Whether it’s on Cleveland.com or here, discussion of the OC inevitably moves towards overall strategy and vision vis a vis sprawl.  I doubt it can even be considered “off topic” any more.

 

I suspect there is no such thing as a “dense and walkable city” in the USA. Even New York City has Staten Island and Queens.  What there are are “dense and walkable” neighborhoods. 

 

It seems to me that successful ones grow more than they nucleate.  A few blocks start to click and work, and people who want that kind of lifestyle migrate there.  If there is demand, the neighborhood grows, block by block.  When planners decide “this right here is going to be a dense and walkable neighborhood” from scratch…. that seems to fail way more than it works. 

 

If this is true, then the whole topic is irrelevant to the OC.  This area does not directly adjoin any such neighborhoods.  While one such could nucleate there, that’s not something that can be planned or predicted.

 

again you speak and I wonder where you get this information from, because it is 100% wrong. 

^I could care less where the money goes if we don't build this road, be it Columbus ... or Timbuktu, if we're building roads just to spend govt. money allotted to Cleveland, regardless if it's as bad and dumb a project as the OC, then we're truly screwed up in our mindset, and we need to shut up the double-talk about the dense and walkable city we allegedly desire.

So if that money goes to a new interchange west of Avon, where they will build new housing development, new Sprawl-Marts and Targets, and more industrial parks, taking more people and jobs from Cleveland, you will call that a win for the city?

 

Avon will grow regaurless if the Opportunity cooridor is built or not, the question is there is not proof this will create the 500 jobs they Hope it will.

 

the Type of development Cleveland needs is based around transit. building a road like this will do nothing to address the reasons Cleveland's population has fallen, people don't want  to live here.  I fail to see how making it easier to live outside the city addresses this issue.

Whether it’s on Cleveland.com or here, discussion of the OC inevitably moves towards overall strategy and vision vis a vis sprawl.  I doubt it can even be considered “off topic” any more.

 

I suspect there is no such thing as a “dense and walkable city” in the USA. Even New York City has Staten Island and Queens.  What there are are “dense and walkable” neighborhoods. 

 

It seems to me that successful ones grow more than they nucleate.  A few blocks start to click and work, and people who want that kind of lifestyle migrate there.  If there is demand, the neighborhood grows, block by block.  When planners decide “this right here is going to be a dense and walkable neighborhood” from scratch…. that seems to fail way more than it works. 

 

If this is true, then the whole topic is irrelevant to the OC.  This area does not directly adjoin any such neighborhoods.  While one such could nucleate there, that’s not something that can be planned or predicted.

 

again you speak and I wonder where you get this information from, because it is 100% wrong. 

 

How so?  You're saying that DW neighborhoods nucleate rather than grow?  Or that the OC area adjoins one or more viable ones?

"Nucleate?"  I had to look it up, and the word as it is actually used by anyone else still doesn't make any sense in the context you're trying to wedge it into.

So if that money goes to a new interchange west of Avon, where they will build new housing development, new Sprawl-Marts and Targets, and more industrial parks, taking more people and jobs from Cleveland, you will call that a win for the city?

 

I'm confused about your question.  The premise of your earlier comment was that Cleveland had best build the OC lest the money go to another city/metropolitan area, like say Columbus.  Avon is within Cleveland's metro area.  The same wrong-headed motivations for an Avon interchange attracting big box and/or strip/campus type development should be halted anywhere it can be.  But the OC IS in Cleveland proper, competing with mass transit and, despite the rosy/phony claims that it will bring development, that is unlikely -- has the Chester Ave extension (from E. 55 to E.107), one of the closer existing comparators to the OC, attracted development in its 60 years of existence?  Answer: No.

So if that money goes to a new interchange west of Avon, where they will build new housing development, new Sprawl-Marts and Targets, and more industrial parks, taking more people and jobs from Cleveland, you will call that a win for the city?

 

I'm confused about your question.  The premise of your earlier comment was that Cleveland had best build the OC lest the money go to another city/metropolitan area, like say Columbus.  Avon is within Cleveland's metro area.  The same wrong-headed motivations for an Avon interchange attracting big box and/or strip/campus type development should be halted anywhere it can be.  But the OC IS in Cleveland proper, competing with mass transit and, despite the rosy/phony claims that it will bring development, that is unlikely -- has the Chester Ave extension (from E. 55 to E.107), one of the closer existing comparators to the OC, attracted development in its 60 years of existence?  Answer: No.

 

The OC will be responsible for all the development at the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Institute of Art, and Uptown, like the Healthline!!!

Actually, it will be responsible for all the light industrial development that Forest City Enterprises will be happy to provide to as-yet unknown future users. I am hearing from several people, one of whom is friendly to the top execs of FCE, that FCE is the primary driver of the Opportunity Corridor -- not the Cleveland Clinic.

 

So this road will seize by eminent domain 80 properties of numerous poor people -- many of who are justifiably concerned they will not be fairly compensated for their properties or given new housing they can afford -- so that Forest City Enterprises can position themselves to develop it at some future.

 

Ironically, Forest City Enterprises still has not developed the Scranton Peninsula. And large tracts of cleaned land along urban highways isn't necessarily an irresistible magnet for industrial developers. There is a huge piece of cleaned land at I-77 and Pershing Avenue that has sat undeveloped for a number of years now.

 

Take from the poor. Give to the rich. That's the American way!

"Nucleate?"  I had to look it up, and the word as it is actually used by anyone else still doesn't make any sense in the context you're trying to wedge it into.

 

Its actually a scientific term describing how material solidifies that is applicable.  A lot of initial points is called nucleation.  If solidification occurs by those points growing, it's called grain growth.

 

So this road will seize by eminent domain 80 properties of numerous poor people -- many of who are justifiably concerned they will not be fairly compensated for their properties or given new housing they can afford -- so that Forest City Enterprises can position themselves to develop it at some future.

 

 

Ummm....we've been through this in this thread.

 

Of those 80 properties, how many are owner-occupied?  For that matter, how many are occupied?

 

If some of them are (likely, but not certain), how many are because the owners were unable to sell?

 

How difficult will it be to find vacant housing for those displaced?

Actually, it will be responsible for all the light industrial development that Forest City Enterprises will be happy to provide to as-yet unknown future users. I am hearing from several people, one of whom is friendly to the top execs of FCE, that FCE is the primary driver of the Opportunity Corridor -- not the Cleveland Clinic.

 

So this road will seize by eminent domain 80 properties of numerous poor people -- many of who are justifiably concerned they will not be fairly compensated for their properties or given new housing they can afford -- so that Forest City Enterprises can position themselves to develop it at some future.

 

Ironically, Forest City Enterprises still has not developed the Scranton Peninsula. And large tracts of cleaned land along urban highways isn't necessarily an irresistible magnet for industrial developers. There is a huge piece of cleaned land at I-77 and Pershing Avenue that has sat undeveloped for a number of years now.

 

Take from the poor. Give to the rich. That's the American way!

 

 

If it's true that Forest City is a proponant of the Opportunity Corridor, the fact that they are spending a lot of money to stabalize housing in Slavic Village makes a little more sense.

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/03/forest_city_safeguard_properti.html

 

The area of the forgotten triangle is roughly half industrial and half residential roughly bisected by the path of the new road.

 

Forest City may see opportunity here to develop the residential areas. 

I look forward to hearing responses to this post on how building new housing in the city is a horrible idea.  Or how it would be horrible if Forest City made money in Cleveland. 

Forest City may see opportunity here to develop the residential areas. 

I look forward to hearing responses to this post on how building new housing in the city is a horrible idea.  Or how it would be horrible if Forest City made money in Cleveland.

 

You basically went from point A to Q with a lot of assumptions in between. I'm not going to support a project of this magnitude based on hearsay and flimsy reasoning. KJP said the rumors were centered around light industrial property sales. And you spun that into this:

 

If you don't support the Opportunity Corridor, you don't support new housing in the city and want FCE to go bankrupt!

 

:roll:

 

KJP brought in the Forest City angle.  A few months back Forest City out of the blue started a housing stabalization program in the adjacent neighborhood.  It was a nice thing to do, but it was out of the blue and not something FCE typically does.

 

However, I agree it is a big if.

 

What isn't a big if, is that our land locked city has square miles of undeveloped land next to one of the most productive areas in the state.  The best plan right to put this area back to productive, tax generating use is the OC.

 

Remember, the first transportation investment the city made to get people to Univeristy Circle was the Healthline.  Next, was upgrading RTA Red line stops in UC.  Now there is a road project.

 

If you want to protest the disasterous effects of building new transportation infrastructure that will hurt the city, and ultimately the region, protest the expansion of I-271 in the suburbs.

"Nucleate?"  I had to look it up, and the word as it is actually used by anyone else still doesn't make any sense in the context you're trying to wedge it into.

 

using big words as a substitute for wisdom.

 

Its actually a scientific term describing how material solidifies that is applicable.  A lot of initial points is called nucleation.  If solidification occurs by those points growing, it's called grain growth.

 

the term used in urban planning is Agglomerate. your statement that "there is no such thing as a “dense and walkable city” in the USA.

 

Is myopic and infers a something that it doesn't.

 

you too quick to write off, areas because of current condition with the hope that a change can bring about an improvement that will not happen, or that would happen anyway without that change.

 

you present things as facts which are not facts.

 

books for you to read.

 

Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Tim

 

 

Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream

 

Any wannabe urban planner must own this book.

 

The Death and Life of Great American Cities Paperback

by Jane Jacobs

 

To understand how the urban renwals efforts of the 50s and the 60s created the forgotten Triangle.

 

read this.

 

Derelict Paradise: Homelessness and Urban Development in Cleveland, Ohio

 

 

 

KJP brought in the Forest City angle.  A few months back Forest City out of the blue started a housing stabalization program in the adjacent neighborhood.  It was a nice thing to do, but it was out of the blue and not something FCE typically does.

 

However, I agree it is a big if.

 

What isn't a big if, is that our land locked city has square miles of undeveloped land next to one of the most productive areas in the state.  The best plan right to put this area back to productive, tax generating use is the OC.

 

Remember, the first transportation investment the city made to get people to Univeristy Circle was the Healthline.  Next, was upgrading RTA Red line stops in UC.  Now there is a road project.

 

If you want to protest the disasterous effects of building new transportation infrastructure that will hurt the city, and ultimately the region, protest the expansion of I-271 in the suburbs.

 

I can see how one could claim it "hurts the city" if one wants to take the adversarial view that the suburbs are excoriated for.

 

However, "hurts the region"?  No.

 

One thing that is somewhat unique about this region is the close proximity of another large city, one that would indeed be the "second city" in many states and the primary city in a few.

 

If "sprawl" was inevitable anywhere (I covered why in another thread) it's in the area between the two.  Indeed, the metro areas merged a good thirty years ago.

 

There are two major road connections between Cuyahoga County and Akron:  I-77, and I-271 to SR-8.  Indeed, the OC greatly improves Cleveland Clinic and UC's connectivity to Akron.

 

271 now clogs badly in the section where it is also I-480, due largely to poor design of the connections with he rest of 480.  Particularly the southbound area  under the overpass, and the lack of a direct route from 480W to 271S.

 

The type of fix proposed is questionable.  The need really isn't.

I-271 clogs badly because that's what all Interstates are destined to do in the absence of pricing the value of a highway at various locations and at various times of the day when demand is greatest. When we have supply and demand without price, it forces supply to regulate demand. Since we can't expand the supply of highway capacity at the drop of a hat, roads will start to congest until we can expand them. Of course, if we started pricing highways, we would not have sprawled as far outward as we have. So much for the free market. The Opportunity Corridor is yet another taxpayer giveway.

^That!

October 06. 2013 4:30AM

Opportunity Corridor is leading to some anxiety

Concern about eminent domain arises along path of $331 million project

By JAY MILLER

 

The specter of eminent domain is haunting Andrew Wright and other property owners along the planned Opportunity Corridor, a $331 million roadway that would connect Cleveland's University Circle area with Interstate 490.

 

Mr. Wright is general manager of Forge Products Co., a metalworking company along the corridor route that has been expanding. It added on to its offices and moved its machine shop, and then its shipping and receiving department, into a vacant building just north of its longtime home at 9503 Woodland Ave. At the time, it looked like the Opportunity Corridor wouldn't come to fruition after a decade of talk.

 

Now, though, that building is in the path of what would be an extension of Ohio Route 10. Like many buildings and homes in the neighborhood, it is more than 100 years old.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20131006/SUB1/310069986?template=mobile&X-IgnoreUserAgent=1#ATHS

I have now twice seen references to the Opportunity Corridor being an extension of SR 10.  How is this possible?  SR 10 currently terminates at "the corner of Carnegie and Ontario."  Are they going to reroute SR 10 down I-90/I-490 from where Lorain crosses it, or are they going to have it go down I-77 from Carnegie and Ontario, or is this just wrong?

I have now twice seen references to the Opportunity Corridor being an extension of SR 10.  How is this possible?  SR 10 currently terminates at "the corner of Carnegie and Ontario."  Are they going to reroute SR 10 down I-90/I-490 from where Lorain crosses it, or are they going to have it go down I-77 from Carnegie and Ontario, or is this just wrong?

 

there won't be a direct connection to Route 10

 

They need to designate it so it will qualify for State + federal repair funding which BTW still has a substantial local match.

 

 

[The OC will be responsible for all the development at the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Institute of Art, and Uptown, like the Healthline!!!

 

I hear you...

Can someone explain the purpose of the quarter circle connection to East 55th? That is the only section that doesn't make sense to me, and is solely responsible for the majority of the demolitions. Remove that portion of the project and their would be only like 5 houses remaining to be demolished, which are all extremely isolated and falling apart. Possibly vacant.

I think i remember seeing some planning docs out there a couple years ago that explain the roadway pattern for the west end of the project.  Bottom line: that pattern provides the best traffic flow, I think because it minimizes the number of needed light phases due to few left turns into oncoming traffic while providing a ton of stacking room for cars entering and exiting the OC.

Can someone explain the purpose of the quarter circle connection to East 55th? That is the only section that doesn't make sense to me, and is solely responsible for the majority of the demolitions. Remove that portion of the project and their would be only like 5 houses remaining to be demolished, which are all extremely isolated and falling apart. Possibly vacant.

 

There's probably some brownfield concern over there, which they wouldn't necessarily cite as a reason.

 

The whole thing about residential demolitions is pure demagoguery.  Owners will be delighted, residents likely to get help with relocation expenses and won't have trouble finding similar.

Can someone explain the purpose of the quarter circle connection to East 55th? That is the only section that doesn't make sense to me, and is solely responsible for the majority of the demolitions. Remove that portion of the project and their would be only like 5 houses remaining to be demolished, which are all extremely isolated and falling apart. Possibly vacant.

 

There's probably some brownfield concern over there, which they wouldn't necessarily cite as a reason.

 

The whole thing about residential demolitions is pure demagoguery.  Owners will be delighted, residents likely to get help with relocation expenses and won't have trouble finding similar.

Agreed.  For at least the majority (nearly all) this will certainly be the case. 

Can someone explain the purpose of the quarter circle connection to East 55th? That is the only section that doesn't make sense to me, and is solely responsible for the majority of the demolitions. Remove that portion of the project and their would be only like 5 houses remaining to be demolished, which are all extremely isolated and falling apart. Possibly vacant.

 

There's probably some brownfield concern over there, which they wouldn't necessarily cite as a reason.

 

The whole thing about residential demolitions is pure demagoguery.  Owners will be delighted, residents likely to get help with relocation expenses and won't have trouble finding similar.

Agreed.  For at least the majority (nearly all) this will certainly be the case. 

 

I suspect they will find one or two elderly homeowners who don't want to go anywhere, who will certainly get their proverbial fifteen minutes.

 

(One of the great ironies of our time is that forty-five years later, Warhol is most famous for his "fifteen minutes" observation.)

It's just a shame when eminent domain is to be used for a project that's being ramrodded through with considerable dissent in the community, despite what the PD reports.

Something that would make me feel a lot better about this project is a realistic master plan/vision showing what the redevelopment buildout might look like now that the final route is taking shape, and a plan for some mild rezonings to actually steer development in that way.  I have no idea, for example, how many curb cuts the city (ODOT?) will permit along the route, who owns (or will end up owning) which development sites, plans for enhanced pedestrian improvements to connect the rapid stations to development sites, etc.  I'm not sure we need a super heavy planning hand, but if we end up with a bunch of low-employment density, single story warehouses surrounded by lawns, I think the non-transportation potential of this project will have been completely wasted.

 

Can someone explain the purpose of the quarter circle connection to East 55th? That is the only section that doesn't make sense to me, and is solely responsible for the majority of the demolitions. Remove that portion of the project and their would be only like 5 houses remaining to be demolished, which are all extremely isolated and falling apart. Possibly vacant.

 

I found a little more info about this "quadrant roadway" pattern.  From the Draft EIS:

 

Another example of how the public shaped the project is the “quadrant roadway” at I-490 and East 55th Street (Figure 3-2). The quadrant roadway is a short new roadway that would be built near East 59th Street to route traffic between East 55th Street and the proposed boulevard. This feature was added based on the community’s desire to keep full access to and from East 55th Street. It will also help make accessing the East 55th Street transit station safer and easier for pedestrians.

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/projects/ClevelandUrbanCoreProjects/OpportunityCorridor/Documents/Cleveland%20Opportunity%20Corridor%20Project%20DEIS.pdf

 

Also, from a Cleveland.com article (http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/07/post_498.html):

 

The number [of demos] is high because Councilman Anthony Brancatelli and the project committee favor a traffic option that has Opportunity Corridor running under East 55th Street. The two roads would link via a short, curving connector to the south that cuts into the St. Hyacinth neighborhood.

 

Other options either didn't fully link the two streets or resulted in a regular intersection with roads up to nine lanes wide, a dicey crossing for pedestrians.

 

Looking back in this thread, we briefly discussed this issue back in 2011.

I have now twice seen references to the Opportunity Corridor being an extension of SR 10.  How is this possible?  SR 10 currently terminates at "the corner of Carnegie and Ontario."  Are they going to reroute SR 10 down I-90/I-490 from where Lorain crosses it, or are they going to have it go down I-77 from Carnegie and Ontario, or is this just wrong?

 

there won't be a direct connection to Route 10

 

They need to designate it so it will qualify for State + federal repair funding which BTW still has a substantial local match.

 

Yeah, but to designate it an "extension of Route 10" I'm pretty sure it has to "connect" somehow, even if that connection means routing along other existing routes such as I-77.

 

Couldn't they have just given it a new State Route number, like SR 490?

I have now twice seen references to the Opportunity Corridor being an extension of SR 10.  How is this possible?  SR 10 currently terminates at "the corner of Carnegie and Ontario."  Are they going to reroute SR 10 down I-90/I-490 from where Lorain crosses it, or are they going to have it go down I-77 from Carnegie and Ontario, or is this just wrong?

 

there won't be a direct connection to Route 10

 

They need to designate it so it will qualify for State + federal repair funding which BTW still has a substantial local match.

 

Yeah, but to designate it an "extension of Route 10" I'm pretty sure it has to "connect" somehow, even if that connection means routing along other existing routes such as I-77.

 

Couldn't they have just given it a new State Route number, like SR 490?

 

I see what you did there.  :)

 

What they could do is designate 77 and 490 as also being SR-10, the way 480 is also SR-14 for a ways.

What they could do is designate 77 and 490 as also being SR-10, the way 480 is also SR-14 for a ways.[/color]

 

That's what I'm guessing they'll do.  It will seem funny then to have signage for SR 10 guiding you from Progressive Field south on I-77 then west on the Opportunity Corridor to get to University Circle.  Regardless of how fast you can travel down the OC, I can't imagine that could ever compete with just continuing down Carnegie from that point.

What they could do is designate 77 and 490 as also being SR-10, the way 480 is also SR-14 for a ways.[/color]

 

That's what I'm guessing they'll do.  It will seem funny then to have signage for SR 10 guiding you from Progressive Field south on I-77 then west on the Opportunity Corridor to get to University Circle.  Regardless of how fast you can travel down the OC, I can't imagine that could ever compete with just continuing down Carnegie from that point.

 

From there, probably not.. 

Michelle J. McFee ‏@mjarboe:

 

"Interesting mix of audience questions at #OpportunityCorridor talk. Frustration. Support. One monologue. One livid man who stalked off."

 

Sounds like a live-action account of this forum.

Michelle J. McFee ‏@mjarboe:

 

"Interesting mix of audience questions at #OpportunityCorridor talk. Frustration. Support. One monologue. One livid man who stalked off."

 

Sounds like a live-action account of this forum.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if the "livid man" was a homeowner who found out he's not being bought out after all.

Wouldn't surprise me if the "livid man" was a homeowner who found out he's not being bought out after all.

 

It would surprise me even more if you didn't project opinions into other people.

I was at the edge of my seat waiting for mjarboe's tweet updates.

 

Sounded like a thoughtful discussion

Michelle J. McFee ‏@mjarboe:

 

"Interesting mix of audience questions at #OpportunityCorridor talk. Frustration. Support. One monologue. One livid man who stalked off."

 

Sounds like a live-action account of this forum.

 

Sounds like pretty much every ODOT/Cleveland meeting I've ever been to

Transportation projects are a manifestation of transportation policy. By the time policies spit out projects, the projects are too late to significantly alter let alone stop. And opponents will have to fight another project like it down the road -- unless the policy which creates those projects is changed. This is a big reason why I haven't gotten involved in this fight. It's too late. Instead fight the next project by going upstream to the policies that foster these drive-or-die projects.

Thanks, KJP.

 

That is what I have been clumsily trying to explain.  If people want more money to go toward public transit, ODOT needs to change the way projects are scored.

There are methods established in ODOT by laws on how it can be done.  it sounds long and tedious, but it is the only way funding in the state will change.

Wouldn't surprise me if the "livid man" was a homeowner who found out he's not being bought out after all.

 

It would surprise me even more if you didn't project opinions into other people.

 

Aw come on, you got to admit that considering the false flag Schmitt et al are throwing up about wholesale residential displacement, there wouldn't have been a ton of irony there.

Aw come on, you got to admit that considering the false flag Schmitt et al are throwing up about wholesale residential displacement, there wouldn't have been a ton of irony there.

 

I have never lived in the Opportunity Corridor or in the types of living conditions that exist in the Opportunity Corridor. Thus I cannot begin to debate the validity of their situation. All I can do is listen to what they have to say.

Aw come on, you got to admit that considering the false flag Schmitt et al are throwing up about wholesale residential displacement, there wouldn't have been a ton of irony there.

 

I have never lived in the Opportunity Corridor or in the types of living conditions that exist in the Opportunity Corridor. Thus I cannot begin to debate the validity of their situation. All I can do is listen to what they have to say.

 

How many of the "activists" actually live there?

 

How many will be displaced by the construction themselves.

 

How many of the "activists" actually live there?

 

How many will be displaced by the construction themselves.

 

We all live here.

Michelle J. McFee ‏@mjarboe:

 

"Interesting mix of audience questions at #OpportunityCorridor talk. Frustration. Support. One monologue. One livid man who stalked off."

 

Sounds like a live-action account of this forum.

 

Even though Michelle works for the PD, which obviously supports this project, I trust her objectivity as a knowledgeable and detailed  reporter, largely based on her track record.

Thanks, KJP.

 

That is what I have been clumsily trying to explain.  If people want more money to go toward public transit, ODOT needs to change the way projects are scored.

There are methods established in ODOT by laws on how it can be done.  it sounds long and tedious, but it is the only way funding in the state will change.

 

Seems like someone posted some time ago -- perhaps KJP -- noting that ODOT is only involved with road maintenance and construction and not transit, despite its generalist title.  I could be wrong, but ...

 

We need a mass mental makeover – we need to change the way policy is handled toward transit in this city and state.  Roads like this one are pushed hard by public leaders all the way up to governors.  Local officials line up and are in lock-step praising/supporting roads like this ... and others, like Slavic Village councilman Brancatelli (whose constituents are generally poor, non-drivers who will see little-to-no-benefit from this road) start out opposed but then suddenly/mysteriously turn and ‘see the light’ while suddenly backing the OC.  We taxpayers, meanwhile, are stuck with the bill (including Brancatelli’s constituents), to the tune of (upwards of) $350M to build this 2.5 mile road; Kasich is even raising Turnpike tolls to cover it (and let’s not talk about heavy maintenance a 5-lane road takes, especially in Cleveland’s sizzling-hot-to-freezing temps experienced every year).

 

Meanwhile every stinking mass transit extension (correction -- every stinking rail extension, since BRT has become RTA's raison d'être), even the .3 mile extension of the Blue Line in Shaker Heights, is deemed ‘controversial’ and a ‘waste’ (KJP reports there are some at RTA trying to derail even this small extension)… And it’s absurd that people are still fuming over the $60M spent for RTA’s Waterfront line almost 20 years ago despite the fact that it has the potentihl to attract, and is in fact attracting (like Fairmount's FEB), high-density TOD development and promote walkable urban neighborhoods… Look at the crap Cincinnati is going through to establish mass transit; the sad death of MetroMoves in 2002 and, now, the continuing fight just to build a few miles of streetcar routes (and thankfully, the pro-streetcar faction is winning(!!), with every spade of dirt turned that pushes this admirable project to reality DESPITE the fact that the anti-transit forces STILL HAVEN’T GIVEN UP and are trying to kill it).

 

The issue that people don’t want to talk about or deal with is RACE, and to some degree class.  Officials nationally, but especially in this town, see buses and trains as transporting mainly black, Latino and poor white college kids and the like, while they/we envision professional white people from the suburbs cruising down the Opportunity Corridor in their expensive cars … After all, people like Crain’s and much of the PD’s editorial staff would not even consider “forcing” the majority of residents to use transit (which is after all “social engineering”) while denying them the “freedom” of using their cars – which is what this country is all about … right?

 

The Opportunity Corridor is clearly about that freedom in a lot of people’s minds.  OC backers may deny the above scenario I lay out, … but don’t ask them to take a lie-detector test.

 

 

 

In order to improve access to and from UC I think adding a highway entrance/exit on East 105th and I90 would be interesting. This would take some of the strain off of MLK Dr, and possibly even help East 105th/Glenville develop.

exit and entrance ramps take up a lot of real estate, and they cost a whole lot of money.

^ they don't have to. Design them like most I90 ramps, short and straight. There is no need for them to be the large circular ramps.

In order to improve access to and from UC I think adding a highway entrance/exit on East 105th and I90 would be interesting. This would take some of the strain off of MLK Dr, and possibly even help East 105th/Glenville develop.

There's plenty of traffic on 105th as it is and making it into an alternative to MLK would not help the neighborhood, unless by neighborhood you mean the couple of gas stations and drive-thrus. Plus with the rail road tracks as close to the freeway as they are, i'm not sure there's enough room.

 

IMO, 105th needs to be repaved and narrowed. Take the on street parking off and let people park on the side streets. Replace them with bike lanes. I very rarely see anyone ride a bike down the path beside MLK but constantly see bikes on 105th. Cut half the traffic lights. Provide some incentives toward mixed use zoned properties and minimize set backs. All of which would probably cost more money than exit and entrance ramps but it would help the people that live in the neighborhood rather than the people that drive through the neighborhood. (and frankly it would make it a nice street to drive on too.)

 

But of course this all belongs in a different thread.

^ they don't have to. Design them like most I90 ramps, short and straight. There is no need for them to be the large circular ramps.

 

That would work if you could get over the tracks cleanly.  You'd only want to do it on the south side of 90 anyway.  I highly doubt Bratenhal would want in.  It could be a westbound side only exit like E 156th is eastbound (north) side only.

 

Still a really long haul down to the Circle. 

 

The GCP seems to have missed the lessons to be gleaned from the Minneapolis redevelopment project they sight as an example for the "Opportunity Corridor"... livable development follows alternative transit-oriented design.

 

Another pertinent example is from Atlanta's Atlantic Station redevelopment of brownfields left from a shuttered steel mill...

 

http://www.uic.edu/orgs/brownfields/research-results/documents/AtlanticStationCaseStudyFinalforposting1-3-13.pdf