jam40jeff

So it would have been more accurate for you to say "One time two years ago,...", but then it wouldn't have backed up the point you were trying to make. Classy What is with the personal attack? I was simply pointing out that you used hyperbole to prove a point which I don't find to be true.

I would agree with this. This is true all the way from Richmond Rd. to downtown. Green Rd., Warrensville Center, Lee Rd., and E. 55th St. can all, be a mess at rush hour. But the Opportunity Corridor does little if any to solve this problem. Also, Cedar/Euclid Hts./Mayfield/Fairmount is a mess, as well as North Park Blvd. Again, these problems will not get better because of the Opportunity Corridor. To me, it feels like this road is a solution in search of a problem.

So it would have been more accurate for you to say "One time two years ago,...", but then it wouldn't have backed up the point you were trying to make.

It may take 30 minutes to get to Public Square from UC (I still don't buy that unless there's something unusual going on), but that's not what the OC would replace. It takes 15 minutes tops normally (even at rush hour) to get from Case to the Innerbelt. I have never had a problem turning left off Carnegie onto E. 55th St. to get to I-490.

Oh I have. There have been times, especially during the construction on Chester and Carnegie, that it took me an hour to get from UC to downtown. No way. Maybe once during a snow storm. But not many times. I make this drive more than I'd like to have to, and I have NEVER had it take more than 20 minutes except in extremely rare circumstances. Usually more like 10-15. And if you're moving with the timed lights (westbound in the morning/eastbound in the afternoon), it's less than 10 minutes.

clvlndr, I have to ask, and I mean this sincerely -- given this incident, what more information, specifically, would have helped you and/or changed your mind about using RTA on that day, at that time? I'm asking because I can advocate for better information, if I know what that better information, from a rider's perspective, needs to be. Simply saying "more" or "better" isn't nearly as helpful. I can't answer for clvndr, but I don't think we all would like more information about what is causing these shutdowns not just so we know whether or not we can ride the train on *that day*, but so we can make informed decisions for the future. Such as whether or not it's feasible to rely on the rapid at all to get us where we need to go or if it's a toss up on any given day whether it will be running or not. RTA needs to reassure its riders that these shutdowns won't keep increasing in frequency, or level with them if they are. For instance, when WMATA had serious track issues and had to come up with a plan to fix them, they published a lot of information about exactly what needed to be done, why, where, and when. They could have just kept quiet and slowly started shutting down lines and tweeting things like "track work, green line closed all weekend" every other week, but instead they communicated with their riders in a professional manner.

It's about 0.6 miles from the Crile Building to the UC station. The Clinic could easily run a shuttle from their campus to that station if people don't want to walk it.

UC is already connected very well to the airport and downtown by public transit (one seat fast train rides to both). As far as traffic goes, I don't understand the repeated claim by people that traffic is bad in this area. The time I have had to drive between University Circle and downtown at rush hour, I have never had a problem. And that includes all the times recently where lanes have been severely restricted on either Carnegie, Cedar, or Chester. There are four major parallel roads within a half mile of each other already connecting these two areas. Traffic is not a problem. The OC probably will only shave a minute or two off the trip from the west side and nothing at all from downtown. As far as it not being practical to develop at least some of this area near the rapid stations along East 79th into a dense, functional residential neighborhood, has anybody here heard of Fall Creek Place in Indianapolis? It was a neighborhood in similar condition. Some streets had only one or two houses left on them. Now it's a nearly filled neighborhood of several square miles of market rate/low-income (about a 50/50 mix) homes. It's really an incredible urban success story, and there's no reason we couldn't do even better in Cleveland near some of the rapid stations. http://www.fallcreekplace.com/about-fall-creek-place/

I think a grid-like system (Chicago always comes to mind for me) would be very difficult in Cleveland because of our geography. Things just seem to naturally radiate from downtown because there are stretches of "dead zones" population wise (and I don't mean areas that used to be heavily populated). The Flats, the lake, the river valley, etc. all mean that there are large stretches where the grid system would have to cross over a less populated area. Most of the densely populated areas around Cleveland are either west or east of downtown. Directly south becomes suburban at about 5 miles outside of downtown and is very industrial north of that. I think it makes more sense for most routes to follow the "population rays" towards downtown. Ideally we would have something like commuter rail across the 480 corridor or something to facilitate moving from one side of town to the other without passing through downtown, but I don't think 20 major east-west bus routes south of downtown would be efficient.

Tony Roma's and The Cooker were also once at that corner I believe.

Thanks for the write-up. BTW, Valerio's used to be where Etna is now. I believe the chef/owner at Etna (Pepe) is Valerio's brother-in-law. They are both excellent upscale family-run restaurants with a cool vibe. Etna is the "old Valerio's" and has a more homey, intimate, old-school vibe IMO, whereas the new Valerio's is more modern and hip. I love them both, but I'm partial to Etna because that is where I got engaged (when it was Valerio's).

We'll have to agree to disagree here. WMATA is undergoing a massive overhaul of all of their tracks. The SafeTrack page explains that these closures are unusual because they are condensing three years' worth of work into one. Yet, they still have less closures than the Rapid and far better advance communication of those closures.

Not talking about the past. Look up WMATA's repair plans. I'm not sure what you mean. This is current and ongoing. Their current alerts page reflects these surges plus additional work, which is all single tracking on weekends or at night: http://www.wmata.com/rail/trackwork.cfm

Yep, a rarity. And it affects about 2% of the system. And look at all the tweets in their Twitter feed making sure people know what's going on (multiple per hour in a large font with pictures). And I found multiple articles explaining what they were doing, why it was down, for how long, what stops were affected, and even a map showing how the shuttle busses would operate. You can't compare that to the shutdowns in Cleveland that warrant little explanation and affect 2/3 of the system. Also, you mentioned WMATA "shutting down entire rail lines for months at a time". That's not true. Most of the 15 surges preserve the line running by single tracking. I believe only four of them are shutdowns, and none of them cover an entire line (usually only a span of a handful of stations). Also, if you want to see an example of how a transit system SHOULD notify their riders of the when/why/how/etc of shutdowns, check this out: http://www.wmata.com/Images/Mrel/MF_Uploads/SafeTrack_Public.pdf

I second third smith's shameless plug. :P By the way, when did they change the name from "Kitchen and Bar" to "Chicken and Whiskey"? Also, yes, Gordon Square and Detroit Shoreway are essentially the same place. Technically, Gordon Square is the intersection of W. 65th and Detroit in the middle of the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, but the name Gordon Square has also been increasingly used to refer to the whole neighborhood as well.

Etna is a great choice. Also, in case you have trouble getting in there, I really like Mia Bella as well. Just a heads up...Bakersfield did not end up opening up in Cleveland. Barrio in Tremont is a similar type of place, though. In Ohio City, there is Ohio City Burrito (more like Chipotle) and Orale (more of a sit down restaurant) if you want Mexican food. There are so many things to do in CVNP, but you can't go wrong with Peninsula and Brandywine Falls. Lakewood does have a lot of great bars, both on Detroit and Madison, but they'll be a bit of a hike from the Gold Coast. As far as taking the Red Line, you could either ride the BRT to Tower City, or get on the Red Line directly at W. 117th and Madison (about a mile walk).

Seconded. I really miss it.

TBS is the worst. No credit given to Cleveland. They dissed our city with the burning river. They ragged on our weather even though it was beautiful here and crappy in Boston. Postgame coverage was all about Boston and Big Papi instead of the Indians celebrating. They couldn't have been more biased if they tried.

C'mon KLJP, don't sugarcoat this. No system closes over half of the entire system for entire weekends like RTA does. Especially with how frequently RTA does it (and with little warning). No system has no provision for disabled riders or riders with strollers, etc., for 3 months at their busiest station. RTA seems to be intentionally sabotaging their rail system. And those "temporary" bus replacement signs at the rapid stops? I bet they spent so much on those because those will be the norm soon. Maybe they're planning for the future after they don't have enough rail cars?

Except he said "we have a country that needs new roads, new tunnels, new bridges, new airports, new schools, new hospitals." I doubt he had rail in mind.

Yes, the Denver media market is very close in size to the Cleveland media market And yes Cleveland has light(ish) rail from the airport. When it's working. Sometimes without shuttle buses and sometimes on two tracks. Just don't get out at Tower City if you're physically challenged. :-P You can get out at Tower City...it's getting back on that's the problem.

Also, the Tribe has 17 games left, not 10 (although they are right about 9 home games left.)

Methinks RTA could be planning for those "temporary" routes to be temporary in the same sense that the Tower City elevator is "temporarily" out of service. Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

It will be great signage. The best signage you've ever seen, believe me. And nobody does signage better than RTA. And Mexico will pay for the signage.

So it's probably broken again by now.