KJP

The Elyria Amtrak station is located on East Bridge Street (US 20) just east of downtown Elyria. The "station" is actually a modular structure (ie: a trailer) that served as Cleveland's Amtrak station from 1975-1978 and was moved to Elyria when it gained an Amtrak stop in 1980. That is not the same as the NYC Depot shown earlier in that wonderful postcard. The existing Amtrak station and the NYC Depot are about a mile apart. Restoration of the NYC Depot, located in downtown Elyria, is projected to cost $6 million to $7 million. I believe about $3.5 million of the total has been secured, which is enough for the renovation work to start this spring. First and foremost, the NYC Depot will be the new offices for Lorain County Transit, and will serve as the transit agency's downtown Elyria bus hub. As the project proceeds, Greyhound has committed to relocate its bus service there, and lastly, Amtrak will relocate once the last $1 million is secured for restoring the pedestrian tunnel under the tracks, building elevators up to track level, new trackside platforms and possible platform canopies. Don't fret over $1 million, which doesn't buy much today when it comes to transportation. New highway exit ramps in a rural area cost $5 million minimum. Or, installing switches to connect two parallel railroad tracks (called a "crossover") costs $1 million, including trackside signals. Such is life. KJP

Wonder if these developers know (or care) there was a railroad spur that went directly into the quarry property? That rail spur went due north (you can see the right of way in the aerial posted by richNcincy) to connect with the east-west Norfolk Southern mainline proposed to be used for the Ohio Hub system high-speed trains. The NS mainline passes within 500 feet of Hopkins International Airport's long-term parking deck (a proposed HSR station site). If the developers are practiced in developing in Europe and China, then I would think they are similarly practiced in having transit connections to their developments. Surely a rail link between their $1 billion development and an international airport would make sense to them, especially if they view this project as an international draw. I had the same thought about Burke Lakefront Airport. I'll bet if the developers said they wanted to build this at Burke, Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell would tell the FAA to go screw themselves! KJP

Stephan Louis was quoted at the end of the article....the same guy who led the fight against the light-rail levy. Hard to access the uptown area? Gee, maybe a light-rail line would have helped. KJP

RTA isn't very interested in continuing work on that, however the Ohio Rail Development Commission is interested in connecting airports to high-speed trains. When I met with Hopkins Airport planners about it last year, they were very supportive of the idea and provided lots of data to help with ongoing planning at the state level. Plus, there will be a report coming out in the next month or so about air-rail connections in Ohio/surroundings states, with Hopkins being the most advantageous place for such connections. Stay tuned KJP

Understood. Thanks. KJP

It's the same study. The "Ohio & Lake Erie" is actually location-descriptive text left over from the study's original name: Ohio & Lake Erie Regional Rail/Cleveland Hub Study. But the first few words in the title weren't enough to make people realize the study wasn't just about making Cleveland the hub of the system. So, the ORDC changed the name of the study to "Ohio & Lake Erie Regional Rail/Ohio Hub Study" or, for short, "The Ohio Hub System Study." The ORDC's web site hasn't been fully updated to reflect this. The PD blurb is only partly correct. The ORDC has $50 million in funding to improve or add flashers and gates at road-rail grade crossings as part of the Ohio Hub System. Those funds could be used to leverage a federal match of up to 80 percent of the project's total cost. The ORDC doesn't want to tip its hand on a federal funding source it wants to use until it and several grassroots groups have generated enough political support for the project. Until the study process reaches a certain point, however, it cannot access those federal funds. So, in that respect, the PD blurb is correct. KJP

Thanks! I'd like to add/delete a couple of pics to make the visual information more focused. KJP

I'm sure some of that is political, since the basic Ohio Hub rail system won't reach some parts of the state. But if you look at what California DOT has done to promote the development of an extensive network of new bus routes to feed into rail services, it's not THAT crazy after all. At this point, however, it's still early in the planning process, so anything's possible. KJP

According to the 2000 World Almanac (most recent copy I have), Key Tower was the 35th tallest building in the world. The Petronas Towers counted as two, as did the World Trade Center. Since some assholes decided to knock down the WTC, Key Tower briefly moved up on the list, but with all the new high-rise construction in the Far East (like Taiwan's Taipei 101 Building, now the world's tallest), it since has slid down to 36th on the list, according to the following website.... http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html Key Tower is undeniably an impressive building, though. I had the pleasure of getting the OK to take pictures from the executive offices on the 55th floor a few years ago. Great experience! KJP

I thought you all might want to view a photo album I've prepared on the Ohio Hub System (consider it a work-in-progress)..... http://myweb.core.com/photos/[email protected]/KJPphotos Enjoy! KJP

And the IRS deduction doesn't come close to including all costs of driving. The American Automobile Association publishes vehicle-specific lists that show the cost for driving smaller cars is closer to the IRS figure, but driving an SUV or sedan is 50 cents per mile or higher. The same costs that apply to operating trains, buses and planes also apply to driving a car (ie: maintenance, depreciation, taxes, interest/lease payments, fuel, etc.). While a person driving themself avoids the labor costs that railroads, bus companies and airlines must pay in operating their vehicles, drivers are inert while traveling and can do little else but stare straight ahead while keeping their hands on the steering wheel. Non-business travelers can read that book they haven't had time to read, watch a DVD, write e-mails, search the Internet, sip an alcoholic beverage or take a nap. While cell phones have improved the productivity of time-conscious business travelers, they are still extremely limited in what they can do while driving. Business travelers prefer to multi-task -- something they can do more effectively, comfortably and safely on a train. The inert nature of motorists has a cost, which is worsened when encountering traffic jams or other delays. Nationally, the U.S. Department of Transportation pegs the productivity lost while driving at more than $100 billion per year. On a per-capita basis, Ohioans annually lose $3 billion in having to drive themselves from place to place. And, most cars have only one occupant (the national average is 1.2 persons per car). While driving with others increases the efficiency of car travel, the driver/owner doesn't achieve any cost savings unless they ask their passenger(s) for reimbursement. But, even car-pooling isn't as efficient as rail or bus travel, as an average bus traveler is nearly two times more energy efficient than a carpool traveler, while an average rail traveler is nearly four times more energy efficient than carpoolers for the same trip, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. KJP

Is there life in the Ohio 3-C Corridor project to develop fast passenger rail service? More than that! A comprehensive, multi-route plan for developing passenger and freight rail service using existing rights of way (starting out with 2-3 daily round trip passenger trains at the current max of 79 mph) and then building from there to 5-8 daily round trips at 110 mph. It's called the Ohio Hub System plan and is being rolled out in multiple Ohio cities over the next few months at public meetings all of you can attend (and should!). The planned routes are (only major cities are listed): + Detroit - Toledo - Cleveland - North Akron - Youngstown - Pittsburgh (300 miles, 12 million population); + Cleveland - Erie - Buffalo - Niagara Falls - Hamilton - Toronto (290 miles, 10 million population); + Cleveland - Galion/Mansfield - Columbus - Springfield - Dayton - Middletown - Cincinnati (250 miles, 8 million population); Why should Ohio build such a system? > Ohio's population density is the eighth greatest in the nation (greater than Florida or California). Of the top 17 most densely populated states in the U.S., only Ohio and Hawaii do not have an ongoing passenger rail development program (of course, Hawaii doesn't have any rail lines!). Fast, affordable and reliable transportation between cities is a key factor in keeping and attracting jobs. Other big states get it; Ohio hasn't so far. > Ohio Hub trains will allow travel from downtown Cleveland to downtown Cincinnati in just over 3 hours (or less from suburban stations), and cost about $95 one-way versus $85-130 one-way by car, or $186-755 one-way by air. Round-trip discounts would apply for rail or air trips. Or, Cleveland - Detroit rail travel would take about 2 1/4 hours (or less from suburban stations), cost about $43 one-way versus $57-88 by car or $157-544 by air. You get the idea. > Trains allow travelers to be productive while they travel, like preparing for a meeting they heading to, or finishing reports on meetings they're coming from, giving them more time to spend with their families or do leisure activities or more work. Students going to school can take their bicycles on the train, socialize with others, or even do homework they meant to do over the weekend. Travelers can enjoy a snack or beverage, unwind or take a nap, at 110 mph, regardless of the weather. > Airlines are withdrawing from smaller cities (Mansfield and Youngstown have lost all commercial air service) and are pulling back from shorter-distance markets of less than 300 miles (higher costs for fuel, security, airport charges etc). This leaves only the highway for most trips, which usually means driving yourself, since Greyhound has been cutting bus service in Ohio and across the nation since the 1980s. > Ohio's population is getting older, a trend that will continue for the next 25-40 years as the Baby Boomers age and become physically less mobile. Many urban Ohio residents do not have cars, or just one car per household. Without another way for them to get around, Ohio is losing an opportunity to keep them fully involved in Ohio's economy. > Ohio Hub trains will link downtowns, suburbs, small towns, airports and transit systems. In some cases, such as at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, the trains would directly serve the airport terminal. The tracks to be used for trains on all four Ohio Hub routes pass within 500 feet of Hopkins Airport's long-term parking deck, making possible a link between plane and train under a single roof. Few places in North America offer such an opportunity. > To add fast passenger trains to existing rights of way will, in many cases, require investments to freight rail corridors where traffic already is heavy. Such an investment is welcomed by the freight railroads, which cannot afford to add capacity fast enough to handle the growth they are experiencing. Railroads like Norfolk Southern are not only an active partner in the Ohio Hub planning process to increase the "fluidity" of their freight operations, but have expressed some interest in possibly operating the passenger trains, as well. > The Ohio Rail Development Commission has $50 million in hand to leverage federal surface transportation funding for the initial phase of development (79 mph services), but needs to advance the planning process to a point where it can be eligible to apply for those federal funds. Indeed, in the last six years, ODOT and Ohio metropolitan planning organizations did not spend tens of millions of dollars in federal congestion mitigation/air quality funds. These dollars will again be made available to them in the next surface transportation reauthorization. Rail development is an eligible use for these funds. There's more reasons, including: * that Ohio has more than 100 rail industry suppliers which do more business outside of Ohio and overseas, but would rather build infrastructure and trains/components for services in their own backyards; * that highway contractors will benefit as railroads already use them to build bridges and do earthmoving (in fact, Burlington Northern/Santa Fe RR paves a new right of way with an asphalt road to ease access for construction vehicles and to stabilize the track bed); * that the cost of expanding airports is becoming prohibitively expensive (more than $3 billion worth of airport expansions are underway or completed just in 3-C Corridor cities, despite that 30-60 percent of all flights go to/from cities less than 400 miles away); * that the cost of further widening interstate highways is also becoming prohibitively expensive. I-71 and Ohio Turnpike added third lanes in each direction in the least expensive way--by paving their medians, costing $500 million for I-71, and $1.4 billion for Ohio Turnpike. Traffic on I-71 between Cleveland and Columbus is expected to jump another 50 percent by 2020, and rose 25 percent on the Turnpike in the last 10 years, a rate that is expected to continue. Further widenings will require property acquisitions, major earthmoving and other large costs that weren't part of the last widening projects. That's probably enough for now. If you'd like to learn more, drop me a note at [email protected] and I'll mail to you a copy of the Ohio Association of Railroad Passengers' special newsletter on the Ohio Hub System. Or, visit www.ohioansforpassengerrail.com on the Web. Please, go to the public meetings to be held around the state in the coming months. The first will be in Toledo on October 16. See the schedule below: Tuesday, November 16th, 7-9 pm at TMACOG in Toledo: ORDC/TMACOG Ohio Hub presentation to the public in Toledo and Northwest Ohio region. Friday, November 19th at 11:30 a.m. to 1 pm at Columbus Metropolitan Club: ORDC's Jim Seney and other panelists to address business and community leaders about Ohio Hub Study Thursday, December 9th, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at NOACA in Cleveland: Technical meeting with NOACA and planners from the City of Cleveland's Lakefront project, the Ports, Greater Cleveland RTA and ODOT. Monday, December 13th, 1:30-3:30 p.m. at Civic Center in Lima: ORDC/Lima Mayor's Office Ohio Hub presentation to business and community leaders in Lima. Monday, December 13th, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Lima City Council Chambers: ORDC/Lima Mayor's Office Ohio Hub presentation to the general public. Wednesday, January 19th, 1:30-3:30 p.m. at location TBD in Columbus: ORDC/MORPC Ohio Hub presentation to business and community leaders in Central Ohio Wednesday, January 19th, 5:30-7:30 pm at location TBD in Columbus: ORDC/MORPC Ohio Hub presentation to the public. Tuesday, January 25th, 1:30-3:30 p.m. at Clark State Community College in Springfield: ORDC/Clark County/Springfield TCC presentation to business and community leaders in the Springfield area. Tuesday, January 25th, 1:30-3:30 p.m. at Clark State Community College in Springfield: ORDC/Clark County/Springfield TCC presentation to the public. Wednesday, January 26th, 1:30-3:30 pm at OKI in Cincinnati: ORDC/OKI Ohio Hub presentation to business and community leaders in Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio. Wednesday, January 26thth, 5:30-7:30 pm at OKI in Cincinnati: ORDC/OKI Ohio Hub Presentation to the public in Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio. Soon to be confirmed: Dayton (Technical and public meeting dates to follow) Cleveland (Public Meeting January/February) Akron/Canton (in Akron in January/February) Youngstown/Alliance (in Youngstown in January/February) Mansfield/Galion (in Mansfield in January/February) KJP

Keep in mind that, when Mayor Campbell and others say there's X-thousand people living downtown, they actually count an average of 2,000 people or so "living" at the Cuyahoga County Jail! Having 25,000 people living downtown would make a huge difference. But to have a truly healthy downtown, a better goal is to have 10 percent of the mother city's population living in the core -- or about 50,000 people. Obviously, we're a long way from that. Best to make 25K the interim goal, then once that's achieved, the momentum would be there to help move us toward doubling it. I'm not sure where all these people would be employed, though. Gotta get the jobs here....I hate chicken-and-egg situations! KJP

While ODOT can tap federal funds for such a rail project, it is illegal under Ohio's Constitution for state gas taxes to be used for anything other than highways. The road builders got the constitutional amendment passed in the late 1940s (1949?) with the stated intention of improving the bond rating for debt-financing road projects. But the end result is a perpetuation of the highway monopoly (90 percent of all passenger travel) with no way to stop it, unless Ohio's constitution is amended. Anyone care to take on the 800-pound gorilla??? KJP

That was the highest ridership for RTA, which was formed in 1975. The all-time for transit ridership in Cleveland was in World War II (1944 I think) when there were nearly 450 million transit rides (just for the Cleveland Transit System, which didn't include suburban systems that were later folded with CTS into RTA). There was another peak in the late 1920s which may have been close. I'll have to double check. KJP

I've been saying for years we should secede -- everything north of the Ohio Turnpike! True about Richard Florida oversimplifying. And the area from University Circle up to Coventry and Shaker Square has just about everything the Creative Class could want. So, sometimes you have to do some PR-truth stretching to attract the Creative Class to the part of your city that meets their needs, then create more nodes in other parts of the city once a critical mass has been achieved. RE: banks.... I think you know that if Cleveland had more amenities and less of the political BS that turns off companies that are shopping for new homes, we'd be in a better position to grab employers when the opportunities arise -- such as when the troubles in Quebec prompted financial institutions to flee. They, of course, settled in Toronto. That's why I keep being a pain in the ass about this to build the amenities, urban housing styles and dynamism here that can attract employers, nurture entrepenuers and retain them. One parting thought -- an urban design consultant I once heard noted that there are only six cities in the U.S. with truly healthy downtowns: Boston, Chicago, New York/Manhattan, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle. The two main characteristics these downtowns had were that at least 10 percent of the "mother city's" population lived downtown, office and residential vacancy rates were less than 5 percent and it's downtown had good public transit that linked it to employment, cultural and other attractions. KJP KJP

I did a newspaper search on "brain drain" and, while I couldn't find data specific to Greater Cleveland, I did find several articles which noted that no other state has lost more young people in the 18-30 age range than Ohio. I'd call that "droves." Ever read anything by Richard Florida of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University about the "Creative Class" of young people and where they're living in the U.S.? It's not Cleveland, nor is it Pittsburgh, both of which he ranked as major cities having the worst characteristics for attracting or retaining the Creative Class. That's just part of the reason why Cleveland is the most impoverished big city in the nation. Check out the vacancy rates for downtown buildings -- the 29-story Ameritrust Tower has been 100% empty for 15 years, and the BP Tower has been half empty for almost as long. Others are almost as bad. Suburban office buildings have been stuck on the drawing board for years because of our stinky economy. C'mon people! Get mad! Anger is a great motivation for change. But I'm getting more upset with the fact that people don't seem to be angry with our embarassing situation. KJP

I see you missed my mentioning that Toronto was smaller and in worse shape than Cleveland as recently as 1960. Not all Canadian cities were better than U.S. cities. Cities change, and it's people that change them. They're not natural phenomena. What did they do to make their cities so dynamic, clean and cosmopolitan? What can we do to implement their best practices? Now, if Clevelanders don't want those things for ourselves, that's one thing. But, I think we do want them. Correct? So, what are we going to do about it? What is the vision for our metropolitan area? Sadly, we don't even have one. If we're going to call ourselves powerless over our destiny, then I say to Cleveland "Thanks for the memories" and I'll follow the talented, young people that are leaving Cleveland in droves for cities that have a vision of what they want to be and are pushing themselves to achieve it. KJP

The points made about the small downtown housing developments serving as stepping stones is a good one to make. But, MayDay's comment that we can't be a Toronto ignores the recent history of that city. In my lifetime, Toronto was an embarassment before Cleveland was. In the 1960's, my best friend traveled back from Montreal, passed Toronto's tired skyline, and asked his parents what city that was. They remarked "Toronto, but you don't want to go there." Toronto was what Cleveland would become -- neglected. In 1960, Toronto's population was less than 700,000 while Cleveland's was greater than 800,000. But, while we built highways, scrapped our streetcar system, ignored our decaying neighborhoods and built suburbs that drained the central city, Toronto built subways, acquired our streetcars, created urban redevelopment incentives and established a regional government to focus wealth back into the core city. The end result is that Toronto is a clean, dynamic, cosmopolitan city and, while it does have poor neighborhoods, you won't find a single slum where there are large tracts of abandoned land, buildings with that bombed-out look, or neighborhoods like Cleveland's that have more in common with those in a Third World country than in the most powerful nation on Earth. If you want to look at snapshots of the present day, then your supposition is correct. But cities can and do change for better or worse, and in a relatively short period of time. What we decide and do for Cleveland should be bold, because if we seek less, that's exactly what we'll get. KJP

Until they put the 20-story building atop the parking garage, then I'll start getting a tad stoked. Sometimes we act like a city is a natually evolving phenomenon and not the result of human dynamics. Cleveland can be whatever it wants to be, but right now there isn't a collective will to follow the best practices that great cities of the world have taken to attain their own status. If you want to be stoked over a parking garage and a few low-rise housing developments, that's your right. And, based on the lack of dynamism locally, you've got a lot of company. But we get from Cleveland what we demand of it. I hope we Clevelanders would not be satisfied with such morsels and instead create the dynamism we so desperately want. No one else is going to do it for us. KJP

Not a good sign when we're getting stoked about the construction of a five-story parking garage downtown! I miss the downtown building boom of the 1970s and especially the 80s (not missing much of the architecture though). I was in Chicago last month and in Toronto last summer. A 20- to 30-story apartment building doesn't even rate a front-page article in those cities. A friend of mine in Chicago handed to me their transit newspaper which had a leasing ad on the back page for a new 45-story condo tower next to Grant Park. Take a ride through that area on the Orange Line and you can't even tell which building that is because there's so many of a similar height that are under construction or recently built. Ditto for Toronto, especially up in North York, where the new Sheppard subway joins with the old Yonge subway. An entire suburban downtown has been built there in recent years. Check out.... http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/gallery/to-northyork02.htm and http://www.geocities.com/asiaglobe/gallery/northyork.htm Sad that our city is in such doldrums. But all is not hopeless. Back in the 1950s and into the 60s, Toronto used to be in as much of a mess as Cleveland has been. Torontonians decided they didn't want that for themselves anymore. So they built/rebuilt their city from the subways all the way up to the CN Tower. Plus, they capitalized on the fleeing of bank HQs from Quebec during the seperatists' troubles in the 1970s and 80s. So what can Cleveland build on and capitalize on? KJP

That's the old Cantina Del Rio restaurant, which closed in the mid- to late-1990s. Been vacant ever since. Glad to see the proposed housing, but more is needed on those unused surface parking lots near West 10th and Main on the East Bank, next to the Waterfront Line station. I guess beggars shouldn't be choosers. KJP

Zaceman, Do you (or anyone else) have any graphics of the proposed development at Ford and Euclid? I'm also looking for graphics of the proposed TOD at Mayfield next to the proposed, relocated Rapid station. Regards, KJP

The last picture is actually a proposed air-rail station at the Gary Regional Airport, just west of that Northwest Indiana city's downtown. I used it because the South Shore Railroad commuter trains appear similar to those on RTA's Red Line (Airport-Windermere). I believe the Harrisburg airport rail station has been funded, as was a $145 million state (er, commonwealth) supported project to increase regular train speeds between Harrisburg and Philadelphia from 90 to 110 mph (announced last month). The proposed Cleveland Hub station, often referred to as the North Coast Transportation Center, could actually look something like this (from a 1999 study commissioned by the RTA).....

Thanks. Now I understand why your forum name is "mayday"! Yes, Cleveland's was the first downtown-to-airport rail transit link in the Western Hemisphere. But, there were anomalies before that. Cleveland Hopkins had an air-rail link in the 1920s and early 30s, when the Cleveland Southwestern interurban line between Bucyrus, Medina, Berea and Cleveland stopped along Rocky River Drive to serve Hopkins. The line then continued north to Kamm's Corners, then on Cleveland Railway streetcar tracks along Lorain Avenue into downtown. Columbus also had a rail link between downtown and Port Columbus in the 1920s and 30s, but it existed as part of a larger service between St. Louis and New York City/Washington D.C. Port Columbus had a train station at Fifth Avenue and Hamilton Road, across the street from the old air terminal (still standing). Because runways didn't have navigational aids back then (like lighting!), flights from the west would land at Port Columbus in the evening and travelers would transfer to trains, then be in East Coast cities by morning. But, you could still board a Pennsylvania Railroad train at Union Station in downtown Columbus and ride out to Port Columbus, if you really wanted to. Here's how air-rail stations look nowadays in Frankfurt Germany.... Or in Amsterdam..... Or could be in Cleveland....