April 13, 201510 yr What are the new land use plans for E. 79 Red line? I remember a few months ago the discussion about relocating that one and the one at 34th. Also, hopefully the OC and the rebuilding of the station can generate some Clinic-related use of 105th-Quincy. It's a far walk though.
April 13, 201510 yr What are the new land use plans for E. 79 Red line? I remember a few months ago the discussion about relocating that one and the one at 34th. No plans yet. The city and RTA have agreed to develop planning for the East 79th station area. Click on the PD article linked from the All Aboard Ohio blog posting. Also, hopefully the OC and the rebuilding of the station can generate some Clinic-related use of 105th-Quincy. It's a far walk though. No need to travel from the East 105th station to the Clinic. Soon, the Clinic and its spinoffs will be coming to it in the form of the New Economy neighborhood. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 18, 201510 yr GCRTA track construction crews descended on Shaker Square this morning to take advantage of ODOT's (for the Inner Belt) east-side rail shut-down.... "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 18, 201510 yr ^why would the entire east side rail system shut down for an innerbelt thing? if it really gets that close, why not operate to 34 St and provide shuttle buses to public square? RTA could have charged those costs to the ODOT project. Or maybe they're trying to say, see? we don't the rapid system on weekends.
April 18, 201510 yr ^why would the entire east side rail system shut down for an innerbelt thing? if it really gets that close, why not operate to 34 St and provide shuttle buses to public square? RTA could have charged those costs to the ODOT project. Or maybe they're trying to say, see? we don't the rapid system on weekends. ^^see above--they are doing track work east of the bridge on Shaker Square, Lee Rd, etc....
April 18, 201510 yr ^why would the entire east side rail system shut down for an innerbelt thing? if it really gets that close, why not operate to 34 St and provide shuttle buses to public square? RTA could have charged those costs to the ODOT project. Or maybe they're trying to say, see? we don't the rapid system on weekends. Really? It's a conspiracy to shut down rail on the weekends?
April 19, 201510 yr ^^see above--they are doing track work east of the bridge on Shaker Square' date=' Lee Rd, etc...[/quote'] KJP had said the east side lines were closed for the innerbelt---and because of this did some work at Shaker Sq and elsewhere. Really? It's a conspiracy to shut down rail on the weekends? Well its gotta be something----very very poor service at best.
April 24, 201510 yr It's not a conspiracy. If you're going to shut down rail lines for major construction, the weekend is the best time for it. RTA's weekday ridership is many times higher than its weekend ridership. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 24, 201510 yr ^I just don't know why they couldn't work out an agreement for ODOT to do this work at night. ODOT does major bridge construction on its interstates at this time -- like the Warrensville Road bridge rebuild over I-480 a couple years ago, at night. They closed I-480 from about 10p till 6a, and like the Inner Belt, they moved in the major beams under the roadway into place -- no doubt, the biggest move in road construction; and they got it done easily and within the timeframe. I just wonder why, when it comes to the Rapid, they work during the daytime on weekends and shut everything down on the East Side. It just seems rail transit has a lower priority in Cleveland. I also believe, if Joe C. wanted to exercise some strength, he could negotiate this with ODOT. There are just FAR too many total rail shutdowns on RTA. Far more than on any system I've seen or experienced.
April 24, 201510 yr I follow a lot of transit agencies on twitter and I notice that some do have shutdowns on weekends. Follow TTC. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 28, 201510 yr Lee Van Aken Station construction is moving forward. How about UC-Little Italy? They should be close to putting on the finishing touches.
April 28, 201510 yr Nope. Nowhere near it. It is a mess down there. But closer than before. I'll try to get some pics this weekend when I am down there.
May 17, 201510 yr ^ June, according to a buddy of mine doing inspection work at the Little Italy station. RTA's website is now stating "Fall 2015" for UC-Little Italy station completion.
May 20, 201510 yr Lee Van Aken construction is progressing nicely. I would like to take credit for the photo but it was taken by a great project manager.
May 20, 201510 yr Wow, the Lee-Van Aken station seems to be moving a lot faster than UC-Little Italy while the former faces more difficult logistics and traffic conditions. The new Lee Rd looks to be a serious upgrade over the rundown station that is being replaced. Let's hope that the public, and more importantly RTA, takes care of it better once it opens. RTA's station maintenance record is not good at all.
May 21, 201510 yr ^Yeah, I'm pretty surprised just how long the UC-LI station is taking to finish. Based on the photo KJP posted last September (8 months ago), it looked like the trickiest parts were wrapped up, but maybe even work on the platform superstructure can only occur when trains aren't running.
May 29, 201510 yr ^Yeah, I'm pretty surprised just how long the UC-LI station is taking to finish. Based on the photo KJP posted last September (8 months ago), it looked like the trickiest parts were wrapped up, but maybe even work on the platform superstructure can only occur when trains aren't running. UPDATE (sorry no photos): I drove to, around the construction site, and the track-level portion of the headhouse is now glass enclosed. Electrical lighting has been partially installed, inside the headhouse and beneath the 2 Rapid bridges (looks pretty funky -- it'd be nice if this kind of bright lighting were installed under the much wider NS bridges so that the tunnel along Mayfield Ave. would be much less intimidating for Uptown visitors/commuters -- I'm sure something is planned). The structure for the short platform canopy is in place as are light stanchions along the uncovered portion of the platform -- but only wires for eventual lighting are protrude from the poles. There didn't appear to be any station finishing yet ... in short, there's a long way to go. It amazes me that the developers of The 9 project completed their gigantic development (rehab of the Breuer tower and connected properties) in just over a year, yet this much smaller project is taking so long...
May 29, 201510 yr One positive, quiet innovation at the Blue-Green line junction at Shaker Square went on line recently (apparently). Gone forever (I hope) is the (semi) manual, push-button switch whereby train drivers would have to slowly sidle their vehicles up to the button, stop and push for whichever branch they wanted to proceed along. I hadn't noticed it until the other day when our Green Line train just cruised right through the junction and across Van Aken without stopping -- weird!... and I know for a fact that a Blue Line train was the last train through the junction. The old archaic push-button switch had been around as long as I can remember. A new traffic-light type signal has also replaced the old RR-type signal at the junction... Either the drivers can now control the switches from inside the train, or the switch is now controlled by the RTA tower, which more likely the case; I can't see RTA spending the big bucks for such in-train control ... Whichever the case, this is a welcome upgrade indeed ... Now if RTA could work with Cleveland, SHAD to upgrade/speed up those horrible Shaker Square traffic signals that really slow down trains...
May 29, 201510 yr It amazes me that the developers of The 9 project completed their gigantic development (rehab of the Breuer tower and connected properties) in just over a year, yet this much smaller project is taking so long... What existing structures and operations did The 9 first have to move out of the way in order to construct a new structure where none had existed before? Now if RTA could work with Cleveland, SHAD to upgrade/speed up those horrible Shaker Square traffic signals that really slow down trains... Having the roadway traffic signals in Shaker Square be activated by the approach of trains is a very basic, common technology that could be added for perhaps as much as $100,000 total for all the road crossings west of Coventry and northwest of Drexmore to the Shaker Square station. It could save 2-3 minutes of travel time per train on the Blue/Green lines. If it's only two minutes saved per train x 80 trains per day x 365 days, that's nearly 1,000 service hours saved per year. GCRTA's average cost per service hour is about $135, so GCRTA could recoup the savings from this investment in one year -- IF the city goes along with it. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 29, 201510 yr ^I get that removing the industrial track and relocating the eastbound track were big jobs. But those changes were done pretty quickly nearly 2 years ago-- even though putting Red Line trains back in service through the station area seemed to drag on. The station building just seems to be going very slowly, and opening dates (including restoring Red Line service) have been pushed back. Other equally large and complex station projects, like the E. 55 street station rebuild that interrupted service on 3 different rail routes, moved along faster (and was completed on schedule) than Little Italy.
May 29, 201510 yr ^I get that removing the industrial track and relocating the eastbound track were big jobs. But those changes were done pretty quickly nearly 2 years ago That was only last year. Note the Google views from June 14, 2014: Close-up.... I'm told GCRTA's goal is to finish the Little Italy station by the Feast of the Assumption which is the weekend of Aug. 14-16. However this will almost certainly make you unhappy: Between GCRTA and ODOT construction projects, different parts of the rail system will be shut down virtually every weekend for the rest of the summer. June may actually be the least busy, as work will get even busier in July and August. What work? Old, decaying roadway bridges over the NS/GCRTA Red Line tracks will be demolished in late July and early August as part of the Opportunity Corridor. Demolishing the East 79th, East 105th and possibly the East 89th bridges will be demolished. Perhaps a temporary pedestrian accessway will be provided over the tracks to the East 79th Red Line station while that bridge is demolished and replaced. East 89th will be replaced ONLY by a pedestrian bridge. And East 105th will be replaced by a wider bridge with a new Red Line station access point on the east side of the new bridge. More... Some work will be done to the East 81st and East 83rd streets below the combined Blue/Green Line which will require the Shaker lines to be shut down on more than one weekend by late July. I'm not sure what this work involves. I'm wondering if this will be new rail bridge decks over these streets. I seem to recall seeing these in the NOACA TIP. Also, the west end of the Red Line will have to be shut down later this summer as the contractor working on the Brookpark station needs to replace the elevator casing between the tracks and do various tunnel work below the tracks. So shuttle buses will operate between the Airport, Brookpark and (possibly) Puritas/West 150th stations while that work is occurring. A brief shutdown may be required while the soon-to-be abandoned Euclid-East 120th station on the Red Line is demolished. This may not happen until next year, however. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 30, 201510 yr ^I don't like the frequency of these total shutdowns, but I mind less if RTA is making real improvements and maintenance to the rail system. If they're tearing down deteriorating bridges over the Red Line --- which they'd have to do anyway, OC or no OC, then fine. If it's replacing the track deck on Blue-Green line bridges, then OK. But what bugs me are these constant ODOT shutdowns, notably the Inner Belt which has been constant, and RTA isn't specifying why. The main girders for the bridge supports were moved into place a few weeks ago, now the East Side Rapid is shut down ... AGAIN this weekend because of ODOT... now what. RTA has done a piss-poor job of communicating a schedule and spelling out specifically why they are having all these non-rail related shutdowns, nor are they presenting any schedule as to why. And of course, neither Alison Grant nor the lazy PD is asking these questions either. Also, you haven't addressed, (really, RTA should address), why the regular rail maintenance shutdowns, single tracking and slowdowns, and we still have tons of "slow zones" on the Red Line. In fact, on a couple spots on the Red Line west, trains literally came to a stop in more than one place. Why?
May 30, 201510 yr It honestly probably has a lot to do with the fact that you can't have people, or trains operating underneath a construction project in case things fall. The girders are in place but what about the deck etc.
May 30, 201510 yr But what bugs me are these constant ODOT shutdowns, notably the Inner Belt which has been constant, and RTA isn't specifying why. FYI: the Inner Belt bridge project won't be completed until late-2016. Also, you haven't addressed, (really, RTA should address), why the regular rail maintenance shutdowns, single tracking and slowdowns, and we still have tons of "slow zones" on the Red Line. In fact, on a couple spots on the Red Line west, trains literally came to a stop in more than one place. Why? RTA should answer that as I don't know what the reason(s) are. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 9, 201510 yr Visual progress report on the Mayfield-Little Italy Red Line station.... All Aboard Ohio @AllAboardOhio 30s30 seconds ago New @GCRTA #rail station at Mayfield-Little Italy in Cleveland is most ped-friendly neighborhood station on Red Line. The lights are on but no one is home -- yet. The nearest track (for eastbound trains) and its bridge over Mayfield had to be moved about 10 feet east last summer to shoehorn the station between the westbound and eastbound tracks. I hope the station interior has good drainage as summer thunderstorms have been known to turn Mayfield into a rushing river! "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 9, 201510 yr I've been curious about that graffiti. Are they gonna cover it once the station is completed?
June 9, 201510 yr I've been curious about that graffiti. Are they gonna cover it once the station is completed? Yes, it's old graffiti left over from the old concrete vault that was supposed to be the casing for a station started by the Van Swerigen brothers in the 1920s for the east-west rapid transit but never finished. Until now. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 9, 201510 yr Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that I read somewhere that once the RTA renovates/replaces it's current stations it would be easier to obtain federal money for things like red line expansion. Is that correct or somewhat correct?
June 9, 201510 yr Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that I read somewhere that once the RTA renovates/replaces it's current stations it would be easier to obtain federal money for things like red line expansion. Is that correct or somewhat correct? First I've heard of it. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 11, 201510 yr Just stumbled across this random slideshow on Cleveland.com showing progress on the Little Italy rapid station project: http://photos.cleveland.com/4501/gallery/new_rta_station_in_clevelands_/index.html#/0
June 11, 201510 yr ^ They're making progress. It still looks like the station is several months away from opening... RTA has now moved it back to "Fall 2015."
June 12, 201510 yr Take a look at the University Circle-Little Italy rapid station opening soon (photos) By Alison Grant, The Plain Dealer Email the author | Follow on Twitter on June 12, 2015 at 10:00 AM, updated June 12, 2015 at 10:03 AM CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Riders getting on and off Red Line trains in the University Circle-Little Italy district will find a more welcoming, light-drenched station come mid-August. RTA is wrapping up a $17.5 million project to build a new rail stop on Mayfield Road at East 119th Street, with an entrance-way sheltered by a semi-circular canopy, floor to ceiling windows on the train platform level, and outer walls wrapped in ribbons of stainless steel mesh that will be lit at night with multi-colored LED lights. "If you're at the restaurants on Murray Hill at night you'll be able to see the glowing," said RTA's Matthew Marotta, construction architect. "Even in the daytime it will be dynamic, with the sun shining on it." http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/06/univuniversity_circle-little_italy_rapid_station_opening_soonersity_circle-little_italy.html#incart_related_stories
June 13, 201510 yr Glad they also showed the reconstruction of the Shaker Square junction of the Blue & Green lines. That was a significant track replacement project which also automated the junction. So no more stopping of trains so the train operator can lean out the window, press a button, and get the switches and signals to line up so the train can go through. Now if we can just make the roadway traffic signals interact with the trains so they can roll through Shaker Square without stopping, it would save a couple minutes per train. That adds up to about 1,000 service hours over a day, week, month, year. GCRTA spends $222 per vehicle service hour (way more than the national average), so having Shaker Square's traffic signals interact with the trains could save about $222,000 per year. If all of the traffic signals on both the Blue and Green lines similarly interacted with the trains, even more substantial savings would be possible and they would speed up the trains, making them more attractive to ride. But I wonder if Cleveland and Shaker Heights would OK this? "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 13, 201510 yr From the UC-Little Italy station PD article: The current project ends abruptly at the railroad bridges crossing Mayfield, as the street and sidewalks enter a dark, puddled underpass where walls are shedding small chunks of concrete. But that will be different next year. RTA has hired City Architecture to design a makeover of the underpass. One element will involve extending the ribbon of LED lighting from the station for illumination. "We're going to clean it up, light it, keep the debris from the railroad away," said Joseph Shaffer, RTA's director of engineering and project development. He said the work will be done by the fall of 2016. So the N-S underpass at the new station will remain as dark, dank and nasty as the one at the current Euclid-E.120 stop for another 1+ years. Why wasn't this cleanup better coordinated with the station building?
June 14, 201510 yr Take a look at the University Circle-Little Italy rapid station opening soon (photos) By Alison Grant, The Plain Dealer Email the author | Follow on Twitter on June 12, 2015 at 10:00 AM, updated June 12, 2015 at 10:03 AM CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Riders getting on and off Red Line trains in the University Circle-Little Italy district will find a more welcoming, light-drenched station come mid-August. RTA is wrapping up a $17.5 million project to build a new rail stop on Mayfield Road at East 119th Street, with an entrance-way sheltered by a semi-circular canopy, floor to ceiling windows on the train platform level, and outer walls wrapped in ribbons of stainless steel mesh that will be lit at night with multi-colored LED lights. "If you're at the restaurants on Murray Hill at night you'll be able to see the glowing," said RTA's Matthew Marotta, construction architect. "Even in the daytime it will be dynamic, with the sun shining on it." http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/06/univuniversity_circle-little_italy_rapid_station_opening_soonersity_circle-little_italy.html#incart_related_stories Three things: #1. Will their be more glass by the platform area than what was shown in the pictures? As it stands now there is just a lot of concrete I see and it looks pretty bland. #2. How long is the platform going to be? From the photos it looks kind of short, will it be able to hold 3-4 cars if need be? #3. That station was originally intended to be a station that helped in connecting East Cleveland with downtown, didn't that technically get accomplished?
June 14, 201510 yr One thing that I believe the RTA should begin to invest in with their new stations are restrooms. It is unlikely that they do, but it would prevent stations from ending up like E.120 or the old U-C station which smelled like complete urine throughout. Superior station could use some TLC as well, I believe it smells like that and is pretty creepy now.
June 14, 201510 yr There sure aren't many places to use a bathroom on most transit systems. And you can't go in to a store/restaurant to use the restroom unless you buy something. Cities are truly restroom deserts. Of course the thought of a public restroom on a transit system gives nightmares to many a transit official. But there are options, including this newest advance.... A Hands-Free, Self-Cleaning Bathroom for Transit Stations Has the "public restroom of the future" arrived in Atlanta? ERIC JAFFE @e_jaffe Feb 17, 2015 It's not easy to find a bathroom when you're traveling on public transportation in the United States. Mass transit agencies tend to keep facilities closed up because they're very costly to monitor and maintain. It's just too big a burden when the station agents who are supposed to be helping riders instead become bathroom attendants, janitors, and transit cops in one. Some systems have stopped including bathrooms in station designs at all. Still, sometimes, you just gotta go. And for those occasions, Atlanta believes it's found an answer: a high-tech, hands-free, self-cleaning, vandal-resistant, loiter-proof bathroom built to address every mass transit agency concern and offer safe and sanitary service to the fare-paying public. This super-loo opened about a month ago in MARTA's Lindbergh Center Station, with plans for a second in East Point Station. If the two pilots work well, they might just change the way transit agencies across the country view station bathrooms. MORE, INCLUDING PHOTOS: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/02/a-hands-free-self-cleaning-bathroom-for-transit-stations/385549/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 14, 201510 yr Or a less-expensive portable crapper... Mission District public toilets staffed with attendant Bay City News Service Published: June 3, 2015, 10:59 pm SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco’s Mission District, traditionally a neighborhood with a high volume of requests for the city to remove human waste, is the newest neighborhood to benefit from staffed public toilets. San Francisco Public Works opened its fifth staffed public toilet location, as part of its Pit Stop program, at 16th and Mission streets today. Instead of the portable pit stops that have been rolled out in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods, the one in the Mission uses the existing JCDecaux public bathroom structures. MORE, WITH PHOTO: http://kron4.com/2015/06/03/mission-district-public-toilets-staffed-with-attendant/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 14, 201510 yr One thing that I believe the RTA should begin to invest in with their new stations are restrooms. It is unlikely that they do, but it would prevent stations from ending up like E.120 or the old U-C station which smelled like complete urine throughout. Superior station could use some TLC as well, I believe it smells like that and is pretty creepy now. That's a GREAT IDEA, McLovin.
June 14, 201510 yr One thing that I believe the RTA should begin to invest in with their new stations are restrooms. It is unlikely that they do, but it would prevent stations from ending up like E.120 or the old U-C station which smelled like complete urine throughout. Superior station could use some TLC as well, I believe it smells like that and is pretty creepy now. That's a GREAT IDEA, McLovin. Thank you very much! I just feel like it will allow the station to stay nice for longer since station maintenance seems to lack with the RTA [emoji2]
June 15, 201510 yr Sadly, many transit agencies would rather defer maintenance so they can instead use capital dollars to replace station features, etc. Capital dollars are more readily available than operating funds. Once upon a time, the federal government gave operating grants to transit agencies. Now they only give capital grants so there's less of an incentive for transit agencies to maintain capital goods. And deferring maintenance also makes the operating bottom line look better, too. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 22, 20159 yr One in 10 miles of RTA rail track under 'go-slow' orders By Alison Grant, The Plain Dealer Email the author | Follow on Twitter on June 22, 2015 at 11:00 AM, updated June 22, 2015 at 11:10 AM CLEVELAND, Ohi0 -- When Darius Stubbs started riding the Red Line rapid after moving to Cleveland in 2006, it usually rumbled along without a hitch from West 117th Street to downtown. Lately, not so much. Stubbs said the start-and-slow pace of the train Friday morning on the West Side of Cleveland happens a lot. His two-car train picked up speed after leaving rail platforms at West Boulevard and West 65th Street, only to unaccountably drop to speeds of 5 to 10 mph on straightaway sections of track. "It just seems like between every station, we're stopping or slowing down," said Stubbs, an actor and teaching artist headed to PlayhouseSquare for a symposium on screen writing. "When those slowdowns happen, they add quite a bit of time." The culprit: Aging track ties and instability in the track bed, or ballast, that force operators to apply the brakes in order to proceed safely. Culprit No. 2: A gap of $150 million that it would take to bring the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's 63 miles of Red, Blue, Green and Waterfront track to an excellent or good state of repair. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/06/one_1_ione_1_in_10_miles_of_rta_rail_track_under_go-slow_ordersn_10_miles_of_rta_rapid.html#incart_river
June 25, 20159 yr Lots of embedded links and photos at: http://allaboardohio.org/2015/06/24/infrastructure-repair-tab-growing-in-cleveland/ Infrastructure repair tab growing: Cleveland kjprendergast on June 24, 2015 The inability of the State of Ohio and the federal government to address our infrastructure needs continues to rear its ugly head in an increasing number of case examples. Here's the latest.... Cleveland needs $150 million to bring its rail Rapid transit system's tracks up to a state of good repair. This was noted in a recent article that trains of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) must travel at reduced speed over one out of every 10 miles on Cleveland's rail system. Cleveland's 63 miles of track on three rail lines (Blue, Green and Red Lines) carry 20% of GCRTA's ridership; the other 62 GCRTA transit routes (bus) carry the remainder. Despite the track improvement backlog, Cleveland's rail system is still more cost-effective (measured using industry metrics like cost per passenger-mile and cost per unlinked passenger trip) than regular route buses. But that backlog is just the tip of the fiscal iceberg. The $150 million figure doesn't include about $250 million needed ASAP for new trains or roughly $80 million for modernizing the trains' electrical power system with low-maintenance, constant-tension catenary wires. GCRTA's aging trains and outdated, overhead catenary wires have affected GCRTA's service reliability, especially last winter. But the reliability problems have occurred this summer as well, as GCRTA struggles to find replacement parts to keep old air conditioning systems operational. Some Red Line trains have operated with only one car, causing overcrowding. Cleveland was one of the nation's few cities with rail until the 1980s. Its Shaker light-rail (Blue & Green) lines were constructed between 1913 and 1936, although the short Waterfront Line was added in 1996. The crosstown heavy-rail Red Line was built between 1928 and 1968. Cleveland and a handful of other legacy rail cities enjoyed exclusive access to federal "rail modernization" grants to keep their systems in a state of good repair. Since the 1980s, many US cities have built rail systems and those systems are now aging, too. Cleveland must compete with more cities for fewer federal rail modernization grants. And, of course, Ohio provides near-zero transit funding. This must change! We cannot maintain a first-world transportation system on a third-world transportation budget with many costly regulations. SAVE THE DATE: Join All Aboard Ohio from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 15 (the only date this summer when construction of bridges and/or tracks isn't scheduled!) for a guided tour of the good, the bad and the ugly in Cleveland's rail system including most routes, its new/rebuilt stations, maintenance facilities, plus station-area developments. We thank GCRTA for sponsoring this fun, informative event! In case you're wondering, GCRTA can't easily abandon any of its rail lines. To do so would require refunding tens if not hundreds of millions of federal rail grants from the last 10-20 years for major station, track, bridge and substation projects. GCRTA must also hold public meetings for any proposal to terminate or substantially alter rail service. There was a loud neighborhood outcry recently when GCRTA considered closing the little-used East 34th and East 79th Red Line stations. Imagine the response to GCRTA attempting to abandon an entire rail line. In All Aboard Ohio's opinion, improving the efficiency and utility of Cleveland's rail system is paramount. It should involve: + modernization of existing rail infrastructure, power delivery systems and rolling stock costing about $500 million; + supporting the growing interest in job-producing transit-oriented development with focused development incentives (tax credits, small-business loans, etc) as well as cleaning and clearing under-utilized and polluted industrial sites within walking distance of transit stations; and + expanding the reach of rail lines with short extensions of rail or dedicated buses, costing up to $2 billion, to serve 21st-century commuting patterns and growing employment centers. Considering the lack of political resolve for transit at the state level and an ongoing political stalemate at the federal level, Cuyahoga County may have to take care of its own infrastructure needs by adding new local funding sources. What is clear is that the status quo is failing us. ### "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 25, 20159 yr ^ I know it's a ways off, but will there be an RSVP and/or cost required for the August event?
June 25, 20159 yr ^ I know it's a ways off, but will there be an RSVP and/or cost required for the August event? Yes, the cost will be about $25 per person for the first person in your party, and $18 for each additional person in your party. Details and registration will be posted in the coming days. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 28, 20159 yr Old.... Versus new... Any questions?? :) "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 7, 20159 yr Join us Aug. 15 for tour of #CLE rail system w/ @GCRTA pass, AM refreshments, lunch, speakers! http://t.co/H9xs4q5oUY "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 7, 20159 yr A few photos from today..... The graffiti is gone: Construction progress @GCRTA Little Italy-University Circle Red Line rail station #Cleveland @inthecircle @UptownCle Construction in @ShakerHeightsOH, removing roads for transit-oriented Van Aken District on @GCRTA Blue Line LRT. This was the site of the westbound lanes of Van Aken: Blue Line: This was the site of the eastbound lanes of Van Aken: Construction progressing on replacement of @GCRTA Lee-Van Aken Blue Line light-rail station in @ShakerHeightsOH. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 7, 20159 yr Despite the overall lack of momentum in improving and expanding our rail system, this is nice to see. I think the Little Italy station is going to be huge.
July 7, 20159 yr Thanks for the update. Looks like a banner year for RTA in station reconstruction, mostly on the East Side (and that includes the just-started Brookpark station work on the West Side). The UC-Little Italy is THE prize, however, as it has the potential to serously pump up Red Line riding, particularly if Intesa is built out as planned next door.
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