KJP

Federal Highway Adminstration design standards for an Interstate require paved berms of about a full lane's width (I believe that's 12 feet) on each side of a directional through roadway, or four berms total. Since this is a relatively new design standard, only the newest highways (since the 1980s or so) have this feature. As older roads are reconstructed, this feature is added (though some have them added without reconstruction). And, often ODOT will widen overpasses that already need major repairs to an extra lane width to more easily accommodate widening plans for the future. It may well be that ODOT will seek to widen I-74 to three lanes in the future, but it doesn't sound like that's what happening now. Check OKI's Transportation Improvement Program to see if anything like that is being considered in the next few years.

Below is a blurb from an article from Seattle, where they are considering removing a waterfront highway for parkland and some new urban development (though it just deals with waterfront highways). It led me to wonder what Ohio highway, interchange or related facility would you want to see removed or redesigned to accommodate an urban park or development? It could be anywhere -- waterfront, in the middle of a neighborhood, or even in a suburb. How would you design the new land use? Would you maintain a "freeway presence" such as under a cap? Would you replace it with a boulevard? A transit line? Or just get rid of the road altogether? We had some fun with this kind of idea with Cleveland's Central Interchange. Give it a try graphically if you feel so inclined, but text would be just fine too. _________________________ Inner-city freeways have gone out of style in this country and around the world. In the United States, it's been decades since one was built on valuable urban shoreline. In fact, cities are more commonly tearing down existing freeways to revitalize waterfronts and promote urban renewal. The most prominent example is San Francisco's Embarcadero Freeway, removed from the Bay waterfront after it was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Impressed with the civic improvements that followed, San Francisco recently took down a segment of a second elevated freeway and replaced it with a pedestrian-oriented boulevard that carries fewer cars. Portland's Waterfront Park, built on what was once a major roadway along the Willamette River, is now one of Oregon's top attractions. The list goes on: Paris is reclaiming the north bank of the Seine by progressively closing an urban motorway; Seoul is proposing to remove a six-lane highway and replace it with a riverscape. The concept has even taken hold in the Rust Belt: Milwaukee recently converted a segment of its Park East Freeway into a boulevard, removing a major source of urban blight and opening access to the Milwaukee River. Washington, D.C., proposes to raze the Whitehurst Freeway to create similar improvements in Georgetown. Cleveland and Buffalo are considering doing the same. The freeways aren't coming down for mere aesthetics. Roads are in fact a rotten investment for local government. Freeways that aren't tolled generate no local tax revenues even as they occupy prime developable land that could be contributing to the tax base. In Milwaukee, developers were linked in common cause with environmentalists advocating the demise of the Park East Freeway because the new river views opened golden real estate opportunities.

White Castles. Hey, that's a kind of stone, especially when frozen, and the perfect size for throwing (er, hurling?).

That's a delicate glass house you have there in Dayton. I'd put those stones back in your pockets.

The plan is to have a six-lane (three in each direction) boulevard from I-490 east to Buckeye Road, where the boulevard to University Circle would then drop to four lanes. Buckeye would be four lanes from the boulevard to the intersection with East 93rd, Woodhill and Shaker, but I'm not sure if that means widening the road or eliminating on-street parking. The reason for consolidating the two Rapid lines west of Buckeye Road is to reduce RTA's costs of maintaining the two aging rail rights of way, provide more visible, safer and accessible at-grade station locations, provide opportunities for transit-oriented development around those stations, make it faster and easier for rail trips between Shaker and University Circle, provide a single location for transfers between the east-side rail transit routes and the proposed NEOrail regional passenger service to/from the southeast suburbs, and thus create a major transit and development hub in what has been called "The Forgotten Triangle." As for I-90, the median in that highway (between West 65th and the Warren Road area) was built for a Chicago-style rail transit line. It would have diverged from the Red Line just east of West 65th, near the Zone Recreation Center to enter the median of I-90. It's the reason why one side of I-90 is below ground level there, and the other side is above street level to ease the rail line into the median. As recently as the mid-1990s, RTA proposed a bus rapid transit route in the median of I-90.

^ Not unless you're willing to form a number of different companies and use different law firms for each to conduct the acquisitions. That's how T.J. Asher acquired the numerous parking lots in the Warehouse District without attracting any attention until he and Stark started making noise about their intentions.

This string might be a better place for smaller projects and/or where follow-up discussion might be limited. Some of the other projects are big enough and are of a long enough term that they should retain their own strings.

^ A very effective MO for fixing one's own city.

Beginning this June, college tuition will be free for any student who enters the Kalamazoo school system by the ninth grade — regardless of income or need. The program, unveiled in November by the city’s superintendent of schools and underwritten by a group of local philanthropists, is to run for at least 13 years. ....From the front page of today’s (March 10) Wall Street Journal (sub required). The program is being financed anonymously and requires children to be in the Kalamazoo public school system from K-12 to achieve complete tuition payback. The tuition is good for Michigan public universities. It appears tuition is prorated if the child entered the system later. It also appears that this has already created an economic boom in the downtrodden city. (KJP: interesting idea. I wonder how many other cities are doing this or at least may consider this?)

I'm also told that a couple of episodes of Route 66 were filmed in Cleveland, including some shots of passenger trains in Cleveland Union Terminal. I must see these!

Regarding the image I posted earlier of the OC boulevard bridging over East 55th Street.... That concept hasn't gone over very well in the community. Another option is now being floated: to build the road UNDER East 55th Street. Also, RTA's new East 55th station would be on the east side of East 55th. If combined with a cap (complete with leasable structures ala High Street in Columbus) over the boulevard, then the station would not be cut off from its neighborhood traffic source. Hopefully, that will be considered.

I ain't the one proudly burning in hell. When did Mr. Magoo become a symbol of racism? But with my recent eye problems, I may soon be as blind as Mr. Magoo. But we're not bad. We're just drawn that way.

You're half right!

Dude, you need to brush your teeth more often. I'd like one of those posters for me, but could you make the face white?

You must be counting in reverse again. Studying for another field sobriety test?

Silly me. I totally forgot to mention that Lorain County officials secured $8 million in local, state and federal funding to build the Black River Transportation Center. It is no accident that the proposed tracks on this map fit so nicely with the alignment of the transportation center.... As long as I'm posting images, I might as well post a few others in my report (accessed by the link in an earlier message of mine). A before and after of Rocky River -- BEFORE/AFTER the introduction of regional passenger rail, a de-emphasis of the car-dominated infrastructural barriers, and a downtown redevelopment initiative focused on transit and pedestrianism.... The above graphic still needs some tidying up, like the new roadway under the tracks won't work gradient-wise. It would have to cross the tracks at-grade. Below, the West Boulevard graphic also needs some adjustments. A curved platform probably won't work with today's revised ADA standards. And, a dual-mode diesel/electric light rail vehicle would be operate from Lorain County into Tower City via RTA's Red Line (if a track connection were built near West 85th Street -- see bottom two images). NOTE TO MEDIA AND OTHERS: DO NOT CITE ME PERSONALLY AS THE SOURCE OF THESE IMAGES OR OTHERWISE USE MY NAME IN ARTICLES. HOWEVER, YOU MAY USE A CREDIT ALONG THE LINES OF "Image courtesy of NEOtrans." NOTE THAT NEOtrans IS THE CONSULTING ARM OF THE NONPROFIT 'ALL ABOARD OHIO'. CONTACT ME IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.

OK children, playtime is over. Back to your rooms.

We'll find out in April, when the 50-city list comes out. I suspect Cleveland will do well, given that it's the most transit-oriented city in Ohio and is an international water port (as is Cincinnati and Toledo). However, Cleveland's urban sprawl problems will surely hurt it.

That is super news. It's the kind of thing that can have a catalytic effect throughout the neighborhoods mentioned (and possibly beyond).

Thanks clvlndr. You could get the Metra cars dirt cheap as long as you had a few thousand dollars to ship them to you, and you had a place to keep them. I doubt the neighbors would appreciate seeing them in your driveway, backyard and double-parked on the street! The Amtrak locomotives are a bit more expensive, and I think the profit margin would be pretty thin there. Still a bargain, though. Track speed through Lakewood is 35 mph with a municipal speed restriction for all trains. There's no braking-related allowance that would permit an increase for passenger service (for example: where a coal train speed limit is 40 mph, a general freight gets a 50 mph limit, a container/intermodal train is allowed 60 mph, and a passenger train is allowed 70-79 mph -- all due to weight/braking considerations). Still, given the municipal restriction, I assumed a 20-30 mph average speed through Lakewood with only one station stop in the city. Seasonal service to Sandusky is very possible, and a later iteration of my "dream schedule" has a service through to/from Sandusky. However (don't you hate howevers?), it would require the construction of a track connection at Vermilion costing about $5 million to $6 million, and the construction of a third main track from there to Sandusky, costing probably $1 million per mile (20 miles). There was a third main track here (and a fourth in places), and will be needed again to accommodate more passenger service over this segment (in addition to the late-night Amtraks) due to the frequent freight traffic. So, you're probably looking at $26 million+ for the trackwork, and I would assume $35 million for contingencies. That would include moving grade crossing flashers/equipment on the north side of the rail line. You might also have to move fiber optic interducts, upgrade some bridge decks and do some embankment work. Add a couple of stations (at Huron and upgrade/relocate Sandusky's station) and now we're pushing $40 million. Not saying it couldn't/shouldn't be done, but it will carry a meaningful price tag.

How about this for a thread title for all economic development projects and job creation efforts along Euclid Avenue? I think the RTA Euclid Corridor project should remain in its own thread, since there's enough discussion topics there to keep it busy all its own. Here's my kick-off news piece (nothing spectacular, but still good news).... http://www.wtam.com/cc-common/mainheadlines2.html?feed=122520&article=407267 More Technical Jobs Coming Downtown PerceptIS is looking to bring an IT call center downtown to Cleveland’s Euclid Avenue. Company leaders say close to 40 new jobs will be created, as well as an opportunity for businesses and universities to take advantage of the growing industry of call centers. Cleveland City Council has approved $250,000 in loans from federal and other programs. Average salaries would be between $35,000 and $70,000 with a total payroll of up to $1.51 million. PerceptIS is part of a growing trend of companies popping up on Euclid Avenue. Councilman Joe Cimperman says the company hopes to grow here in Cleveland. This center will be located in the Halle Building.

See, we should use the Ohio Turnpike to fund the Ohio Hub (among other 21st century transportation projects)!

Something like "Sustainable Ohio" or "Urban Sustainability"?

I'm not surprised to see Stark wanting to get involved. Remember he had three priority areas that needed attention in the region: 1. Downtown (see the Pesht thread) 2. Hopkins Airport (as a gateway, it should have a grander concourse to make a grander statement about the city) 3. University Circle (he believes this area should become at least as prominent as Harvard Square in Boston, given the national recognition of CWRU and the district's institutions, plus the worldwide recognition of the Cleveland Clinic and the Cleveland Orchestra).

Isn't ironic then that Lorain County interests (commissioners, Lorain Port Authority, city officials in Lorain and Elyria) are the ones driving it, while mayors in Avon, Bay Village, Rocky River and Lakewood are the ones expressing skeptcism and are doing nothing to push it? We're probably looking at 3-car trains (at most four) with two to three trainsets in the starter service. I wouldn't do a West 117th Street station in the starter service, if only because it's just under a mile to the West Boulevard station where a transfer would have to be made. If service were operated through to downtown Cleveland without the transfer, then I would stop there. I would also want to add a stop at St. Ed's at Nicholson (though perhaps not in the starter service), since many of their students comes from the western 'burbs. But the initial schedule may not allow it (even though my initial proposed schedule would--the reality may be quite different). As for the start-up timetable for this, we have a hard enough predicting the weather more than a couple days out, let alone predicting the complicated politics associated with this service. But I think this service can happen if these things are communicated to the public and elected officials: 1. a basic demonstration service can be easily withdrawn at the end of the demonstration. It does not commit the region to a permanent service. 2. a permanent service would increase the value of properties near the tracks because: A. quiet zones would be added, eliminating locomotive horns in a safe manner; B. freight trains, which provide little value to the corridor east of Avon Lake (and especially east of Westlake), would be rerouted as much as possible; C. adding regional passenger trains would allow the rail line to provide significant access for and value to housing and business districts along the corridor; D. enhancements to the corridor, such as bike paths (separated by decorative fence from the track) and community-maintained gardens along the track would rectify the awful appearance of what has long been a poorly maintained rail corridor. This corridor can and should be an asset for communities, not remain an eyesore. Make it a greenway that the area can be proud of. That's my story and I'm sticking to it...