innerbeltguy

According to the FTA, national Transit Database 1998, light rail, on average has capacity of 4,620 passenger miles per route mile of rail line. A freeway on the other hand has the average capacity of 23,724 per lane-mile of freeway . The only city that has a higher transit usage than highway is New York City, with 38,296 per route mile. This does not speak to capacity in-as-much as it does usage of the facility, which is what we're all interested in.

I think an important part of the equation is being missed here. The cost of a light rail line is the same as the cost of a six lane freeway, yet the rail line has less capacity than one lane of freeway. This is hardly economical or practical. Bus services on the other hand do not require separate right of way and can leverage the investments made by ODOT in our road system. The problem with buses in general is the negative stereotype associated with them. Transit authorities that have overcome that stereotype have done very well. SARTA (Stark County) ran a huge public awareness campaign and won the "Best Transit in America" award!

Note that both of those communities have robust regional economies and those freeways were hampering the expansion of their core. How can the City of Akron expect to find developers for all this new real estate when they can't fill the current ones downtown (even remodeled buildings, see Cedar and Main). IMO, the city doesn't have an argument until downtown is full. I will agree that Opportunity Park is awkward epically with the Falor St bridge to BFG never rebuilt. If you ever have time visit the Arts and Sciences building on the campus of the University of Akron, do it. They have aerial photography of Akron for every decade in the lobby. Opportunity Park was far more integrated into the urban fabric before the 70s. From what I read, it was also extremely impoverished, being one of the few neighborhoods in America to be in LBJ's Model Cities program.

The Central Interchange Project (see http://www.centralinterchange.org) is the greatest hope for the Innerbelt. If they don't connect I-76 to it on both sides it will never be well utilized. Traffic engineers have looked at the full connection proposal and estimated that traffic would increase between 50%-90%, which would bring it to the level of I-277 or other smaller arterials. In the scope of a $550 million dollar proposal, the $20 million to provide a full connection is next to nothing. AS far as development Downtown, I would rather see infill, epically around the stadium before the city can honestly say 'we need land'. Also, I think if Akron is wise they will wait to see the results of the West Shore way project.

"The fact we do not have rail transit or mass transit here is a very large negative as far as they are concerned," he said. "It’s unfair to talk about the city being unsustainable because we don’t have mass transit." I think the mayor was on point for the most point. Rail systems aren't effective nor desirable in areas that have dispersed centers of employment. Smaller cities may have light rail, but at a huge cost to the taxpayer and many empty seats. An effective bus system should suffice. "No Mass Transit", doesn't COTA count?

Akron: (Not precise by any means) 1. FirstMerit Tower, 27 floors, 330 ft 1931 02. National City Center, 23 floors, 316 ft, 1969 03. First Energy Building, 21 floors, 280 ft, 1976 04. Quaker Oats Cereal Factory / Quaker Square, 12 floors, 218 ft, 1939 05. Mayflower Manor, 16 floors, 207 ft 1931 06. Goodyear Polymer (Univ of Akron), 12 floors, 182 ft 1991 07. Bulger Residence Hall (Univ of Akron), 15 floors, 160 ft 1969 08. Landmark Building, 12 floors, 158 ft, 1925 09. Key Building 11 floors, 150ft, 1911 10. Ameritech Building, 7 floors, 136 ft, 1929

they have better dressed homeless, I must say.

After fifty years of the war on poverty in this country, we can see that Utopian notions of a world without pain and suffering just isn't possible. Since the 60s there have been complaints levied against sweatshops in the third world, but what they don't tell you if that those jobs are actually extremely desirable because the only alternative for many people is sustenance farming. I wouldn't be surprised if the middle class that emerges out of China is larger then America's, strictly based on population alone. There will continue to be poverty, but there is always a way out for the deft and the cunning.

There are a number of problems with transit and its service to the subburbs, including irregular road patterns, low density development, low capacity throughfares and undesirable destinations. I believe the last point should be emphasized. In Akron, all buses go to Downtown Akron. What is in Downtown Akron? Lots of things, but there isn't a single full service grocery a department store nor any other venue I would commonly need to attend. So almost all trips involve a transfer, most likely back into the suburbs. The Akron subburb of Stow had a route that encircled the city, but was dropped due to poor ridership lack of funding. Even so, there is an ingrained mentality about transit, especially bus service that keeps all but those that must use it away.

okay let me clarify, by develop I meant sprawl. But I don't like to use the word when I don't have to. :)

Amtrak still can't quite figure out how to live within its means. I know they have cut short distance carrier routes. Perhaps with the new wave of uncertainty in the oil market ridership will pick back up. If it doesn't I don't think the system will be around another ten years.

For the most part this is a good thing. The Akron - Canton area has been underserved for some time now, and as Stark county quickly develops we will find people using this Airport even more. Not to mention there haven't been any fatal shootings there in recent times...

Ever heard of the Seattle Freeway Park (see http://www.theslowlane.com/other/freepk.html)? That idea wasn't native to Seattle, he proposed a park over the Innerbelt first. However forces inside the city of Akron kept that idea from taking off, mostly due to precieved time delays (which occurred anyway). Some images of his proposals are in the Resources -> Photos of the Flash Part of the akroninnerbelt.org website. History of Halprin's role is in the History section.

Hello I am new to this forum, but I’m glad to see so many excited voices talking about Ohio and its many facets. I’ve had the honor to chair an organization called The Akron Innerbelt Integration Initiative for what will be a year in April. The initiative started as a discussion between a friend and me about the Akron metropolitan area. We got to talking about the Akron Innerbelt (technically called the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Freeway), and why it was never completed. A lingering curiosity brought us to Akron’s Archives, ODOT, the County Engineer, and even to Philadelphia to explore Lawrence Halprin’s plans for the route. The principal reason for forming the organization was to oppose Mayor Donald Plusquellic’s idea to blow up the Innerbelt to subsidize luxury housing (everything in Akron is subsidized, thus the reason we’re $1 Billion in debt). We believe that if the freeway was completed as originally planned, many people would use the route, and the increased visibility downtown would in turn increase downtown patronage. This summer will be a very important time for the organization, as ODOT is planning to solidify its plans for I-76 (see Central Interchange Project), and we are lobbying hard to get a full interchange with I-76 at last. I could go on with the many other things we are doing, but if you’re interested in anything I’m saying please visit our website at http://akroninnerbelt.org/. I’m going to stick around these forums for a while, so if you have any questions post away. Nice meeting you all! John