Nobody has mentioned this station's redevelopment...I saw it for the first time a couple weeks ago and it's interesting.

 

http://www.riderta.com/majorprojects/buckeyewoodhill/

 

Noted here:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,6956.msg576831.html#msg576831

 

 

My bad...I didn't realize it was started so long ago.

You've been riding for 40 years?? Don't you ever get off to eat/sh!t/shower? Yuck!

 

I'll never forget coming home from school about 20 years ago on the Green Line during a tremendous downpour. We pulled into the Woodhill station and the water was over the rails and platforms! When our train hit the water, a wake sprayed up from both sides of the train. The sound it made was incredible. I've never been on a train before or since that caused a wake, let alone one that splashed as high as the bottom of the train's windows!

 

I can remember the the station when cars were flooded and you couldn't see the rails, and before the upgrade trains would skip the station.

While driving by this morning saw the first evidence that they will begin work on the University Circle station soon.  They were putting up a construction fence around the perimeter of the station including the park.  I guess now that I think of it that this means they have begun construction.  Will be interesting to watch as I usually drive by every day.

^ Ground-breaking ceremony is 10 a.m. Sept. 19. FTA officials will be here.

Great!  I'm excited to see this project get built.  Love the design.  Seemingly night and day from the design process/quality for the Little Italy station...

^ Ground-breaking ceremony is 10 a.m. Sept. 19. FTA officials will be here.

 

Great. See you then!

Work has begun on the renovation of the Cedar-University Red Line Rapid Station.

 

Press release: http://www.riderta.com/newsroom/releases/?listingid=1785

 

Project updates: http://www.riderta.com/majorprojects/cedaruniversity/

a re-sized photo will appear here later

Great!  Thanks for the links and keeping us updated.

RTA's new Cedar Hill center to offer safer, more efficient way to use buses, trains

Published: Thursday, September 20, 2012, 8:00 AM    Updated: Thursday, September 20, 2012, 8:42 AM

  By Tom Breckenridge, The Plain Dealer

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio — An ugly, half century-old RTA transit center at the foot of Cedar Hill will become a sleeker, safer and more accessible hub with Wednesday's ground-breaking for an $18.5 million rebuild.

 

Station users won't lose access to buses and Red Line trains during the two-year construction. But it will be a pain for the estimated 33,000 drivers a day who ply the hilly link with Cleveland Heights, one of the city's busier commuter routes.

 

The biggest impact will be on drivers heading east out of the city and up the hill. Starting the first week of October, Cedar Avenue will squeeze to two lanes, instead of three, from about Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to Ambleside Road, officials said.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/09/rtas_new_cedar_hill_center_to.html#incart_river_default

^Too much of this article was about the upcoming hassle for drivers through area due to the changing traffic patterns as opposed to more details about the station itself.  I wish, in the PD articles about the Innerbelt reconstruction/bridge project, this much ink would be given about the hassles RTA rail riders endure(d) when entire weekends of service were shut down due to this road project.... Naaaa.

RTA's new Cedar Hill center to offer safer, more efficient way to use buses, trains

Published: Thursday, September 20, 2012, 8:00 AM    Updated: Thursday, September 20, 2012, 8:42 AM

  By Tom Breckenridge, The Plain Dealer

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio — An ugly, half century-old RTA transit center at the foot of Cedar Hill will become a sleeker, safer and more accessible hub with Wednesday's ground-breaking for an $18.5 million rebuild.

 

Station users won't lose access to buses and Red Line trains during the two-year construction. But it will be a pain for the estimated 33,000 drivers a day who ply the hilly link with Cleveland Heights, one of the city's busier commuter routes.

 

The biggest impact will be on drivers heading east out of the city and up the hill. Starting the first week of October, Cedar Avenue will squeeze to two lanes, instead of three, from about Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to Ambleside Road, officials said.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/09/rtas_new_cedar_hill_center_to.html#incart_river_default

 

I live on Ambleside Dr. facing Cedar Hill and am watching the progress.  The sidewalks are also really in need of some attention in this area.  Cedar sidewalks have sludge on them and dangerous cement stairs connecting to Ambleside.  The work on the Lakes to Lake bike path did not really fix the flooding of MLK sidewalks under the bridge (so far) and the underpasses for Cedar and Mayfield are even worse.

BTW, the recently completed Woodhill/Buckeye/E.93 station on the Blue/Green main line, with its huge steel & glass canopies, is very impressive.  Let's hope all the new ones, both planned and under construction are as nice.

Little Italy-Mayfield station graphics presented by RTA to the Landmarks Commission on Sept. 27, as Little Italy is an historic district....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This station will be great.

The proposed location couldn't be better: everything's on Mayfield anyway. In the time it would take you just to walk to Mayfield from the current station you'd already have walked all of Mayfield from the new station.

10/2/2012 10:00:00 AM   

 

Obama's 'We Can't Wait' initiative expedites Minneapolis, Cleveland transit projects

 

Yesterday, the Obama administration announced the Southwest Light-Rail Transit (LRT) project in Minneapolis and University Circle-Little Italy rapid transit station in Cleveland will be expedited as part of the "We Can't Wait" initiative.

 

Per a presidential executive order issued in March, the Office of Management and Budget was charged with overseeing an effort to make the permitting and review process for certain infrastructure projects more efficient to shave time off the projects' schedules.

 

"Investments in infrastructure are putting people back to work in Minneapolis and Ohio, building and modernizing our transit systems," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a prepared statement.

 

Read more at: http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=32772

This page has just been updated. The tunnel project begins on Nov. 26.

 

http://www.riderta.com/majorprojects/airporttunnel/

Oct. 23 ribbon-cutting set for Buckeye-Woodhill

 

At 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 23, officials will cut a ribbon to open the renovated Buckeye-Woodhill Rapid Station, which serves both the Green and Blue lines. The Station design uses both stairs and ramps to be completely accessible.

 

http://www.riderta.com/majorprojects/buckeyewoodhill/

Some highway contractors don't care where their business comes from as long as the money is green.......

 

Highway contractor to repair Cleveland rail line tunnel

 

On November 27, Ohio's Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) will begin work on restoration of the Red Line rail tunnel under Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

 

The $10.1-million project is being completed by Kokosing Construction Co, Inc., which will restore and improve the drainage, track, structure and safety systems of the tunnel.

 

The tunnel will be closed for six months. The Red Line tracks enter a tunnel under State Route 237 and continue under the airport access road and a parking lot. The tunnel is 1,628 feet long and will be closed for six months while work is being done.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.rtands.com/index.php/passenger/rapid-transit-light-rail/gcrta-tunnel-project-to-begin-in-november.html?channel=286#.UJBcshjYzys

^how is this going to work?  Will there be a shuttle to the Brookpark station?  If yes won't it just make more sense to also run an express bus from the airport all the way downtown for those that just want to get downtown and not access any other other stops on the line.  By the time one would wait for a shuttle and then wait for the rapid at Brookpark (especially in the cold this time of year) it might not be worth it and you would have a lot of people just finding another way downtown.

^how is this going to work?  Will there be a shuttle to the Brookpark station?  If yes won't it just make more sense to also run an express bus from the airport all the way downtown for those that just want to get downtown and not access any other other stops on the line.  By the time one would wait for a shuttle and then wait for the rapid at Brookpark (especially in the cold this time of year) it might not be worth it and you would have a lot of people just finding another way downtown.

 

I agree with this completely, and actually think that it might be beneficial for RTA to supplement their Airport service with bus service as well.  Currently the only option is the Red Line, obviously it is better than nothing but I would have thought there would have been 1 bus line that goes to the airport.  I guess the issue would be that you would want to differentiate the bus service from that of the Red Line, and besides Downtown I'm not sure where else they would go from there.

 

 

This might help.

 

During the shutdown, RTA will operate bus service between the bus stop area on the east side of the Brookpark Station and the the Airport terminal. Buses will have destination signs that read "Red Line". Bus service will be coordinated with the rail schedule. Buses will operate every 20 minutes until Dec. 9, when they will begin operating every 15 minutes.

 

Yes, that means that the Rapid repairs are almost over.

 

Most people who ride the Rapid to the Airport are employees of the city or TSA.

^how is this going to work?  Will there be a shuttle to the Brookpark station?  If yes won't it just make more sense to also run an express bus from the airport all the way downtown for those that just want to get downtown and not access any other other stops on the line.  By the time one would wait for a shuttle and then wait for the rapid at Brookpark (especially in the cold this time of year) it might not be worth it and you would have a lot of people just finding another way downtown.

 

I agree with this completely, and actually think that it might be beneficial for RTA to supplement their Airport service with bus service as well.  Currently the only option is the Red Line, obviously it is better than nothing but I would have thought there would have been 1 bus line that goes to the airport.  I guess the issue would be that you would want to differentiate the bus service from that of the Red Line, and besides Downtown I'm not sure where else they would go from there.

 

I totally disagree.  Many if not most people who ride rail simply will not ride city buses, so if there is a downtown bus route substitute, most will simply turn to cabs and airport limos.  Buses and trains are not interchangeable.  If they were, forward-thinking cities like Cleveland, Chicago, Philly and San Fran would not have spent the 10s and hundreds of $Millions to extend/build rapid rail lines to their international airports.  Therefore a bus all the way downtown, either to supplement or replace the short (about 8 tenths/mile) closed section from Hopkins to Brookpark, would be a complete waste of money.  RTA's plan to shuttle passengers to coordinate with Brookpark trains makes much more sense.  After all, airport passengers are used to/open to short shuttle rides.  LA and Boston use permanent airport bus shuttles to their rapid rail lines.  Air travelers here, and elsewhere, ride shuttles to satellite parking, Rental car terminals and other services -- in fact, Cleveland's rental car terminal is significantly further from Hopkins air terminal than the .8/mile to Brookpark.  So RTA has this one right. 

 

... btw Jerry, nice to know the 15-min Red Line intervals will return in December (after this + the return of daily Waterfront Line service in March may cause me to break out the champagne!).

^I personally would not do it.  You are exchaning a totally indoor trip that would take 25 minutes for possibly an hour trip and at least a minimal exposure to the weather toting luggage.  I would grab a cab and take the rapid once the tunnel is repaired.

^ Clvndr. thanks for saving me the keystrokes. We agree. To operate a bus plus the Rapid means competing with yourself for a finite customer base, and that's just bad business.

^how is this going to work?  Will there be a shuttle to the Brookpark station?  If yes won't it just make more sense to also run an express bus from the airport all the way downtown for those that just want to get downtown and not access any other other stops on the line.  By the time one would wait for a shuttle and then wait for the rapid at Brookpark (especially in the cold this time of year) it might not be worth it and you would have a lot of people just finding another way downtown.

 

I agree with this completely, and actually think that it might be beneficial for RTA to supplement their Airport service with bus service as well.  Currently the only option is the Red Line, obviously it is better than nothing but I would have thought there would have been 1 bus line that goes to the airport.  I guess the issue would be that you would want to differentiate the bus service from that of the Red Line, and besides Downtown I'm not sure where else they would go from there.

 

I totally disagree.  Many if not most people who ride rail simply will not ride city buses, so if there is a downtown bus route substitute, most will simply turn to cabs and airport limos.  Buses and trains are not interchangeable.  If they were, forward-thinking cities like Cleveland, Chicago, Philly and San Fran would not have spent the 10s and hundreds of $Millions to extend/build rapid rail lines to their international airports.  Therefore a bus all the way downtown, either to supplement or replace the short (about 8 tenths/mile) closed section from Hopkins to Brookpark, would be a complete waste of money.  RTA's plan to shuttle passengers to coordinate with Brookpark trains makes much more sense.  After all, airport passengers are used to/open to short shuttle rides.  LA and Boston use permanent airport bus shuttles to their rapid rail lines.  Air travelers here, and elsewhere, ride shuttles to satellite parking, Rental car terminals and other services -- in fact, Cleveland's rental car terminal is significantly further from Hopkins air terminal than the .8/mile to Brookpark.  So RTA has this one right. 

 

... btw Jerry, nice to know the 15-min Red Line intervals will return in December (after this + the return of daily Waterfront Line service in March may cause me to break out the champagne!).

 

I actually wasn't arguing for the airport service to go directly downtown.  I think it would be nice to have a bus route that does support the airport, however if it's not going downtown (or University Circle since we have the rapid covers both) I really have no idea where the service would go.  Therefore no service is needed, although I would love to hear possible ideas.

 

I am actually going to have a decision to make come March as I was planning on taking the Rapid from work to the Airport of a trip to Vegas.  May be using some of the wife's free parking days at Park Place instead.

^I personally would not do it.  You are exchaning a totally indoor trip that would take 25 minutes for possibly an hour trip and at least a minimal exposure to the weather toting luggage.  I would grab a cab and take the rapid once the tunnel is repaired.

 

Because you aren't working at the airport every day and you have choices. Many of the folks who work at the airport don't have cars or they share one car with more than one working-age person in their household. I encourage you to think beyond your own needs.

 

RTA's cost per hour of service is $133.60 (in 2011 dollars). If you're running the Red Line AND an airport bus service on 15-minute headways to downtown, that's a lot of extra hours of service for only 1,000 riders or so per day. Perhaps RTA considered running the shuttle buses only around shift changes at the airport because the rest of the service isn't as necessary. But since they're running only between Hopkins and the Brookpark station, RTA folks probably felt that was an expense worth adding despite the limited number of discretionary riders.

^I personally would not do it.  You are exchaning a totally indoor trip that would take 25 minutes for possibly an hour trip and at least a minimal exposure to the weather toting luggage.  I would grab a cab and take the rapid once the tunnel is repaired.

 

Because you aren't working at the airport every day and you have choices. Many of the folks who work at the airport don't have cars or they share one car with more than one working-age person in their household. I encourage you to think beyond your own needs.

 

RTA's cost per hour of service is $133.60 (in 2011 dollars). If you're running the Red Line AND an airport bus service on 15-minute headways to downtown, that's a lot of extra hours of service for only 1,000 riders or so per day. Perhaps RTA considered running the shuttle buses only around shift changes at the airport because the rest of the service isn't as necessary. But since they're running only between Hopkins and the Brookpark station, RTA folks probably felt that was an expense worth adding despite the limited number of discretionary riders.

 

I have no problems with RTA running the shuttle as they are going to during time the tunnel is down.  It actually makes a certain amount of sense for those who use the rapid regularly and can adjust their schedules to deal with the delay despite the inconvenicne.  That is life and we all have to do what we have to do (look at what the commuters in New York are dealing with now).

 

My point from the start was simply that many people (business travelers) are not going to want to deal with the delay and having to transfer twice and lug luggage up more stairs and wait in Brookpark station after first waiting for the shuttle at the airport.  That was why I asked if any thought was given to an express shuttle from the airport to downtown for those people who don't use the red line for other stops so RTA does not lose those riders during this period to cabs and the like.  SO IN THIS VEIN I AM LOOKING BEYOUND MY OWN PERSONAL NEEDS.  I am hoping that RTA is not going to lose customers due to this.  If the cost is prohibitive and does not make sense (not enough riders)  then they of course they should not consider it.

 

I can pretty much guarantee you that in the next six months I am not going to be taking the Red Line to the airport so I am not worried about it for my own sake.  If I WAS, I would take a cab rather than experience the longer ride the shuttle will result in.

 

 

I can pretty much guarantee you that in the next six months I am not going to be taking the Red Line to the airport so I am not worried about it for my own sake.  If I WAS, I would take a cab rather than experience the longer ride the shuttle will result in.

 

I can certainly understand that.

^I personally would not do it.  You are exchaning a totally indoor trip that would take 25 minutes for possibly an hour trip and at least a minimal exposure to the weather toting luggage.  I would grab a cab and take the rapid once the tunnel is repaired.

 

Because you aren't working at the airport every day and you have choices. Many of the folks who work at the airport don't have cars or they share one car with more than one working-age person in their household. I encourage you to think beyond your own needs.

 

RTA's cost per hour of service is $133.60 (in 2011 dollars). If you're running the Red Line AND an airport bus service on 15-minute headways to downtown, that's a lot of extra hours of service for only 1,000 riders or so per day. Perhaps RTA considered running the shuttle buses only around shift changes at the airport because the rest of the service isn't as necessary. But since they're running only between Hopkins and the Brookpark station, RTA folks probably felt that was an expense worth adding despite the limited number of discretionary riders.

 

I have no problems with RTA running the shuttle as they are going to during time the tunnel is down.  It actually makes a certain amount of sense for those who use the rapid regularly and can adjust their schedules to deal with the delay despite the inconvenicne.  That is life and we all have to do what we have to do (look at what the commuters in New York are dealing with now).

 

My point from the start was simply that many people (business travelers) are not going to want to deal with the delay and having to transfer twice and lug luggage up more stairs and wait in Brookpark station after first waiting for the shuttle at the airport.  That was why I asked if any thought was given to an express shuttle from the airport to downtown for those people who don't use the red line for other stops so RTA does not lose those riders during this period to cabs and the like.  SO IN THIS VEIN I AM LOOKING BEYOUND MY OWN PERSONAL NEEDS.  I am hoping that RTA is not going to lose customers due to this.  If the cost is prohibitive and does not make sense (not enough riders)  then they of course they should not consider it.

 

I can pretty much guarantee you that in the next six months I am not going to be taking the Red Line to the airport so I am not worried about it for my own sake.  If I WAS, I would take a cab rather than experience the longer ride the shuttle will result in.

 

 

 

I take the Red Line to the airport all the time for trips.  While not scientific, I'd surmise that most "business" travelers are actually Cleveland based rather than out-of-towners.  The rest of the riders are usually airport employees.  I don't think the ridership will suffer tremendously because of this invconvenience.  As noted above, we could have worse problems!  I was supposed to go to New York this week for business via JFK and am currently questioning whether I should attempt or not!

When is the Van Aken/Lee rapid station supposed to break ground?

 

The goal is to have the project out for bid by the end of 2013. No ground-breaking date has been set.

^Jerry the RTA website states that it was expected the construction contracts would be "awarded" during the summer of 2012.  Any reason for the substantial delay?

^Jerry the RTA website states that it was expected the construction contracts would be "awarded" during the summer of 2012.  Any reason for the substantial delay?

 

I thought they bid it out but everything came in high, so it went back to the drawing board for some value engineering before being rebid.

^^Actually, I think the above rendering of the new Lee Rd/Blue Line station is inaccurate -- the old Library/now Stephanie Tubbs-Jones Community Center in the left corner of the photo/rendering makes the station on the current site on the west side of Lee Rd, when my understanding is that RTA's plan is to flip the new station to the EAST side of Lee Rd.

No, that view is correct.  Station is on the east side of Lee

^well doesn't that picture show it on the west side of Lee Road?

No, that view is correct.  Station is on the east side of Lee

 

Sorry, but you're wrong.  I live/grew up 1.5 miles from here, and the building in the pic (the Steph T-J Community Center) is on the WEST side of Lee.  The beautiful old, mixed-use Kingsbury Building (not seen here)is on the EAST side of Lee.  Trust me on this one.

^well doesn't that picture show it on the west side of Lee Road?

 

Yes it does ... in fact, the rendering shows a reflection of the Kingsbury Building in the glass plates of the new station.

Sorry you are right they do have it on the west side of lee

I agree the rendering is wrong.  That rendering shows the station on the East side of Lee Rd at Van Aken.

Who cares?

Who cares?

 

Grumpy....we do.  :P We're all about accuracy here on urbanohio.  Who pee'd in your breakfast cereal? :angel:

^Thanks, MTS.

It's minutiae.

It's minutiae.

HUSH!

I just noticed in the NOACA TIP that RTA intends to go after FTA Rail Modernization funds rather than New Starts for the Blue Line extension to the other side of Warrensville. I assume this is because RTA could not win New Starts funds for this project? See page 188 at....

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Planning/STIP/Final%20MPO%20TIPs/Cleveland-NOACA.pdf

 

I also note the total cost of the project is estimated at $63,550,500. I realize this is a complicated project, so I'd like to see all that is included in that amount. If I remember correctly, this involves constructing two new stations, all new street-crossing infrastructure, power supply and possibly a new electrical substation?

I know it's been explained above, but that number is still mind-boggling for such a project.  Really hard for me to understand how the feds will think it's worth it for such a low ridership line.  But would be swell.

That's why it wouldn't qualify for New Starts money. Apparently RTA has FTA approval to go after Rail Modernization funds. RTA uses this FTA program for rebuilding its various stations. I don't believe it has the same ridership scoring requirements as New Starts. So it makes sense for RTA to say it's not really extending its Blue Line. It's actually relocating the Warrensville station. Yet the activity described in NOACA's TIP is "Blue Line Extension" -- so I hope the wording doesn't hurt their chances.