if you were rta (Cleveland, Akron: how much, neighborhoods, buses)

[1watertiger]

this is just something for fun... if you could expand any rapid or light rail line in metro cleveland , where would you have it go? the only rule to my question is it has to stay in the 7-county metro.

[Cleveland_Collector]

I'd run it along I-77 from the Terminal Tower all the way to downtown Akron, for starters. I'd also put in an express line that links Hopkins to Akron regional.

[1watertiger]

^that would be good.. how about extend green line out to 271 then travel thru eastern/se suburbs along 271/rt.8 to downtown akron to a central station.? we can then extend blue line to 480 and have it travel west thru south/sw suburbs to the airport and link with red line back to tower city ?

[AGuyFromCleveland18]

I would expand it to neighborhoods throughout the city, to try and revitalize some places. We shouldn't be focused on moving outward, but bringing people back inward.

[citydudeallover]

I would look over the many plans from the past for interurban railroads , of course
today in would mean light rail.
Example of the past - Plans to build Electric Rail Line ( 1920's )from downtown Cleveland out to Avon Lake &
Sheffield Lake and points further west. The remains of this right-of -way ,most people know it as Electric Boulevard in those communities .
A southern route lightrail is IMO one of the many missing links to southern Cuyahoga,
let alone further south .Ever drive I 71 south during rush hour ? from downtown going along pretty good then bam , once 480 traffic merges on to 71 ,from there , it is bottled neck , and stop and go .
Plans were on the books on the eastside to have the rapid have a line go out to Beachwood , at this time I forget the route but I have seen the plans (exact route).
That said , shorter routes within the city that would have buses run more frequently!
Like the street cars every 10 minutes. THAT WOULD REALLY MAKE PUBLIC TRANSIT
MORE USER FRIENDLY

[BelieveInCleve]

If we're just talking about 1 new line I think the highest priority is another line or possibly regional/commuter rail between Downtown Cleveland and Downtown Akron. There is already some existing tracks between the two, going through Cuyahoga Valley National Park would be cool, or you could put it through the urban areas and maybe add a few more stops along the way.

Other priorities:
- another line that would possibly branch off from the Redline at the West Blvd stop, this would go through all of Lakewood at least and possibly several other lakeside suburbs or further to Lorain/Vermilion.
- Redline east extension to Euclid, Painesville or possibly further points.
- Another line going through the south side neighborhoods of Cleveland (South Broadway etc), could extend to the SE suburbs.
- Redline west extension to DT Elyria.

What I would like to see is all of the above or some variation of them. If we're talking just in the 7 county region (although I believe Ashtabula County is in the CSA, making it 8 counties), the top priorities for me are either lines or regional/commuter trains from Downtown Cleveland to: DT Akron, Lorain/Elyria - or the downtowns of both, DT Elyria: through Redline SW extension to N Ridgeville then Elyria, DT Lorain: a line branches off the redline which would go through Lakewood/all the west Lakeside suburbs out to Lorain possibly further to Vermilion. If we're talking past the 7 county region, I would like to see the Cleveland-Akron line be extended to Canton, and the Cleveland-Lorain (or Cleveland - Lorain/Elyria commuter line) be extended to Sandusky. The new SE Line or a commuter line could be extended to Warren/Youngstown.

[BelieveInCleve]

^ Out of those additions I would personally use the Cleveland-Lorain line on a regular basis. The Cleveland-Elyria redline west extension occasionally especially for Hopkins. I would also use the Cleveland-Akron line occasionally. And if the Cleveland-Lorain line was extended to Sandusky, I would also use that once in a while. The others I would maybe use a few times a year.

I'm not positive of all the specifics and if you could add these lines on existing tracks or not, also not sure how much demand there would be for the above. But it could potentially be like a smaller version of the Chicago areas METRA/NICTD. I believe that Trains in general are the future, Light/Heavy urban rail lines and commuter/regional trains.

[1watertiger]

what about extending the waterfront line so is loops the downtown? maybe east to asia-town to help spur those neighborhoods then over towards csu and tri-c metro and back towards tower-city.

[BelieveInCleve]

Originally Posted by 1watertiger

what about extending the waterfront line so is loops the downtown? maybe east to asia-town to help spur those neighborhoods then over towards csu and tri-c metro and back towards tower-city.

That would be a good idea, but I was going off of where there's already existing tracks or rail corridors, and there isn't any in the area that you're talking about so they would have to build it from scratch, or do some street level thing like in other cities.

However there is existing tracks that branch off the waterfront line and go through Asia-Town and the near Eastside. Through these already existing tracks you could potentially create a loop ending at the 79th and Woodland stop. The tracks I'm speaking of are the ones that go over the 55th and Euclid intersection, I believe this could be a good place for a stop that connects to the Health Line.

I'm not 100% sure but I believe the majority of the RTA rapid and light rail lines operate on tracks that already existed but maybe were not in use anymore. This looks to be the case at least for the majority of the Red Line, and parts of the Blue and Green lines.

[Mr216]

First of all I would rehab the red line trains like they did the blue and green line and put cameras on them so they are a little safer because those trains are in bad shape. As far as routes I would have the Red Line go and ride past Superior, or St. Clair to relieve some of the congestion. If I had the ability though I would build rail lines overhead like Chicago or New York that rides over buildings through E.105 street because the # 10 bus route is always congested and needs some relief. As far as the blue and green lines I would have them go farther west in the suburbs and at least one into the flats when it gets redone to help transport people from there.

The Waterfront line I would rename the Gold Line, but heavy rail style trains on the tracks and have it serve the Southeast side of Cleveland ( Kinsman, Buckeye, Union etc.) I would do this because there are currently NO rail line that ride past there and they need it. (I would build new rail tracks of course)