Given that Ohio can’t be bothered to adequately fund public transit, and given RTA’s menu of impending financial disasters, the above is merely a pipe dream. But imagine!
Mr. Berman left no stone unturned. In the “Special gameday service” box, he envisions the following promotion: “Show your ClemCard at Browns Stadium [sic] and get one free paper bag with every Browns ticket!”
This article appears in Jan 18-24, 2017.
that would be amazing. something like atlantas
I agree it would be amazing. But, just like Atlantis it’s imaginary. The citizens of this city are too busy lapping up the spoils of gentrification, taking part in constructing the gentrification or fleeing the effects of gentrification. The racial divide established long ago and upheld consciously and/or unconsciously by those with the power and privilege also contribute to the worsening of effect. But I do agree it’s most definitely something that could prove very effective in assisting the spread of commerce and mobility throughout the area.
I think clevelandagainsttheworld meant “Atlanta’s.”
I used to live in an area (D.C.) which had superb public transportation. I’ve seen the transformative effects of excellent subway, light rail, and bus transit for poor and working-class people, as well as for upper-class and wealthy individuals.
Cuyahoga County is suffering from “sprawl withdrawal”. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry got to incorporate their own little community, spreading out ever-further — and promising wealthier individuals that they’d never have to see “those people” and deal with “those people’s problems” if they’d just move out further. Now the area is so car-addicted, density throughout the area is so low that retail cannot survive, and everything is so built up, that it would take leadership that this area hasn’t seen since Tom Johnson 100 years ago to make something like this come true.
But oh — if it could happen! The benefits to the city and county would be STUNNING. Millennials would flock here. The urban renewal would be eye-popping.
a city can only dream right? ohio’s budget and rta’s would never allow it. where are the investors?
We can’t even get RTA to extend the Blue Line light rail to Highland Hills…
Very nice! I live in Parma, and it’s pretty difficult getting to a train from here. A real shame, especially considering it is the biggest suburb in the state and just miles from downtown, a perfect place for light rail.
If the subway planned and started back in the 1920-30s had been built, we’d already have a subway and el system that would have taken the Red Line from the Airport to East Cleveland via Downtown, except right over or under Detroit and Euclid, as well as another line extending over Pearl and connecting to the Red Line at W 25th & Detroit. This would be on top of the Blue & Green lines we have today. It’s likely the line down Pearl would extend at least to Parma Heights if not Strongsville by now, and the one to the Airport into Berea. Another line was supposed to be added later down Superior. There would be little need for the Downtown Loop buses,since the subway would have been a loop. The Healthline and the Cleveland State BRT lines would also never have been needed because a subway would have been there instead. The Red Line would have stations in totally convenient locations instead of being in the middle of an industrial wasteland, far from any homes or storefronts. And Downtown and Ohio City would have had several stations rather than just one each, making it really convenient to take the subway to work and not walk but a block or two from the stop.
As it was, only the segment between W 25th & Detroit and W 9th & Superior was ever built, as it was part of the Veterans Memorial Bridge. This only ran for a brief period of time until it was closed because none of the rest of the system was ever built. Had it been built, perhaps department stores would still exist on Euclid Avenue and Downtown would never have hollowed out like it did. This was all brought to us by a Cuyahoga County Engineer who was bought and paid for by automotive interests who wanted to sell cars. This engineer reigned for decades and torpedoed any progress on the subway through the 1950s. The only thing Cleveland got was the Red Line, which followed abandoned freight tracks that hardly came close to where people really needed to go. It’s a lesson that politicians will talk the people into bringing their own demise as long as the corporate money is there for their campaigns.
Parking lots where buildings used to be
That is awesome. Three suggestions at first glance:
~* Have the western terminus of the “E” line extend to the Clague and Westlake P&R
~* Somehow work in the North Olmsted P&R with either the “D” or “E” lines
~* Extend the eastern terminus of the “A” line out to the Euclid P&R
A system like this could eliminate many busses.
Trump’s going to implement the Albert Porter freeway plan instead.
I plan to copy and enlarge this map and it will go on my wall, next to eerily similar maps of Real Life systems like NYC, Chicago, Boston and London. As a native of Chicago, I have been into electric transit (elevated, subway, and surface…streetcars and trolley buses) for most of my life. People like me are called juicers or juiceheads by other railfans, for obvious reasons.
Before I comment further, I would like to know how much of the CMFR (Cleveland Metropolitan Fantasy Railway) is elevated, how much is subway, how much is ground-level or open-cut Rapid, and what lines have street running…light-rail on tracks or trackless trolley buses. I immediately noticed that the Green and Blue lines are incorporated into the CMFR, but not the West Side portion of the existing Red Line…is there a reason for this omission?
I will have more to add upon further review, and I also plan to compare this map with the Real Life map of the proposed streetcar-subway system that the old CTS wanted to implement immediately after WWII, when they upgraded their streetcar system with PCC-type vehicles and announced plans for a subway system. A system that was eventually scaled back to trolley buses, motor buses, and what became our Rapid in the Fifties. And freeways, of course. Lots and lots of pavement, for lots and lots of newer and bigger cars.
Later, gator…
Chuckles the Clown.
Lee, you are probably well aware of the sad fact that the department stores fled to the suburbs because downtown emptied out for far more complex reasons than the lack of a subway. They were casualties of the Great Migration from the South in the Forties and Fifties (and even earlier, to some extent)…which was followed by the inevitable White Flight.
Same thing happened in other, bigger cities. The only difference is that those cities (like New York and Chicago, just to name two) built up their electrified transit systems much earlier, between 1890 and 1930…before the Depression brought almost all such construction to a halt.
Chuckles the Clown
Chuckles, I’m aware that happened, but it’s worth noting that Chicago and New York may have suffered less in their cores because of the public transportation connectivity. I’m sure Cleveland would still have hollowed, but perhaps nowhere near as much. And when the economy bounced back in the 80s, 90s, development Downtown and along transit lines likely would have been much stronger as well, especially as urban living gained the popularity it has now.
Its funny that even in an imaginary mass transit system everything has to go through Public Square… one of the biggest problems with the existing system – Its bewildering why one can’t just go from Lorain to Carnegie without the detour to Public Square.
I know Im super late guys but I think this would be great
When a subway was being considered for the Euclid Corridor in the late 1980s, which may have sparked rail transit development elsewhere, Scene/Free Times couldn’t wait to pounce on the project, Now that new rail systems are practically a cliche in even lesser cities, Scene suddenly whines about Cleveland’s lack of development in its existing rail transit system. Figures.
I’d be curious to know how the subway would have worked had the Clark Freeway been built. Did the plan call for it to run in the middle of the highway? How would the interchange have ended at 271 and still deal with the train and Shaker Blvd. in both directions?
Josh
THE LINES NEED TO GO TO JOHN CARROLL AND NOTRE DAME ON THE EAST SIDE LINKING CSU AND BALDWIN WALLACE DOWNTOWN OUT TO THE WEST SIDE THEY ALSO NEED TO GO TO THISTLEDOWN NORTHFIELD AND HIGHLAND HILLS