Lakefront West Proposed Project Summary

The purpose of the Lakefront West Project is to convert US-6 from a high speed limited access freeway to a boulevard in accordance with “Connecting Cleveland: The Waterfront District Plan”.

The next element of the Lakefront West Project (PID 77330) will complete the environmental document for the entire project and evaluate buildings within the full-build footprint for eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places. The full project has been divided into two phases in response to fiscal constraints.

Phase I

Funded and implemented through ODOT original TRAC commitment of $49.8M.

• Make Safety and Operational Improvements to the West Blvd. and Lake Ave. Intersections. This includes merging the ramps south (toward the eastbound ramp) to create one road farther east than the current layout. The merging of the ramps is to make the roadway feel more like a scenic park road, rather than a high-speed ramp. This will also close the short WB Edgewater Drive exit, creating a single exit from the shoreway and adding parkland.

• Rehabilitate the West 76th St. pedestrian tunnel under the Shoreway with ADA compliance between the existing underpasses and connect to the existing Edgewater Park multi-purpose paths.

• Construct a new bridge with NS railroad tracks (West 73rd traffic will go below NS) and create a two-way road to connect relocated West 73rd St. to the West Shoreway and Edgewater Park through the existing Shoreway bridge. This will be a ramp-style configuration (no signal) that connect the neighborhoods from the south to the Shoreway and Edgewater Park.

• There will be no major modification within Edgewater Park until after a “Park Master Plan” is created.

• Construct a new at-grade intersection (right-in/right-out) at Division Ave. This intersection will be unsignalized. Note: this work will be included with Phase I based on the availability of funds.

• Construct a new at-grade intersection (right-in/right-out) at West 54th St. This intersection will be unsignalized. Note: this work will be included with Phase I based on the availability of funds.

• Make Safety and Operational Improvements to West 45th St. and West 49th St. (right in/right out access). It will close the gate/driveway at the Cleveland Water Division plant that is no longer necessary. It will also create a cul-de-sac at Tillman Ave. with at two-way operation east of West 49th St.

• Reconfigure West 49th St./Herman Ave. over the West Shoreway to accommodate the multi-purpose trail. The bridge section of two traffic lanes in each direction will now be one traffic lane in each direction.

• Construct a multi-purpose trail expanding the Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway from West 25th St. to West 65th St.

• Consider interim improvements at West 28th St. to increase pedestrian and vehicular safety.

• Maintain the existing six-lane configuration with concrete median. Set the speed at 35 mph as a park road.

PID 77330, Cuy-6-12.20, Lakefront West

December 2, 2008 – Stakeholder Meeting

Phase II

Funded and implemented through the City of Cleveland using any remaining money from the Phase 1 TRAC commitment ($49.8M – Phase 1 actual costs) plus any additional funding from other sources (to be determined).

• Consider closing the Entrance Ramp from West 28th St. to SR-2 EB. West 45th St. would be the new EB access to SR-2 EB.

• Relocate the US-6 Exit/Entrance Ramps from West 25th St. to West 28th St., including widening West 28th St. and Detroit Ave. This fills in the abandoned ramps and makes land available for neighborhood development.

• Reconfigure the Intersection of West 25th St./Main Ave./Washington Ave. to create a through-movement for Main –West 25th St. traffic, including truck traffic.

• Improve Edgewater Park Entrance with a reconfigured north half of the interchange (after preparation of an updated Park Master Plan). Note: the environmental document for the Park Master Plan will be separate from this Lakefront project.

• Add a supplemental multi-purpose trail adjacent to the Shoreway from Edgewater Park to West Blvd. This multi-purpose trail is located along the Shoreway (in lieu of a sidewalk).

• Reconstruct US-6 pavement, including reconfiguring the typical section to reflect a lower 35 mph speed and adding a landscaped median. US-6 will remain a six-lane roadway between Lake Ave. and the Main Avenue Bridge approach.

The use of the SAFETEA-LU Earmarked money ($728K = 91% of $800K) is to be determined. Possible use is West 28th St. safety improvements or other improvements in either Phase I or Phase II.

The Detail Design contract will concentrate on Phase 1 only.

 

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/projects/ClevelandUrbanCoreProjects/LakefrontWest/PublicMeetings/Documents/pid77330_2008-12-02%20proposed%20project-final.pdf

Myself and a number of the folks from Battery Park will be at the meeting Thursday.  Hopefully there will be good news to report.

^I'm not that familiar with this project. What will be done with the bridge over the flats. Will it remain as-is?

I was wondering about that, too ..

 

Yes, it will.

 

To expand on this: the West Shoreway from the Clifton/Lake to the main avenue Bridge will be downgraded to a boulevard. The bridge would remain; however there has been talk about reconfiguring both ends of the bridge (West 25th and East 6th areas). In the long term, planners have proposed extending the boulevard from the Main Avenue Bridge to the current Dead Man's Curve area.

^I'm not that familiar with this project. What will be done with the bridge over the flats. Will it remain as-is?

I was wondering about that, too ..

 

Yes, it will.

 

To expand on this: the West Shoreway from the Clifton/Lake to the main avenue Bridge will be downgraded to a boulevard. The bridge would remain; however there has been talk about reconfiguring both ends of the bridge (West 25th and East 6th areas). In the long term, planners have proposed extending the boulevard from the Main Avenue Bridge to the current Dead Man's Curve area.

 

Which would be AMAZING. But that's gotta be years away.

^Well technically the whole project is probably years away, but that portion is probably so low on ODOT's priority list that unless Obama can get a whole lot more infrastructure money than anyone is expecting we're not going to see it for decades.

I went to the meeting last Thursday and came away rather impressed with the plans.  The engineering/design/environmental work is to start this upcoming year with work starting in mid-2010. 

 

The first area to receive attention is the pedestrian tunnel at the end of W76 to the beach.  This work will include making it ADA complaint by replacing the steps between the railroad tracks and the Shoreway with a graded ramp.  They are also going to tie in the entrance on the park side to the existing multi-use trails.  Later phases of the project include extending multi-use trails to the Detroit-Superior Bridge. 

 

Later in 2010 or 1st half of 2011, they will start work on the W73 underpass.  Before this can occur, they have to re-align a sewer interceptor that currently runs along the tracks.  The other new intersections at W54 and W45 will probably not start until something is done about the Inner Belt, as the Shoreway will be a major detour route.  The work on W73rd can occur because it does not affect the Shoreway traffic flow.

 

Overall I was quite impressed with the plan and it looks like this is finally going to become reality after years of discussion.  Very detailed information and charts are available at this site:

 

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/projects/ClevelandUrbanCoreProjects/LakefrontWest/Pages/default.aspx

Looks like a highway to me.

Yeah, and apparently the fight to get rid of the Lake Avenue exit/entrance ramps was lost.  ODOT won, which is what seems to always happen.

Looks like a highway to me.

 

That's exactly what I thought.  I was under the impression that they were going to get rid of the on/off ramps and install lights.  Guess I misunderstood that.  This just looks like a bunch of landscaping work to me.

I've never quite understood the allure of this project.  There are obvious benefits, like being able to drive down 73rd to Edgewater.  And there will be more crosswalks to Edgewater, which is generally hard to get to.  Other than that, I don't see how this conversion does anything to connect neighborhoods to the lake itself.  It connects neighborhoods to another slow E-W road, but we have plenty of those already. 

 

Much of this shoreline will remain industrial into the forseeable future.  That's what cuts neighborhoods off from the lake.  This highway is less intrusive than many others I can think of.  I would much rather see a better innerbelt arrangement with a better bridge, or perhaps a rail expansion.  While many people support the shoreway project and are anxious to get it underway, I know quite a few living along this stretch who don't want it at all.  I'm not sure that another program to slow down traffic is the most user-friendly thing Cleveland could do. 

The desire was to create a boulevard, ala Lakeshore Boulevard in Chicago, along which housing and other uses could be developed to promote pedestrian activities. I don't see how that is possible with this proposal to preserve a highway whose design has more in common with an interstate. Sometimes I don't think ODOT knows how to do anything else except try to move as many as cars as possible as fast as possible. As if that was always desireable......

Unimpressed.  The only worthwhile aspect is connecting Battery Park to Edgewater via 73rd.  Otherwise it's still a bunch of onramps and offramps, which is difficult to get excited about.

Lakeshore Drive is hardly pedestrain friendly from what I remember.  It's basically a highway just like the current Shoreway.  If development could be encouraged at these new intersections north of the railroad tracks, I think this project could be a success.

I take it the 35 mph speed limit isn't happening? 

 

EDIT: I found that they still referenced the 35 MPH in the Dec 2008 update for phase 2 by reconfiguring the lanes, eliminating shoulders and adding median for 35 mph traffic standards.

I thought the whole point of this was to down-grade it to a boulevard. As in, flatten it to a regular street, not the freeway it basically is now. Is that not happening? If not, then what's the point of this??

Jpop,

I see how this plan is an improvement by the access up by Battery Park but I was under the impression that this was going to be a flat boulevard, too. From the earlier renderings and description of the plans I was envisioning basically an extension of Clifton Blvd from Edgewater to W.25/W.28 with 3 or 4 Traffic light intersections and maybe a couple of underpasses. I thought there was a push to develop the land actually on the shoreway too?

 

Do these off and on ramps accomplish anything that smart traffic lights and right hand turns only during rush hour couldn't accomplish? I mean the shoreway basically funnels 70-80%% of its traffic down Clifton and Iimagine that if the speed limit is the same you wouldn't get the back ups from cars slowing down.

 

Don't forget to fill out the comment form. It is due by tomorrow.

 

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/projects/ClevelandUrbanCoreProjects/LakefrontWest/PublicMeetings/Pages/CommentForm.aspx

I just looked at the lakefront plan drawing and they do envision a lot of new development along the converted road.  They also disagree with ODOT about how bad the traffic on it would get.  I've never seen traffic there get backed up westbound.  Eastbound can get bad in the morning, with Lake, Clifton, and West Blvd from the south all bottlenecking into the shoreway.  Westbound it's the opposite effect, one road becomes three and everyone's happy. 

I think the biggest reason for the traffic lights going away were complaints from Edgewater and Lakewood residents.  There were some folks at the meeting who still expressed their concern with speed being reduced to 35MPH.

Chester and the west shoreway should both be 50 MPH.  We absolutely positively should not make it difficult to get into Cleveland, or to get around within it.  The number of no-turn-on-reds should be reduced as well.  There should be none of them on the new shoreway.  Wholly independent of transit vs. cars, policies that restrict traffic flow beyond expected norms are drags on residential growth and tourism.  They create a sense of entrapment.  Just let people go.

Chester and the west shoreway should both be 50 MPH.  We absolutely positively should not make it difficult to get into Cleveland, or to get around within it.  The number of no-turn-on-reds should be reduced as well.  There should be none of them on the new shoreway.  Wholly independent of transit vs. cars, policies that restrict traffic flow beyond expected norms are drags on residential growth and tourism.  They create a sense of entrapment.  Just let people go.

 

I completely disagree.  Turning Chester into a "free way" will discourage any pedestrian activity we want to see in the area.

 

Who will want to walk on a street where cars are doing 50? We want to attract people to neighborhoods, but what parent wants to send their kid to the corner store, knowing their child will have to cross a danger speedway?

 

Raising the speed limit on Chester, Euclid, Carnegie or any other avenue will only hamper the cities current plan to repopulate its neighborhoods.

 

Who is raising the speed limit "making it difficult to get into (or get around) Cleveland"???

 

Street should be for people, not cars.  I would much rather see chester lose one lane and the median and widen the sidewalks.  This way we can encourage developers to build some 10-15 story buildings right up to the sidewalk on this street to support the growing number of jobs in the immediate area.

 

The shoreway should also be reduced and the wishes of those living in its proximity should have majority concern.  Those commuting need to realize that if they have issues getting into downtown then rethink where they chose to live.

Here are my comments to ODOT..

 

"To Whom It May Concern:

 

First,I applaud the effort to open up access to the lakefront by modifying the current layout of the West Shoreway. In particular I support the changes made at W. 73th to give access to Battery Park and the surrounding areas. This is am emerging neighborhood and increased access to the lakefront will only add to the list of positive attributes. I also applaud the effort to improve and connect the multi-use trails tying the Gold Coast and Gordon Square with access to downtown.

 

However, my biggest disappointment with the current design is the retention of on-ramps and off-ramps, which does limit access and limits future development along the West Shoreway. From earlier press releases and renderings, it appeared that redesign of the West Shoreway would result in a 35 mph landscaped boulevard that would have 3 or 4 intersections with traffic lights and the potential for land along the Boulevard to be open to development, creating the potential for a new lakefront neighborhood. The current plan appears to result in some sort of hybrid resulting in a limited access 35 mph divided highway that still limits opening up developable land along the West Shoreway.

 

As someone who commuted the West Shoreway to downtown for a number of years, I can understand the traffic concerns. However I think that the concerns about traffic that drove the retention of on and off ramps could be accommodated by intersections with traffic lights. Specifically, during rushhour the 3 or 4 new lights being flashing yellow in the East and West directions, flashing red in the North and South directions, and the whole span of the West Shoreway being right-turn only should be studied to see if it is a viable solution. Even if a scenario with intersections, like the one outlined above,  results in incrementally more congestion it would be outweighed by the potential created  for Cleveland to have real development along the lakefront.  By leaving the on-ramps and off-ramps I feel that current plan is planning for the 4 hours of rushhour a day and potentially forgetting the other 20 hours in a day robbing Clevelanders of one of their greatest assets  for years to come.

 

Thank you for allowing me to submit my comments and once again applaud the effort by ODOT to help facilitate the Lakefront Plan. If you have any questions for me please feel free to contact me by e-mail at *******.

 

Sincerely,

 

"CBC"

Many people choose to live near the shoreway because of the speedy trip to downtown.  That includes people in Cleveland proper and people who take the bus.  50 mph arterials work fine elsewhere.  Realistically, people walk on streets where cars are doing 50 all the time.  Big buildings happen on these streets too, although Chester seems to be zoned for McMansions.  Pedestrian bridges can solve crossing problems, but it's not like there aren't lights and crosswalks already. 

 

The shoreway fills a needed function as it is.  Chester fills a similar function on the east side, although not quite as effectively.  People new to it sometimes express surprise that its so aggressively 35, particularly when it's the only cut-through in its area.  A faster Chester would make it easier to get around the east side, which is a common complaint.  Slow on Euclid makes sense, partially because Chester exists.  Most of Chester would have to be completely repurposed before much pedestrian traffic develops there anyway. 

 

As much as I love transit, it isn't always practical.  Cleveland has a long way to go before much car-free living is truly plausible here.  A more welcoming car trip between downtown and UC (welcoming meaning fast and hassle-free) will help develop both, which in turn will help develop the corridor in between.  Making it more annoying to drive in a place doesn't necessarily encourage transit use or development there.         

 

Edit: about the ramps, I agree with CBC.  Ramps are too much, they foreclose any development wherever they sit.

A more welcoming car trip between downtown and UC (welcoming meaning fast and hassle-free) will help develop both, which in turn will help develop the corridor in between. Making it more annoying to drive in a place doesn't necessarily encourage transit use or development there.

 

I'll never understand why people think the drive from U.C. to downtown is such a hassle....  5 miles through the heart of a city in only 15 minutes is pretty darn good...but that's another topic.

 

Anyway, I agree with everyone- this plan is kind of the worst of both worlds: what's the point of slowing traffic if there's no crosswalks or regular intersections?  Improved lakefront access through underpasses, etc. is fine and all, but it's not really a re-imagining of the Shoreway.

Chester is almost perfectly fine as it is from a car-commuter's perspective.  I love it.  A gentle, hassle-free ride at 35 miles an hour gets you to the east-edge of downtown from UC before you know it.  The light timing is pretty much perfect except for a hiccup at E. 66th which is incredibly frustrating, given the smoothness of the rest of the trip.

 

As for pedestrian traffic, I consider it close to a lost cause.  It's a 6-lane corridor with a median even added in some places.  It will never be more pedestrian friendly than it is, unless lanes are reduced and sidewalks are widened, but I wouldn't worry about that for a while.

http://www.clevelandcompetition.com/prizes.html  << winners were announced yesterday at a party at 1300 gallery (W. 78 studios) where all entries were displayed

 

the winners and several others will be posted online shortly.

 

great idea for a competition in that it addresses human scale/people centric design in an area bounded by rail & freeway

West Shoreway project highlighted in bold....

 

http://www.cleveland.com/westsidesun/news/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1231445328181590.xml&coll=4

 

Cleveland submits wish list of projects for federal funds

Thursday, January 08, 2009

By Ken Prendergast

[email protected]

West Side Sun News

 

Among $1.56 billion worth of infrastructure projects submitted by the city for federal economic stimulus funds, Mayor Frank Jackson singled out four projects as his highest priorities.

..........

 

Jackson submitted his 66-project list Dec. 22 to President-elect Barack Obama, Gov. Ted Strickland and Ohio's Congressional Delegation. In it, he highlighted these four projects:

 

+ $350 million for construction of a new westbound Innerbelt-Central Viaduct (Interstate 90) bridge over the Cuyahoga River valley.

 

+ $50 million for repair of the slumping Riverbed Road hillside in Ohio City which threatens to close the Cuyahoga River to shipping traffic.

 

+ $300 million for the Opportunity Corridor boulevard from Interstate 490 to University Circle.

 

+ $30 million for rebuilding the West Shoreway (state Route 2) between West 25th Street and Clifton Boulevard.

 

.......

West Shoreway lanes closed for long-term sewer projectPosted by Karen Farkas/Plain Dealer Reporter January 14, 2009 03:30AM

Categories: Real Time News, Traffic

 

Thomas Ondrey/The Plain Dealer

The West Shoreway will have lanes closed through mid-2010 as the Sewer District replaces a culvert. Traffic was backed up into Lakewood Tuesday. Cleveland's latest highway headache is the West Shoreway, where lanes will be closed through mid-2010 so the Sewer District can replace a 90-year-old concrete culvert.

 

Many morning commuters heading into Cleveland from the West Side Tuesday fumed because Shoreway traffic was backed up into Lakewood.

 

 

..........

The Westerly Sewer Interceptor is being rehabilitated because it is decaying. The project is unrelated to the West Shoreway rehabilitation which is not yet fully funded (hence the city requesting stimulus funds for it). So ODOT cannot go out for bid until there is funding.

Recent simultaneous lane closures on the west shoreway, innerbelt bridge, and Detroit Ave have made Lakewood seem about 10 miles further from downtown than it actually is.  The weather doesn't seem to be a major factor in these traffic tie-ups, because traffic on any of these routes moves perfectly well once it gets past the eastbound bottleneck. 

 

I am increasingly skeptical of the west shoreway conversion plan, because it appears to serve a necessary purpose in its current configuration.  This doesn't just apply to car commuters, since buses in the area suffer identical delays and since Lakewood is (for the moment) very much underserved by rail.  Think about it-- unlike the east side, the west side's physical connections to downtown can be counted on one hand.  I'm beginning to think the free flow of those few connections is not to be messed with.         

Gotta get that West Shore Corridor commuter rail link established!!

 

http://www.allaboardohio.org/cms/index.php/content/current_campaigns_west_shore_corridor

Recent simultaneous lane closures on the west shoreway, innerbelt bridge, and Detroit Ave have made Lakewood seem about 10 miles further from downtown than it actually is. The weather doesn't seem to be a major factor in these traffic tie-ups, because traffic on any of these routes moves perfectly well once it gets past the eastbound bottleneck.

 

I am increasingly skeptical of the west shoreway conversion plan, because it appears to serve a necessary purpose in its current configuration.   This doesn't just apply to car commuters, since buses in the area suffer identical delays and since Lakewood is (for the moment) very much underserved by rail. Think about it-- unlike the east side, the west side's physical connections to downtown can be counted on one hand. I'm beginning to think the free flow of those few connections is not to be messed with.  

 

The increased traffic on the shoreway is due to the merging that occurs due to the lane closures. If you don't have merging, then flow should be fine. The plan maintains the same amount of lanes as currently exists. The reconfiguration will not produce traffic tie ups like you currently see.

It's not like the reconfiguration is going to be anything other than a highway, anyway.  Oh wait, there'll be 35mph signs.

It's not like the reconfiguration is going to be anything other than a highway, anyway.  Oh wait, there'll be 35mph signs.

lol  Why did I sense a little bit of "the pope" in that message.  lol

Recent simultaneous lane closures on the west shoreway, innerbelt bridge, and Detroit Ave have made Lakewood seem about 10 miles further from downtown than it actually is.  The weather doesn't seem to be a major factor in these traffic tie-ups, because traffic on any of these routes moves perfectly well once it gets past the eastbound bottleneck. 

 

I am increasingly skeptical of the west shoreway conversion plan, because it appears to serve a necessary purpose in its current configuration.   This doesn't just apply to car commuters, since buses in the area suffer identical delays and since Lakewood is (for the moment) very much underserved by rail.  Think about it-- unlike the east side, the west side's physical connections to downtown can be counted on one hand.  I'm beginning to think the free flow of those few connections is not to be messed with.          

 

The increased traffic on the shoreway is due to the merging that occurs due to the lane closures. If you don't have merging, then flow should be fine. The plan maintains the same amount of lanes as currently exists. The reconfiguration will not produce traffic tie ups like you currently see.

 

I haven't run a simulation of this, but it seems to me that the amount of stoppage per lane that occurs during merging would at least be similar to the amount that would result from traffic lights forcing the entire roadway to stop all at once.  Actually, I think even one single light would (by design) cause a lot more stoppage than one single 3-becomes-2 merge point.  They're talking about putting in 3 lights, which I believe would turn eastbound Clifton and Lake into parking lots for a solid two hours each morning.  It would also result in significantly more traffic on area sidestreets during that period, from people escaping to Detroit Ave.

 

Any property values gained in D-S will therefore be offset in Edgewater.  Appraisers take off a lot for traffic, especially can't-get-out-of-driveway traffic like we've seen this week. 

 

If we're going to switch from a car/highway transit model to one more balanced toward rail, which I'm all for, I'm afraid we might need to do it all at once.  Rush hours around here aren't bad at all when the existing set-up is fully functional, but constricting or retarding multiple routes along one corridor can change that in a hurry.  I would suggest that any west shoreway conversion 1) wait until the innerbelt is fixed, and 2) be done only in conjunction with a new rail line for the affected corridor. 

i take it you're a civil engineer and planner.  :roll:

i take it you're a civil engineer and planner. :roll:

 

Well... yes.  I was a professional logistical planner for about 5 years, trained in modeling traffic flows and analyzing bottlenecks.  I've passed APICS certification tests in production, capacity, and distribution control.  I also appraised houses for a short time.  My opinions on this are not entirely conjecture.  They're also similar to concerns raised by civil engineers at ODOT, for what that's worth.     

that's fine. you seem to think a lot like people from ODOT maybe you should work there.  be as concerned as possible about getting people through around and out of our city as quickly as humanly possible with your fantastic highways. 

 

If someone is really so terribly inconvenienced by having to wait an extra 5 minutes to get downtown in exchange for opening up the neighborhoods to the waterfront, that they just can't take it and want to move... by all means get as far away as humanly possible because I don't want people with that type of thinking around.

 

but don't worry. from everything presented you'll get to keep you're precious highway, albeit with a landscaped median.  The shoreway is the single greatest mistake ever created in cleveland city planning.

RANT ON:  Keep in mind this is coming from a rail advocate's perspective, but most of this nation's transportation ills can be fixed by land use planning that requires less need for travel, especially vehicular travel. Yet many of us in the transportation planning field spend too much of our time trying to figure out how to design infrastructure to move more vehicles around, rather than trying to figure out land use design that requires less.

 

Where the rail advocate in me comes in:  Most of that land use that demands less of our transportation system is of a denser, mixed-use variety. And that land use tends to favor modes that thrive in walkable environments -- trains and transit.

 

RANT OFF

that's fine. you seem to think a lot like people from ODOT maybe you should work there. be as concerned as possible about getting people through around and out of our city as quickly as humanly possible with your fantastic highways.

 

If someone is really so terribly inconvenienced by having to wait an extra 5 minutes to get downtown in exchange for opening up the neighborhoods to the waterfront, that they just can't take it and want to move... by all means get as far away as humanly possible because I don't want people with that type of thinking around.

 

but don't worry. from everything presented you'll get to keep you're precious highway, albeit with a landscaped median. The shoreway is the single greatest mistake ever created in cleveland city planning.

 

Now come on, you're drawing an evil moustache on me.  All my posts clearly indicate that I favor rail over highways, and dense urban development over any alternative.  The devil's in the details.  Maybe we disagree about them, and I understand your frustration, but please don't misrepresent where I'm coming from.  I want what's best for our core urban area.  Access among the various parts of it is something I consider critical.  Good traffic flow is not an anti-urban ideal.  I also condsider Lakewood to be part of Cleveland's core urban area.  It enhances and complements downtown.  Putting obstacles between the two is bad for both, in my opinion.

 

It also isn't clear to me how much the shoreway conversion will actually "open up neighborhoods to the lakefront."  These neighborhoods are still up on a plateau, are they not?  There's still a giant Edgewater parking lot and meadow that aren't going anywhere, are they?  None of the industry is moving either.  If you're worried about getting at the water, the shoreway is not the archnemesis you make it out to be.  Eliminate it entirely and the lake is no closer. 

 

In terms of getting people across, what could intersections accomplish that pedestrian bridges couldn't?  And even the most optimistic projections don't show that much new development along the converted boulevard, because the terrain and the existing development don't allow much room for it, regardless of how slow we force people to drive when they visit our fair city. 

 

And if you think the delays right now are five minutes, I'm glad you don't work at ODOT.  I trust you were kidding about that number.  These are change-your-entire-lifestyle delays, moving people multiple slots up the bus schedule all at once.  These are not Strongsville people, these are people who chose an urban lifestyle.  The desire for a short commute is not frivoulous.  It's a huge selling point in Edgewater and Lakewood, and if it comes off the table there will be widespread impact across a huge chunk of dense city that's currently very popular and functional.

 

To me, the cost-benefit equation does not work out in favor of changing the west shoreway at this point.  That doesn't mean I'm against the concept.  I only ask that it be accompanied by a rail expansion, and that it be well-coordinated with other road projects.  I don't think that means I should move to Hinckley.

 

 

If Lakewood is part of the city core, does that make Mansfield a suburb?

What does core really mean?  I would say most of the inner ring is core city.  It's what downtown is the downtown of.  The city ended at 55th for a long time.  Lakewood, and half of Parma really, are just extensions of Cleveland's main corridors.  The borders are arbitrary and they don't make much sense.  In a satellite view of the entire area, what I would consider core city jumps out at me.  It's the part that looks urban.

...opening up the neighborhoods to the waterfront, ...

 

Can somebody explain to me how a West-Shoreway project could accomplish that?  I recall driving in the near west side neighborhood and trying to find a road to take me to Whiskey Island.  I remember thinking how nice it would be if the residents in that neighborhood could walk to Edgewater Park.  I went home, looked at some maps and noticed that the West Shoreway is an obvious impediment, but that the rail line through the neighborhood was an impediment too.

 

It has been a long while since I looked at the ODOT and/or Cleveland City plan to rehabilitate the West Shoreway into a "boulevard".  Can somebody describe for me what the (presumed) plan is to tie the neighborhood back to the shoreline/Edgewater?  What features would it have?  I cannot help but think that if the residents of those homes could walk to the beach and that the streets "backed up" to the shoreline that the property values would go up.  In my observation, those who have such an arrangement in Willoughby and Euclid "have it pretty good". Thanks

Take a look at the proposed project renderings at:

 

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/projects/ClevelandUrbanCoreProjects/LakefrontWest/Pages/default.aspx

 

The big changes are the access points at the West 73rd Street extension under the tracks and the rebuilt pedestrian tunnels at West 76th Street. Those would complement the already rebuilt tunnel at West 65th, which I think was nicely done.

Tunnels...for the Morlocks.  With the road and the railroad, options are limited. 

 

Another nice thing about a coastal neighborhood is that the summer days are cooler within a few blocks of the lake.  It was always pleasant hanging out on my friend's porch on Neff Road.  Cool breeze and a tasty Bud--what else do you need?

Tasty Bud? An oxymoron indeed. Perhaps you meant Stella or a Great Lakes? :wink:

Great Lakes wasn't invented yet when I was young.

Anybody have anymore updates on this?  I have been trying to get news on the progress, but the last update I got was back in December at the public forum at Mt Carmel school.  I did notice that a portion of the northern slope of the tracks were cleared near W.73rd, perhaps for survey/layout of the new entrance?  I also heard that the W. 76th tunnel rehab might be experiencing delays?  I sure hope not, cleaning up this "scary tunnel" is an important part of making the area safe, appealing, and accessible to the lake.

^ Totally agree... can a small group of people 'adopt-a-tunnel?'  At the least, keep it swept and litter free? Maybe Cleveland Public Art would be interested in painting a mural there....

Actually the tunnel at 76th is relatively clean & graffiti free.  But the problem stems from the tunnel itself, so long, dark, water problems...  keeps most of the foot traffic out.  Once the (crumbling) steps are replaced with ramps for bikes, it'll get alot more traffic and help keep the bad elements out.