KJP

In my gangster voice "I got yer farebox recovery ratio right here!" Wisconsin Republicans spent like 15 years talking about how no one would ride a train in the Midwest and it would be an expensive boondoggle...and then a new route was added and it turned a profit in less than two weeks. https://bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2024/07/03/borealis-train-amtrak-passengers-milwaukee-chicago.html

Keep an eye on Beryl's remnants this week

That's not what it says. In fact it says the opposite.

Cleveland’s lakefront has something no other major Great Lakes city has By Ken Prendergast / July 6, 2024 When looking at Chicago’s enviable lakefront, it never had it. Toronto’s did, but not anymore. Same with Milwaukee’s and Hamilton’s but due to different circumstances. Detroit, Buffalo, Toledo and smaller cities like Green Bay and Erie never did. What are we talking about here? A busy mainline freight railroad routed along a major Great Lake city’s downtown waterfront. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2024/07/06/clevelands-lakefront-has-something-no-other-major-great-lakes-city-has/

I don't see a problem, especially by saying "phased approach" provides an out. The 3C Quick Start in 2010 was a phased approach but only described the first phase, which made it an easier target.

Don't make me sad. 🥲

My Acela commercial would be to show closeups of different features and angles of a stationary Corvette or some other sports car, with a disembodied voice saying "It has aerodynamic styling, best-in-class amenities, at-seat power outlets with powerful on-board WiFi, a constant-time infotainment system, fold-out tables for eating, working or playing, ergonomically designed seats and leg room that let you relax on your way to your destination at up to 160 mph, and a smooth, powerful, 100-percent electric engine that produces 6,200 horsepower with one-third the emissions of the competition..." as the camera pulls back to reveal the sports car is stuck in traffic on I-95 as an Acela train sails by at full speed "....while letting you get ready for that big meeting today." The camera zooms into the train where a businessman is on a laptop and a phone working. Next, you seem him get off the train and greet his family on the platform. "No, I'm all done for the day. Let's go to Timmy's game!"

July 4th gas prices expected to hit lowest level since the pandemic depressed prices. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/july-4-2024-gas-prices-lowest-since-2021-travel/

Several reports now say the 27-year-old officer died... Cleveland police officer shot overnight https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/cleveland-police-officer-shot-overnight

Next steps for Bedrock’s riverfront development By Ken Prendergast / July 3, 2024 On Friday July 12, representatives of Bedrock Real Estate will make a presentation to Cleveland’s City Planning Commission about the upcoming steps they will take to ready the site for their ambitious $3.5 billion riverfront development plan. But a majority of those early steps boil down to just one foundational word — infrastructure. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2024/07/03/next-steps-for-bedrocks-riverfront-development/

Cleveland makes prime Ohio City site available By Ken Prendergast / July 2, 2024 For years, the underutilized McCafferty Health Center at 4242 Lorain Ave. in Cleveland’s booming Ohio City neighborhood has been a topic of interest among real estate developers and community leaders. Today, Cleveland city officials announced they will soon be entertaining proposals for the site’s development. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2024/07/02/cleveland-to-make-prime-ohio-city-site-available/

616 units between the two developments. Average household size in Cleveland is 2.4 persons but these are likely to attract younger people and empty nesters without families. So it will probably be more likely downtown Cleveland where the average number of people per unit is 2. At a 90 percent occupancy (554 units), that's about 1,108 new residents.

Over the last three years, CPD lost about 550 police officers. The city just started increasing pay this year but that's only a part of the problem.... Officer hit by dirt bike on city street: EMS https://fox8.com/news/officer-hit-by-dirt-bike-on-city-street-ems/

It's a navigable waterway and the cost of building track ramps to gain enough elevation to have a fixed bridge would be far more than $1.3 billion. If you look at it on a map, it also requires bridging over marshes on both sides of the Connecticut River -- about 1 mile on the east side of the river and a half-mile on the west. Perhaps the only way around this is to build a proposed dedicated high speed rail line from Hartford to Providence. This would also avoid lots of other curving parts of the existing right of way along the shoreline, which is also increasingly subject to more flooding as a result of climate change. The fact that they're building this bridge tells me that any new dedicated high speed line built inland is a long way off if ever.

Let’s do another one! Cleveland entrepreneurs of color to compete again By Ken Prendergast / July 1, 2024 After a successful inaugural effort of the Cleveland Equitable Development Initiative (CLE-EDI), the Cleveland Development Advisors (CDA) didn’t waste any time at all in deciding to pursue a second round of competitions for 2024-25. Applications open today for the CLE-EDI which aims to level the playing field for historically excluded real estate developers of color. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2024/07/01/lets-do-another-one-cleveland-entrepreneurs-of-color-to-compete-again/

Yes, the new bridge will be movable.

Only that which is necessary to serve the port and other customers. We tend to admire and seek to replicate the lakefronts in Toronto and Chicago and to a lesser extent Milwaukee. They all have one thing in common -- few if any freight trains along it. Column idea 💡 !

No because no existing structure is next to it that could be weakened by excavating a new foundation.

I realize this bridge is an older bridge and probably needed to be replaced. But was it an emergency? Could it be repaired? Is the greatest benefit to this project the modest increase in speed from 45 to 70 mph? I ask these questions because this is a $1.3 billion project. For $1.3 billion, we could provide the infrastructure for a 110 mph passenger services on a route like 3C&D Corridor, or Chicago-Fort Wayne-Columbus. or Cleveland-Toledo-Detroit. Amtrak awards Connecticut River Bridge construction contract https://www.progressiverailroading.com/amtrak/news/Amtrak-awards-Connecticut-River-Bridge-construction-contract--72267

If Brightline or any frequent passenger service provider had its main station on Cleveland's lakefront, it would likely require either the Lakefront Bypass or finding a way to squeeze in just one main track for passenger trains in the direction(s) from downtown they would be traveling. The most difficult direction from downtown to which to add a new main track would be to the west/southwest along the existing NS mainline to Berea. The reason is that the Red Line tracks are right up against the NS main tracks southwest of the RTA West Boulevard station. On the other side of the NS main, buildings, bridge abutments, overpasses, industrial siding tracks and the access tracks to the Rockport Yard/Cloggsville Line are impediments to adding just one passenger-only track to this segment. It looks like it can be done for one main track (for about $10 million to $20 million per mile over 12 miles) but two tracks would be VERY expensive because the I-90 and I-71 overpasses would have to have their abutments moved back at least one track space and the overhead bridge spans lengthened (or more more likely replaced). Adding one or more passenger tracks to the SW from the lakefront may also require adding another movable bridge over the Cuyahoga River at its mouth -- the busiest portion of the river. There would have to be a determination made whether to do this OR construct the Lakefront Bypass for freight trains and move them to just south of downtown, ironically using much of the trackage of the former Cleveland Union Terminal passenger trains. That means adding/rebuilding tracks, bridges and overpasses so up to 70 daily through NS freight trains can be relocated off the lakefront (leaving a few day freights that serve local shippers, the port, etc). So that again gets us to the question -- is the lakefront the best place for a passenger rail station or Tower City?

Not bad faith, just ignorance. The train may be slower, but you can still saving time because you can be more productive on the train than you can be while behind the wheel. that time now belongs to you rather than to the car.

Unknown. The city was going to make an announcement about the closure of Burke a month ago but pulled it back at the absolute last second. Even some pretty high-level sources are not sure why, which leads me to believe that something pretty big happened.

Probably. But it's still going to be many years before anyone can answer that question.

Yes, that's an active confined disposal facility for all dredgings from the harbor and navigable river channel. So it's constantly growing. But that's going to be shifted to the CHEERS recreation site.

The Surfliner isn't very fast. It does top out at 90 mph but there's a lot of slow spots including the mini Horseshoe Curve just north of San Diego. And if you're living in the Inland Empire, getting to San Diego means going to Downtown LA first which adds even more trip time.