Cleveland RTA (Rapid) 2040 Map

I've seen a lot of fantasy maps for the RTA and some are pretty cool, most are absolutely ridiculous. I am resisting calling this a fantasy map. With exception of this map's pièce de résistance, the almost totally new Gold Line, this is actionable (even in a state antagonistic to its cities and transit). I live here and use transit. This map leverages our existing rapid transit assets and generally shies away from extending further into the suburbs, but instead presupposes that GCRTA would use buses to connect the suburbs to rail termini in corridors it has identified as critical to mobilizing the people of Greater Cleveland (Cedar Road, Lee Road, Warrensville Center, E 105th St, W 25 St, and Superior). In a perfect world, this plan would also be complimented by a bike network and bike share program that would solve the first & last mile problem for thousands of Clevelanders. Allow me to layout the changes below and how I might envision their roll-outs-- The easy stuff: Infill stations, interlining, and a one seat trip from Shaker to University Circle. INFILL: I added infill stations at Cornell Rd. in Little Italy, Gateway Plaza by the stadia, W 41st Street in Ohio City, and W 77th Street near Detroit-Shoreway. We should simply do these--go write the grants RTA! If I had to pick one, it would be the most expensive--an enclosed and accessible station at Gateway Plaza from the existing "pedestrian" bridge on the defunct Eagle Ave. Having a single stop serve downtown is ridiculous and, frankly, it's a long and boring walk from the mall basement at Tower City to a ball game. It is conceivable that people would use this is access other non-sports related points east of Tower City in downtown on the rare night there is no ballgame. This would also serve the new Riverfront redevelopment by Bedrock--if they build what they mean to, Tower City will need some metro station relief anyhow. Perhaps look to Pittsburgh's T train Gateway Station for inspiration. These stations would assume all lines are using the new Siemens S200 LRVs and all new platforms will have level boarding. The new stations on the Westside are self-explanatory, there is housing and entertainment being built in those locales rapidly, announcing new stations would initiate more and denser developments. Some might say the Cornell Rd station in Little Italy is redundant, to which I would say--maaaybe. However, the station provides direct access to UH, Case, and NW Cleveland Heights and would easily connect with safe bike routes. Having strategic stations nearer to each other than the heavy rail rapid currently allows is something the new LRVs would afford and something we should consider in this cold climate. The station could be pretty rudimentary and there is space to build it without interrupting service. I would also envision re-opening train access on the south side of Cedar-University Station to connect to the bike path and the new Stokes West development. INTERLINING/NEW BLUE: Having a one seat trip from the Van Aken District to the happening University Circle would make many lives easier and would not be difficult to do (I don't think) if the path of least resistance were taken. GCRTA own the land where the current Red, Blue, and Green lines converge. The pitch here is to build a bit of curved connecting track to send the Blue line from Shaker to the Northeast after the first 79th stop. This could, of course, be a much more rapid trip if a viaduct were built on say the freight rail ROW after the Buckeye-Woodhill Station, but this would be expensive and also bypass some low-income riders who may benefit from such a line. We might as well just do this now and have it ready for the new trains! Get Sherrod Brown on the horn. I'm making this new route the Blue line to breathe new life into it but also for accessibility UX and design purposes. Less easy but should definitely be done to make the most of what already exists: Downtown Loop, Green Line re-route, Eliminate stops. LOOP: Couldn't figure out how to loop these these lines on one end with this Metro Dreamin' tool, but the idea is that the Green would branch out from the trunkline into downtown and head up toward Tri-C (tunneling shortly up 30th St until it passes Woodland). It goes centerlane streetcar and would continue to service CSU, PSQ, massive office/municipal buildings, the Waterfront, Flats East, Settlers Landing, Tower City, Gateway, then head back to The Heights. The Orange line would go the other way, heading toward Gateway and then clockwise around the loop before heading back to Van Aken. This would give downtown significant metro coverage and complete the original vision for the currently useless Waterfront line. Going at grade (with signal priority) in key corridors may be slower than the original loop plan that suggested going down 17th Street but this will connect people with where the actually work, recreate, and go to school. There are as many as 25,000 people on campus at CSU on a given weekday. A majority of students do not own cars (it is expensive) and they are all eligible for RTA U-Pass cards that all them to ride the whole system for free. This segment alone would really goose the numbers, adding revenue and safety. More downtown service is a no brainer. Is it a streetcar? For a bit. Is that bad? Ask Minneapolis! The loop service necessarily eliminates stops. Highway Interchange-Prison Station (AKA the current Tri-C stop, see ya wouldn't wanna be ya), Muni-Lot Station GONE. This map assumes that Amtrak will stay where it is and we will build the landbridge and unify North Coast transit to the one stop, for better or worse (better I think!). If the Brookpark Browns become a reality, they'll get their infill station near the airport and hopefully the lakefront is developed to be a neighborhood with activity more than 8 days a year. This loop is not too dissimilar to GCRTA's original "Phase II" (haha) of the Waterfront line from their circa 2000 study, but connects to the newer-than-that bus terminal, the middle of CSU's campus, and actually lands you on E 9th in places surrounded by offices, stadiums, residences, municipal buildings, and restaurants. (Versus E 17th Street which remains somewhat underdeveloped 24 years on). GREEN LINE re-route on eastern end. Sorry, single family mansions in the eastern reaches of Shaker Heights. You're losing your personal door-to-occassional basketball game light rail service. This plan re-routes the Green line up over-wide Warrensville Center Rd with a little baby cut and cover tunnel to get from below grade to at grade. These stops will allow for easy bus connections with Cedar and Warrensville lines. University Heights is one of the densest places in Ohio, that's to say nothing of the surrounding communities which are also dense and well-served by currently infrequent bus lines. TOD is planned for the nearly defunct mall at this line's proposed terminus. This would be a major boon for the area and help John Carroll keep their lights on for another 100 years. RIP Notre Dame. INTERLINING: Does it seem like there might be a lot of train traffic here? Good! That is by design. If the RTA ran trains on 15 minute headways on each colored line (so about 4 trains on each) then you'd catch a warm train in the direction of your destination (even if the West Loop takes 5 minutes longer) every 7 minutes or so. If Cleveland rapid ridership jumps to 100,000,000, this may need to be re-thought, but this would be a good problem to have. The tough sell! Certainly expensive. THE GOLD LINE: Instead of TOD (transit-oriented development), think of this project as DOT (development-oriented transit). Building a light metro for where the people and stuff already are! This thing is designed to connect the densest parts of Ohio to centers of employment and pleasure. Lakewood needs better connectivity to the city and the city also likes to hang-out in Lakewood. Same goes for Cleveland Heights. They are suburbs but dense, urban suburbs that directly abut the city proper. The Lakewood portion runs along the existing Norfolk Southern right-of-way. I believe there is space enough to build this cheaply (like in terms of rail projects cheap) at grade and even use the railroad crossing gates (like the Gold line in Los Angeles does) when light rail vehicles roll-through. If there is indeed enough space for tracks surrounding the NS tracks, the stations could be built on the cheap and made very accessible with no elevators and ramps to level boarding (again look to Los Angeles Metro). These stations are spaced every 500 meters and connect a huge amount of people within a 5-10 minute walk radius of each. The W 110th St stop would also connect the Edgewater neighborhood of Cleveland where the current West Blvd station is just too far to practically walk for most residents. From West Blvd, riders can connect to the Red line and head quickly to the airport or the see their Brookpark Browns. I have the train interlining with the Red until Ohio City. This is where I got a little nutty--I feel Hingetown and the Flats West Bank is a little cut-off from transit (even though there is a bus and bike lanes) so I gave them a stop. This would also connect to the new Irishbend Town Park that promises to be lovely. This would be used A LOT by tourists and visitors from other parts of town. This plan would require a subway tunnel under W 25th for 1 km (not so bad!) to the existing subway that extends to Church Ave from the Detroit-Superior bridge. One of the biggest costs of subway building is making underground stations and this one is already there (if in terrible condition). The train would then head-across the bridge on the streetcar deck of yore into Tower City for warm connections. If you're lamenting my elimination of the "Lowline" pedestrian path on this level of the bridge, don't! There is already a great path and bike lane on the top level. This Lowline is kind of a dumb project if you ask me; light rail would be much more expensive but much more useful. This line then tunnels (rapid transit!) a good distance to the CSU loop stop at grade--if you need to go somewhere downtown you can walk or transfer to the loop at Tower City. The train then goes elevated until Euclid Heights Blvd in Cleveland Heights. While Midtown is sad and missing many teeth at the moment, the last portion of this ride would be very beautiful through the Clinic and University Circle areas and I think an elevated train ride would be very enjoyable for visitors and residents alike. The stops on the Euclid portion are spaced similarly to the Euclid Ave subway study of the 1980s (rather far apart). This is because my plan would keep in place the Healthline to compliment rapid service downtown. The train goes local again in Cleveland Heights down the center medians of Euclid Heights and Washington Blvd, connecting loads of passengers in walking distance as well as passengers from other parts of town visiting hang-spots in Cedar-Fairmount, Conventry, and Cedar-Lee and then NOT driving home drunk! Sounds easy, right? Let's go! Thanks to Transit281 for building the map that got me started on this.