GISguy

Not a huge fan of the sign board, but whatever, these look awesome! I do wish there were some color flair, but at the same time not sure how they'd be able to do that and it not look cheesy. Hate to think towards winter, but it'll be another cool spot to look out on the river as the snow comes down!

Walked through at lunch today. TC is in for a lot of work. They had blowers in all of the old storefronts too.

Anyone have intel on the road closure on Lakeside/Convention Center? I know structural issues and a concrete piece falling were cited but haven't heard anything since.

Motion to ban comic sans from any presentation, ever. Who thinks that's a good stylistic choice. These all look like corporate business parks- I know there's fiscal limitations and specific uses but meh, I hope we end up with something a tad more inspiring (not JJC type stuff, but something).

He definitely made it sound like something's in the works

Burj Cleveland it is - tall skinny, 40k ft tall.

Lets start a gofundme for the Phase 1 ESA. Honestly though, it wouldn't be too difficult to dig up what might be lurking under there based on old documents and stuff that the library most likely has.

Just got done doing the tour at the Wendy Park Bridge/Connector, here's a word dump from that. FYI, I didn't think to get out my cell until a bit through talk of the bridge, so some numbers might be slightly off (drawing from memory). The main speaker was Sean McDermott from the Metroparks as well as one of the folks from the engineering firm that helped with the bridge. Text dump: Bridge Specs 80ft piles for the bridge Ada compliant, serpentine just under 5pct 26ft above tracks Entirely 75ft above ground at arch Prefab lifted in 5 or so pieces City of CLE wanted a crane pad for lift bridge, hence offramp at the other side's strange configuration, came late in process Railings have small led puck lights Railings harken to the Rosalis design Each end of bridge going to have gateway elements (not arches as originally planned), 316 grade of steel Paid Ontario stone, railroad for easements RR costs 6-700k on top of 6M construction costs Rosalis design couldn't work in budget with constraints from RR Bridge as built can withstand 125MPH winds/icing without adversely affecting RR Weight limit h10 truck, pickup with plow Planning to plow bridge and all paths as part of maintenance Path Discussion Invasive species are going to be the longest term project Urban trails are some of the only illuminated trails in the metroparks Some supports are different by NEORSD section, designed with flexibility based on what was in the ground to avoid huge change orders Some Planks were poured 5 times, last plank Friday or Monday, open to traffic early next week Bridge not opening until 6/24, push to the end There's a section of aluminum truss bridge that can be lifted off the junction chamber for access to NEORSD infrastructure below There's a removable hatch built into the bridge for short term access Willow St. Bridge Willow st bridge - from 1965, until it's rehabbed going to work with the 40" sidewalk as is (with waiting areas built on each side). They offered money to CLE to widen it but couldn't get there. You can bike on the bridge now, but can't in two weeks, only way you can get to the the park is on the sidewalk. Fences and high curb will prevent other access Metroparks acknowledge flak they'll receive. Debating a display for bike tourer's for 40in clearance (like an airport bag check type deal - 'will your bag fit' aka will your bike/trailer fit?). River road no parking, working from street parking that's existing General Thoughts We're a little out of balance, acknowledge E-W divide, time is being spent on the E side network right now Most development properties are under 30yr abatement. Love development, but tough pill to swallow at times, they'd like a piece of things to continue improving trails The huletts- we're working on something too 😉

I didn't say anything about making these crazy structures that don't age well, I just want to see new developments with street presence and something that shows the developers and architects care about the city/neighborhood in which they're working. So, all that said, these are good, it was more of a general statement that was inappropriately aimed at this project. Things have improved a ton over the past 20 years and credit to folks having a the confidence for pushing back on developers to improve aesthetic tweaks here and there (but eff NIMBY's who outright kill projects, and landmarks is pretty terrible too, but that's another discussion) that meld with the existing neighborhood - or at least interact with it. This puts it perfectly, kind of what I'm trying to get at. Older builds from mid aughts and even early '10s don't speak to the neighborhood around them as much as new builds do and will most likely be torn down as we do with 60's apt buildings. I'm glad a lot of the projects that come up are turning the corner.

Dennis! ? lol

These boxes are so uninspired at this point. I always tell friends that we're like 5-10 years behind Pittsburgh with things. They've graduated from these boxes onto greater things. I've seen glimmers of that with some new projects (and to be frank, these are better than most), but 30 years from now these are going to be as ugly/uncool as we consider 60's stuff today. Edit: Leaving the comment, but I kind of addressed things in my next comment

Just got the email - Justin Bibb is officially on the ballot. 6/16 is the deadline for petitions so it'll be interesting how things shake out.

To add onto this, there were a few breweries down there way back when, I say they should come back (in addition to brewdog, GLB, Brick and Barrel) :) https://veganbrisket.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=19628b56e7f8479c9261b7700272616c

lol just got out of a presentation about the Towpath and Shaun McDermott from Metroparks kind of touched on it and this seems spot on (and previous reporting in here has these numbers)- Overall it's a $90-110M project. $40M for the stabilization, $27M acquired.

I'll be going on the tour of the Wendy Park Bridge tomorrow, but the Industrial Heartlands conference just had a presentation on the towpath synergies, and a few quick hits from that (I'll post the video once they send it out). Whiskey Island Connector is 98% complete (bridge across RR, and area by NEORSD plant) with opening slated for 6/24 650' section of River Road that connects you to the bridge will be getting a connector piece - it's fully funded and in progress. Irishtown Bend has been covered plenty so I'll skip on that. Watch out for the video, it was a 40k ft presentation, but some interesting tidbits sprinkled in- like a public day-use boat slip going on the Cuyahoga in '22 👀

So I went on the tour with Metroparks/RTA staff yesterday for the Heartland Trails Summit and some interesting tidbits about the Redline Greenway. I wish it was a bit more information on the planning and whatnot, but it is what it is haha - we went from the entrance across from the OC RTA station and down about 2/3 of the way and back. The main speakers were Sara Maier with Metroparks and Michael J. Schipper from the RTA. It was a collaboration mostly with RTA (duh) and Flats Industrial RR The fence on the FIRR side can accommodate razor wire and additions (but metroparks pushed back on this idea) The one portion off of W25/Columbus that's 14% grade is the major access point for RTA on the west side to get their materials in for construction and any trackwork they need to do They debated adding a fence at the top/bottom of that hill bc of the grade, but opted to keep it open bc of such limited access points as is. They anticipate adding more neighborhood connections throughout time, but wanted to punch it through when the timing was right The trail was meant to be accessible (no grades larger than 5%), but as with any project that goes along a ROW there'll be issues with that goal (mostly thinking that 14% section and the area going down by hooples) The trail by the section where N-S crosses over (there's a protective cover above the trail) was way below where it currently is - they had to add a bunch of fill to get this in Fun fact, they augured the supports for that protective covering into the ground w/foundations because they weren't able to pound them in with the active rr above They have drawings/concepts for the RTA bridge over the Cuyahoga, but with funding issues they weren't able to do that, fwiw it also wasn't going to go the entire way across bc RTA uses the entire ROW once you get towards TC. Thoughts were provided on maybe going under the tracks once you get over that way, but obviously a pipedream at this point. Also, RTA is about to put all new ballast down on a portion of the bridge, they're also using it as an opportunity to assess the 100yo structure. Everyone drove to the event lol

The only time I'll advocate for parking minimums lol. Also it's prob not any type of news, but I was on the RLGW tour yesterday and a rep from the metroparks said that the Irishtown Bend project will likely be done in two phases due to construction/material costs. But it should be going to bid later this year..

Great shots @Agreene! One frustration with the city and construction crews- they've been using the bridge and sidewalk as their parking when they have an entire lot/staging area to park in. It's totally unnecessary and flies in the face of bike/ped/handicap access (I had to tell at a guy to get his truck off the handicap ramp/sidewalk cut as a cop just shrugged). Broad take, but when we have construction projects pedestrians/handicapped/bikes need a seat at the table so that sidewalks don't randomly end and kick people out in the road, access isn't blocked, etc. /rant

lol at the generic city in the background. What a half a$$ed proposal. If you're going to grift at least put in some effort.

Adega at The 9 got a facelift (not the greatest pic - it's subway tile pretty much all around - I didn't want valet folks thinking I was some UO weirdo :P)

I hate how NIMBY's are literally the development and then don't want more development. L-C Bridge is one lane down (headed W) at the base for construction and it barely affects traffic. If anything people can't go 57MPH into Ohio City at the moment.

As promised:

Count me in lol that's great news, hopefully it comes to fruition. I know it's been said throughout but what a cool project - idk if it's going to be raining on my bike ride home today/able to get a pic but it's starting to peek over the L-C Bridge, really cool experience with it coming into focus vs what was there previously. I'll say it again, really, really cool stuff lol

Anyone going to their conference next week? https://ihearttrails.org/summit/ I'm planning on being at the Redline Greenway and the Wendy Park Bridge tours 😎