Ethan

Sprawl was well established in the 1990's and based off a very quick skim of this paper, ~1990 seems to have been peak sprawl. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1504033112 (I might go back to this paper when I have more time, looks interesting). But yeah, it looks like the only correlation this data could have with sprawl is negative. Lots of other trends it likely maps onto better, and it certainly isn't just one thing. The rise of the Internet is one possibility, and I'd probably give it the largest share. Parents are much more tied to their kids, which reduces free time for both kids and parents. The decline of religion takes away a big community center in a lot of people's lives. We could probably find lots of factors.

Agreed, but even in your dual-hup proposal in Cleveland Transit Ideas for the Future thread, all of this railway is still maintained and used, so doesn't it need to be updated/repaired anyway, regardless of what we may do in the future?

I don't see anything about anticipated closures. Is GCRTA likely to need to stop service entirely to be able handle these repairs? Also, increased speed and frequency! 🥳

It looks like it could have been a situation where the video became outdated due to an official statement from Brightline only a day or two after release, which would explain it. For what it's worth, Infra expressed similar criticism about NEC and Pacific NW routes.

Interesting... I was going to share a video from the YouTube account "Infra" where he made a map of all the routes Brightline is considering by compiling references from interviews etc. That video no longer exists... Perhaps that means he finally got in contact with Brightline. In an glass-half-full world maybe this video get re-released with official comments from Brightline, or maybe they just politely asked him to remove it. The routes considered (beyond the two already moving forward) were Portland - Vancouver, the Texas Triangle, and competing on the Northeast Corridor. There may have been other routes I've forgot. Did anyone else see this video?

I'm also curious how this would work from a layout perspective. If it takes a weird angle I can maybe see how it would work. Does anyone have more information on this? Maybe a previous proposal? What I got out of the quoted conversation, is that if CLE removed the IX center they could theoretically build a new cross runway that would be the same length as the cross runway on the northern end. (Apparently, this was seriously discussed at some point). This new runway could be built in such a way as to allow simultaneous operations. My question, which I'm hoping one of our aviation gurus ( @Cleburger) can answer is what capabilities/functions would this new runway lack that Burke Lakefront Airport has? Does simultaneous truly mean simultaneous in this instance? Could some of Burke's function be transferred to CLE (particularly the stuff that couldn't easily go to one of the country airports) without affecting CLE operations? Basically in what ways is this more complicated than an IX Center for Burke trade?

Yeah, it looks like the best they could do is add another runway the same length as the shorter crossing one to the North, or put another way, a Burke length runway...

Here's one from Thursday, I think this is a new angle, so I figured I'd share.

True, but it generally works out to about the same amount of time if you don't mind walking.

Amazingly the 9 is only 1 minute slower than the bus "rapid" transit option. The 11 is also about the same speed provided you start in the right spot. (screenshot from Mayfield and Euclid to PS).

If those cost projections are correct then extending the red line seems very hard to justify. We would (theoretically) be be able to get any two of the other redesigns / extensions for basically the same price. The value from a few extra red line stops compared to just your blue line proposal, or an orange and green combo, seems much less but would cost more, seems fairly easy to prioritize.

Genuinely curious, what areas is DCA in charge of maintaining?

Finally! I've lost track of how long it's been! As an aside: I'm now thinking/hoping the other fountain may not have been repaired because Bedrock is hoping/planning to start renovations for their new Tower City Riverview plans in the next couple of years. I'm probably being too optimistic (or maybe Bedrock is), but the fake park thing makes sense as a couple year gimmick. They may want to avoid sinking expenses into repairing a fountain if that whole area will be redone in 3-10 years. Just conjecture, no particular reason to think that.

These look even better with flowers! About half of these planters have flowers now, I'm guessing the other half will be in by this week.

To be fair, while I'm not a fan of it either, a more representational artwork would probably draw too much attention to itself. A meaningless assortment of well selected colors will blend into the background and hopefully support the surrounding architecture. I don't want a blank wall to become the focal point from the square.

Which is probably exactly their reasoning, and if you are only looking at a map and haven't spent any time in Cleveland this makes sense. Here's the report from Downtown Cleveland Alliance which has been tracking foot traffic since before the pandemic. According to this we are about 82% recovered. As someone who lives downtown, that number feels more accurate than 44%. https://downtowncleveland.com/s/DCA-Year-in-Review-2022.pdf Now I'm full send on their numbers either, they are an inherently biased organization, but they are at least covering all of downtown. Even if we assume they are slightly inflating things though, it's still way higher than the study you presented. I didn't say the downtown was accurate. I said the comparison within the zip code was accurate. You may not have, the study certainly does, or at least presents the information in that way, by: listing cities, comparing them to each other, and calling it downtown recovery. Anyway, this study is appropriately placed given the thread title, it's not worth discussing further.

No, it's not. It's an accurate representation of the zip code in question, not downtown as a whole. If you want an accurate representation of how downtown has recovered you need to measure downtown. This is why downtownrecovery.com's figures are off by a factor of two compared to the Downtown Cleveland Alliance (who uses a different third party agency to collect this data). DCA is actually measuring downtown (plus a bit extra tbh), downtown recovery is mostly measuring the recovery of empty warehouses. The little bit of the downtown core they do get is exclusively parts of the CBD, including several buildings currently being renovated. They are ignoring all the residential, entertainment, and "hot" areas of downtown. If they insist on using one zip code for downtown, they have the wrong one This "study" is laughable, at least for Cleveland, and should not be taken seriously.

This is just a curiosity question. I didn't follow the construction of Brightline (Florida) very closely, but is it possible Brightline could ever increase their top speed to 155mph (250Km/hr) to reach the UIC category I high speed rail threshold? Also did Brightline mostly lay new track or update old track?

Well, looks like construction on the shack and sky bridge must be getting close.

It looks like they've started pouring concrete on Center Street Bridge. Hopefully they finish soon. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cleveland/comments/12xhk8m/good_news_everyone/

I watched this video yesterday, it bothered me that he never brought up Census Defined Urban Areas, since it's probably the least arbitrary way to measure city size. Otherwise it's an interesting video, I just wish he would have considered a measurement method that doesn't rely on arbitrary city/county lines.

Was this tweet deleted? I can't find the video or the tweet. Regardless, if the system is working it's the first time in months. I use EzFare, but I just have to show the gate operator my pass in Tower City and then he opens the handicap door.

Fantastic Crains editorial on the recent ARPA funds disagreement. Measured and nuanced piece advocating for funding the market. I wholeheartedly agree. https://www.crainscleveland.com/editorials/crains-editorial-get-it-done-west-side-market

Here's some present condition pics. Hopefully they are enough to get people's speculation brains going. This plaza will really help to connect Detroit Superior bridge into the downtown fabric. I also really hope they use this opportunity to close one lane of traffic on Huron and use a bit of this plaza for the downtown bike loop. I also (like @architranceabove) think it would be wise to plan for some sort of 'official' entrance to Canal Basin Park. Be that a grand staircase or a switchback trail, just something that makes it obvious and easy to get to the nice new park from this artificially elevated part of our downtown grid.

From last night. It's not quite tall enough to get lost in Cleveland's fog, but if the crane is any indication, it's getting close.