop being a mere block from her house near Shaker Sq, she could have ridden the friggin' thing to the back door of City Hall and her office... Just another blown opportunity in the tortured annals of Cleveland rail transit.

This would be an amazing, game-changing project if it can be pulled off. I too will keep my fingers X'd.

^i.e. Last summer on a Friday evening, I hopped the a Blue Line train from Shaker Sq, and rode through the WFL to North Coast (E. 9th) to meet a female friend at the Winking Lizard in the Galleria -- just 2 blocks up E. 9th on the train-- very quick and convenient. After a bite at the W. Liz, together we both the WFL back to FEB for drinks at the, then, spanking new Alley Cat -- a glorious evening on the outside upper deck watching the boats go up & down the Cuyahoga -- the weather was warm, the place was packed and everybody was loving it. (the Alley Cat should be MUST SEE territory for anyone trying to impress visitors about the CLE)... After the Alley Cat, we Uber-ed it back to her car at a lot on St. Clair and she drove us home. (at the time, IIRC, I think RTA had not extended WFL hours to beyond 10:30p...) It took a little arm-twisting to get my friend to WFL-it over to FEB because she'd never ridden the WFL before despite living in Orange and working downtown near the Galleria. But she marveled at how easy it was and, since then, she's told me she's used the WFL a couple times, though not regularly for commuting, but vowed she'd try it someday. The moral of the story is that there are a lot of uses for the WFL and the Rapid, in general, that people don't even think of. But as in my friend's case, if you open your mind to the possibilities and not default to the idea that the Rapid is only good for limited purposes (like work in Tower City, the airport or a Browns or Cavs game), then you will continue to blow it off as not useful... And this goes for RTA brass and Cleveland leadership as well as the riding public.

^^$1.50 round-trip from Mentor to downtown Cleveland!? Now that's a fare folks could live with. (was the $.035 rapid fare still in effect then?)

^Sweet; even if a bit dizzying at times.

As the late Cleveland talk-show host, Gary Dee, would say: Amen and Hallelujah!

^^^ Well, thank you.

I just wish projects like this would have been built on the solar panel field, so that handsome mixed-use building could survive. The still new-ish Circle East town homes are already built on the other side of Lakeview. It's be a great chance to develop a small, new upward-trending community, right in East Cleveland.

You raise some good points and, yes, there is the ongoing tension re rail transit, esp in Cleveland. I would only modify one comment: "Given that the WFL has been around for a while at this point, it's clear that developers obviously don't feel that it is such an asset, and expecting new TOD to magically pop-up around a rail line that's been in existence for 20+ years is probably not wise." My problem is that I don't judge a rail line's asset/non-asset, success or failure status based on developers not building TOD. This is because, as a metropolitan area, we don't have a clue about TOD-- It seems that, after Shaker Square in 1929, we've forgotten what it is... Once again, look at all the undeveloped land around our Rapid stations and, even where there's potential; look at all the gas stations, juvenile prison complexes along with the endless array of strip shopping, fast foods, used car lots and 1-story buildings along with, often, ... nothing, built next to high-potential, high-speed rapid rail stations... Why does this keep happening? And forget TOD, it took this town 61 years to relocate a Rapid station just a thousand feet from the edge of Lakeview Cemetery to the front door of the bustling main street of Little Italy which is perhaps Cleveland's most densely populated residential district ... ... ya think, collectively, we just may not have gotten this whole rapid transit thing down? It's largely because the prevailing viewpoint that has taken hold here, over time, is that rapid transit (of the rail type), isn't all that special. To some, including various unnamed leaders, the view is that the Rapid is little more than an overly expensive bus line with headaches and expensive maintenance issues... If you could somehow lift up our Rapid system and drop it on any number of other cities that are lacking in transit, you'd see high-density, high-quality TOD all over the place. Other places appreciate rail. Not here. ... So, as I see it, the problem isn't the Rapid ... As the saying goes: "We've met the enemy, and it is us..."

The WFL is great if you live in, for example, Shaker Square and work in E&Y Tower. Otherwise, the WFL is lacking core commuters/riders which are needed to sustain this line. People drive their cars because it's more convenient. The base WFL commuters is very limited even though one can access the WFL from the northern core of downtown, esp. North Pointe, City Hall, Federal Building. Where are all of those workers on the WFL? If they even use transit, let alone a rail line, they walk to Tower City for the Red Line. Again, key being ''if'' they use transit at all. The WFL was designed for bar-hopping in the 1990s with an expanded station for 8 Browns games a year. I would definitely count the Federal Building, North Point, the AT&T (or Verizon) complex, City Hall, Erieview/Galleria, etc, etc,... Query: if you are already ON a Blue or Green Line train coming from Shaker/the East Side heading through to the Waterfront, why would you get off and walk to any of those places, if the WFL will take you within a block/block and a half of those places much faster than walking? That's counter-intuitive, and this is during NICE WEATHER; the case gets even stronger against your premise when the weather is bad.

Sweet opening series win. We took Detroit's best shot with them shooting 62% in the 1st 2.5 quarters, but still came away with the win. The Big 3 were ...the Big 3 scoring 81 of our 106 points... Kyrie and LeBron were great, but K. Love was da man imho... THIS is the Kevin Love we traded Andrew Wiggins for. He was unstoppable today. One of Lue's best moves has been to post up Love more to get him going early, and not just having him standing around the 3-point line. Detroit's forwards had no answer for him. Now we have to dig in and take Wednesday's game and we'll be in the driver's seat.

Very exciting, indeed.

^True dat!

^ 2 (big) thumbs up for AAO.

^While I'm glad downtown is going to get these 350 NY Life employees, esp at Public Square, it sucks for Lakewood. Lakewood is one of the good suburbs imho; a historical, urban, not-so-suburb suburb that has a great downtown walking district where these NY Life-ers were working. It's kinda like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Now if downtown Cleveland had raided, say, a Westlake or a Valley View or a Strongsville or Medina, I'd be licking my chops.

A city subsidizing in-city, esp downtown, isn't unique and shouldn't geared toward boosting the WFL. I also disagree with your comment that there isn't any more development that can happen (either influenced by the City, RTA or whoever) to make the WFL successful, because there can be. The recent FEB development is great, but, in the larger scheme of waterfront/lakefront TOD development, it's only a 1st step -- or, at least, it should be. There's are still acres and acres of empty land in around the WFL abuting the waterfront -- i.e., what about all that empty land north of WFL's elevated portion north of Front Street near where it used to dead-end into Old River Rd? There is a widened area just NE of the WFL hairpin turn where a Rapid station had been projected. Planners have talked of building everything from townhouses to a World Trade Center and/or other office at this location. Yet today 20 years after the WFL opened this land still sits fallow with a giant pile of salt and silos sitting nearby. Why? Is this the failure of the WFL and the planners who built it, or the City (and others) for not getting their act together not developing TOD as have many other more progressive cities would have done (ie: Toronto, Boston, D.C., Chicago, even Minneapolis, etc)? And then there's the much-discussed North Coast Transportation Center, which is still iffy? Why isn't this worthwhile being built to it's fullest potential... if at all? And why is there no indoor connection from a WFL platform to directly inside the Convention Center a la Tower City? WFL pass right by the lakefront windows of the CC with no connection at all. So the solution is cut WFL service and save a whopping couple under thousand bucks a year? That's really progressive... :roll: These are all wasted TOD/smart growth opportunities, but the tendency in Cleveland is to blame the rail transit planners who had the foresight to execute and actually build the rare rail transit extension as being extravagant and/or short-sighted rather than go ahead and do the right and smart thing, and develop TOD around the rail line. No, the solution here is to cut the rail service rather than holding those in position to influence and execute development accountable. Also, your premise that the city should do for the WFL is flawed: the city should develop in the best interests of the City. The WFL is, as KJP correctly id'ed it, an asset that is not being used to its fullest potential. The goal should be smart growth, and such growth isn't much smarter than TOD, which a rapid transit rail line can and should promote.