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^OK fair enough ("Grumpy" is another UO poster, btw, for whom I'm not to be confused)... I wasn't necessarily pointing the finger at you -- after all, staunch Democrats Frank Jackson and Chris Ronayne are also 4-square behind the OC, as well; and hell, Obama himself (well his FTA) is backing this project with a TIGER grant to the exclusion of other more worthwhile Cleveland transportation/transit projects, like the North Coast Transportation Center which was rejected last year or so, IIRC ... My point is, while people like ODOT's Faulkner, who is obviously a right-wing hack, pushed this project, people on the left -- you included, apparently -- have been duped to support this road with, as Geo. W. Bush once noted, "funny numbers." Note too, as one of the local critics noted, the origin of the OC isn't just a couple decades old, it actually dates back more like 50+ years and is a modification of a spoke in the grand freeway empire of the infamous Cuyahoga County Engineer Albert S. Porter; the subway & downtown killer; the sprawl lover/inducer, the (attempted Shaker) lake drainer/paver-over; the child hater and, eventually, the crook. ... btw similar to a RINO of today, Porter was a Democrat in name only. His origin was from Virginia and his politics were shaped when Dems of that area and that region were segregationists... ... but back to the OC --- PIRG also noted, as was noted up-thread (and by an old timer in yesterday's cleve.com), the same "growth" potential talk of OC backers was heard from backers of the Chester Ave. extension from E. 55 to E. 107.... As you'll note, even to this day, there's almost no economic or residential growth along Chester. The road has been, just as the OC will be, merely a shortcut bypass for benefiting anybody but the people who live near the actual road itself.

First, it sure wasn't hard for Kasich - along with like-minded folks around here -- to reject similar money to build the start-up phase for the 3-C Amtrak project and send that Federal (gift) money out to California to help them build their high-speed rail project, which is currently under development (and btw trains would NOT have only traveled 35 mph from point-to-point). Secondly, I'm not sure what $400M you're talking about. If you're talking about money to build the road, itself, and the jobs involved, that's one thing. But to quote the "so-called" economic "boost" this road will supposedly reap, it is purely speculative (and questionable at best), so please don't throw such figures about as if they were established fact. -- of course conservatives tend to make up their own facts to suit their arguments.

PIRG is a mouthpiece for Ralph Nader, notorious for funding itself through mandatory surcharges on university student fees. Their opinion is as predictable as it is irrelevant. The 55 page report is commentary on overall driving miles declining. It focuses on 10 different projects. The actual analysis and criticism of the Opportunity Corridor boils down to 1 fact: Vehicle miles traveled in Cleveland area are stagnant. What that doesn't focus on is the boom of employment in the University Circle area. Ah, no... The PIRG report says considerably more than that, including: The report says that although the roadway through poor sections of Cleveland' is promoted as an "opportunity corridor" that would help the disadvantaged neighborhoods, "the communities that would supposedly benefit have other priorities," including increased public transit. ... A highway construction project makes little sense as an economic development tool for neighborhoods where as many as 40 percent of residents do not drive, the report says. ... This is what some of us have been saying all along.... And then PIRG adds this: The money being spent on Opportunity Corridor is larger than the annual budget of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, it says.

Even though a lot of people can't stand the guy, I'd rather FCE sell to Gilbert which is what many expected in the first place. I think there are advantages to him being a stakeholder here so that he can more feel the joys and pains of the immediate downtown RE market... Hopefully he'd be more aggressive in developing the property than FCE ... and Gilbert's (semi) local, anyway.

Not surprised... This Faulkner jerk should be fired immediately. His type of partisan, right-wing rhetoric should not be tolerated in a state-wide service agency like ODOT, which SHOULD be nonpartisan. While many of us believe ODOT people think this way, for Faulkner to publicly spew this kind of idiocy confirming it, is inexcusable. I’m not one for lauding anything from cleve.com posters, but one guy was right on target noting: Faulkner of course distorts the facts in slamming the 3-C Amtrak plan Kasich deep-6’ed which covered 300 miles and would have served the bulk of Ohio's population stimulating Smart Growth while, instead, touting this $321, 3-mile roadway boondoggle that Faulkner/Kasich is 4-square behind (while shoving it down Cleveland's throat); a road that looks a lot like an urban highway… I just wish these PIRG people had spoken up a lot sooner. I also wish some other thoughtful local voice -- who had to know better -- had similarly screamed the Emperor has No Clothes beforehand as well. Unfortunately it appeared that the entire Cleveland power-structure was in lockstep behind this horrible/crazy project… until now. Unfortunately, the contracts are signed and the bulldozers are ready to roll now… Too Late! Just bend over, because nearly 4 years after Kasich’s disastrous cancellation of Federal “gift” money to build the highly worthwhile Amtrak/3-C rail project, Faulkner’s empty-headed verbal diarrhea proves that downstate Right Wing elements have done it to us once again.

Looks like things are moving along nicely. I wonder how much they'll have done before the winter cold and whether there will be any "inside" by that time for workers to work indoors.

Improving the Shoreway has been discussed forever, particularly regarding the E 9th on/off ramps. Right now the walk down E 9th is much too pedestrian unfriendly. Sorry, I misunderstood your comment. I thought you were talking about improving highway access to the property, not people access... carry on.

ODOT spokesman Steve Faulkner said "It's hard to take seriously the opinions of a group that supported a 'high-speed' 35-mph train in Ohio and continues to advocate for a true boondoggle: the California rail project, which started off as an $8 billion federal set-aside and now is projected to cost taxpayers more than $68 billion." NOTE: I'm sure KJP loved this quote ... just as much as I did!... The far right-wing stripes of ODOT obviously are not hard to find. Is it any wonder why Ohio is the highway pork-barrel/transit-starved mess that it is? And with John Kasich expected to breeze to 4-more years come November, it's only going to get worse. :x

^"highway infrastructure?"

^^Just the sexy pics?? ... wonder what's up.

... does Chicago come to mind? ... this part of the Rapid is L-like.

I've heard this discussed for years. I've also heard that CSX and Norfolk Southern (the bridge owners) are almost impossible to deal with. That's why local leaders need to step up. It's not really in the interest of the railroads -- as long as the span safety carries their freight loads across the spans, they really don't care how it looks (I'm sure). It's the community that's damaged by those eyesore bridges. I'd think that there should be some right or law, parallel to eminent domain, that would allow local government to demand the railroads paint those bridges in the community interest.

^^Those non-Rapid side RR bridges are hideous looking; rusted out and ugly. Somebody needs to get some funding for a paint job, even perhaps via UCI, because they totally detract from this high-quality neighborhood.

Yes, I figured it was at the board meeting b/c Zak notified us it was going to happen 2 days beforehand, which was appreciated (and if I wasn't 400+ miles away, I would have gone)... If FTA is saying they won't fund it, I won't put it on RTA; and I say "if" because I will be P.O.'d at RTA if they are merely anticipating that FTA won't fund it and, thus, won't even try to apply for the grant -- which is similar to the smoke signals I'm getting from RTA's approach to the Red Line/Euclid Square extension proposal -- just to shoot down rail because they think they won't get it, which is absurd, and... The soon-to-be square, 2-way intersection, makes extending the Blue Line imperative imho because commuters from the Northfield side will be cut off from reaching the Rapid except by crowding through the soon to be much more crowded Warrensville (south) leg to Van Aken (via Farnsleigh) to reach Blue Line trains ... It is much more sensible to simply extend the Rapid ... about 1760 feet!, to a new inter-modal transit center... I sure hope it was FTA and NOT RTA in backing off getting money for this small, but impact-ful, rail expansion...

Who said this and what was their reasoning?

That winning drive may be the turning point in Hoyer's career... and Johnny's too.

^A kick-ass name!... love it.

Love that Kyrie is gaining valuable experience and doing (extremely) well at the World Cup, but I think your last sentence is most important to Cavs fans.

Toured the interior Labor Day weekend. It's amazing; huge (Dredger's Union's old space). It was crowded even without the signage (which looks great btw). Can't wait till they put up their outdoor seating.

^for .3 miles!? ... It's an important extension because it would serve commuters on the other side of the intersection through the TOD development. Amazing, taxpayer money flows freely for urban highways we don't need like the 5 mi/$300+M OC, yet we can't get funds for a needed .3 mile rail expansion. How bassackwards as a community are we?... I'm sure Joe Calabrese won't lose any sleep over it. Sometimes I feel Cleveland should just convert its entire rail system to buses (call them BRT) and be done with it. A lot less aggravation for our leaders (notably the transit chief) who feel the Rapid is just a luxurious, expensive headache serving mainly students and poor people -- the former often the latter.

I'm glad to see this important project moving forward... In the meantime, what's up with the extension of the Blue Line across to Northfield Rd? I haven't heard anything on this lately... Is FTA money forthcoming and, if not, why not?

I spoke to some people at the city who said the only thing being built is the walkway. No parking deck. Nothing else. Amtrak officials are aware of this project, but seem less interested in the walkway. I don't know about Greyhound. An Amtrak official contacted me several times to find out if any funding exists or has been pledged to pay for preliminary engineering or construction of the parking deck or a full-blown intermodal. There are funding applications pending to pay for planning, but nothing imminent. Amtrak has postponed major repairs or improvements to its station, parking area and platform because it was waiting to see what the city will build. One thing that has me concerned however is that city officials viewed their past, failed applications for constructing the parking deck "aka transportation center" as their best shot of building it. Some concerns I have with this is: > The city had yet to advance the project to a stage where preliminary engineering had been completed, which is one explanation why federal construction funds were denied. City officials are aware of this, yet believe it is the only explanation why funds were denied. > Federal funding for preliminary engineering (PE) is no longer being made available. Instead, local/regional/state governments will have to come up with funding for PE on their own. PE typically equals about 5-7% of project costs. So, for a $50 million transportation center, PE could cost at least $2.5 million. That's a lot of expense for cities to take on. > City Planning Commission staff are very proud of the design of their proposed transportation center. They thought it was truly intermodal while pointing out that it had a bike station, bus bays on the ground level, an Amtrak station next to it, a GCRTA station there, etc. etc. However I've heard from several people who worked on public transportation engineering projects worldwide who called the city's proposed transportation center "a glorified parking deck" that lacked the kinds of shared waiting, ticketing and other facilities for all travelers under a single roof that a true intermodal station would have. I suspect the station's design was another reason why the project was denied funding. Sounds like a mess. As usual in this town, pedestrians and public transit get the bum's rush in local officials' genuflection to the almighty automobile.

^Those photos are quite amazing and are quiet evidence of how, if you've got a solid, forward-looking project, it's very possible it will eventually reach fruition -- and of course for Cleveland, it did (and hopefully Cincy's 20s-era subway tunnels too will come to life)... Cleveland's Rapid Transit network is all the more amazing when you consider it was the end result of a couple high school dropouts dream to make money developing fallow farmland into high end suburban RE. In life you never can predict how things will turn out.

Over Labor Day we went to NC Harbor after watching the Navy Blue Angels amazing air acrobatics for the Air Show ... Hadn't been there in a while. I must say the place is considerably more people-friendly than before. The new Marina, the jet ski (what a hoot in downtown Cleveland!) and paddle boat rentals seem quite popular.

Slow zones are usually established when track is warped and/or unstable at normal speeds. Often because the RR ties (or "sleepers") holding them in place are worn and need replacement. In recent years RTA has been replacing the old wooden ties with concrete ones which have longer life spans.