Boston architect Miguel Rosales was on hand to extol the virtues of the cable-stayed design — the only design of the three released to the public last week that was discussed in-depth. The rationale: It’s cheaper and easier to build, which is great, and anyway county leaders and the architects said that the majority of “the public” (Cleveland.com poll respondents, I guess?) preferred this design.
The tone of the meeting, however, was very much in the done-deal camp, despite funding woes frustrating county leaders and casting the project in limbo at the moment.
“Once you get the bridge the whole harbor is going to change,” Rosales said. “It’s not only the bridge but what it’s going to bring to you in the future.” And there’s the rub. This bridge, a (very nice-looking) $25-million boondoggle in some ways, is the public pièce de résistance as we really hunker down for the Republican National Convention in 2016. It’s the figurative bridge to something bigger than what we presently are. Public leaders have expressly cited the RNC as the causal link to why this project is even being discussed right now.
A deadline that stretches out some 19 months might seem pretty comfy, but massive civic and economic development projects take time. At public meetings across town, one can pick up on a bit of hand-wringing taking place as leaders consider how much stuff is being packed into such a relatively small window of time.
Rosales uncomfortably mentioned some of the development that will be taking place on the north end of the bridge — developer Richard Pace’s proposed 1,000 residential apartments, likely a hotel, maybe a school, a huge concessions stand with, like, a Blue Point Grille-esque restaurant on top of it. But like a train hurtling toward disconnected track, there’s apparently nothing anyone can do. The proposed hotel was also brought up in matter-of-fact terms, and Rosales winced when he had to point out that it will pretty much kill views of the water from the bridge and disrupt the visual cohesion of the bridge’s cable features and the Rock Hall’s pyramid design. (This project, specifics of which are still in flux, won’t be done in time for the RNC, mind you. Three phases will stretch out over the next several years.)
Still, last night offered a landing pad for public comment — at least in theory. About a dozen people (of the probably 100 in the room) got up to speak their mind. Most celebrated the visually striking designs, and many offered solid critical input. The most sound suggestion had to do with connecting the bridge to the Amtrak station directly below. It’s unclear if that will be taken into consideration (mostly because a) this city’s track record with public transit accommodation is weak and b) no one from the county or the design firm actually responded to any of the public comments.) Others inquired about inclement weather, and whether the bridge will be usable year-round or whether there’s a plan in place to deal with ice forming on the cables and potentially falling onto the railroad and West Shoreway.
Satinder Puri, a retired structural engineer, was the first person in the audience to speak. He asked for the justification for the new bridge and whether a traffic study had been done to examine foot traffic in the area. The bridge will originate in the northeast corner of the Mall, which Puri called “desolate.” (He’s not wrong; have you been to the Mall ever?) He pressed the agencies for numbers, data — anything to bear out how often this expensive project will be used on a regular basis. “What rationale was used?” Puri asked. No one answered.
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2014.
The title of this article couldn’t be more accurate. The discussion last night barely included the other two designs. There was absolutely no discussion about weather the city actually needed the bridge or the ridiculous location of the landing spot and pig tail to get back down to the ground. The meeting was to share what had already been decided, not to allow for input.
“Once you get the bridge the whole harbor is going to change,” Rosales said.
Um what? Classic example of magical thinking.
This is a waste of money but if you are going to build it at least include access to the Amtrak station. The Cleveland Amtrak station is the least pedestrian friendly station I have ever used. If you walk up W3rd and there are no sidewalks along the shoreway and you have to walk over a guard rail. The other option is to walk up East 9th and back down but it is roundabout way to get there and it is not clearly signed. There is a sidewalk at least but you have to walk against the flow of shoreway traffic and across a parking lot. Get it together Cleveland…
The city needs another connector to the lakefront. The mall is a good spot; it’s in the middle of the city. Quit calling everything this city does a boondoggle. You sound like moronic teabaggers. Does this city have any progressive voices in the media or are you all just too lacking in vision to see that the city is way too isolated from its own lakefront? That said, I hate the way this city pretends to welcome input from the public and the way they half-ass just about everything. The city’s slogan ought to be, “That’ll do.”
Cleveland needs a new Amtrak station that sits along E. 9th Street. But a connection from this bridge would be a good start.
Why build a train station in a major city anywhere but the building that was actually designed for one—the *Terminal* Tower?!?!?
I think the bridge is a good idea, and I think making it architecturally cool is also a great idea. I think disregarding the public is a HUGE mistake, as well as going with the cheap and easy plan instead of the inspiring and well thought out plan. It’s a giant mistake to think that pedestrian studies are going to be even remotely revealing, seeing as walking over there is a joke right now, and most people are going to avoid walking it if at all possible—so yeah, I think if it were done right, this would change everything. Most importantly I think it’s a mistake of EPIC PROPORTIONS to go into this willy nilly and just let a developer decide to build a hotel on our prime real estate which will be impossible to remove and most likely destroy the asthetic of the lakefront. The harbor is important, people, and completely NOT worth risking ruination just to impress a bunch of national media who will be too busy chasing politicians to notice anything but STUPID inconvenient and ugly mistakes in developing the city.
The proposed $25 million Lakefront Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge is a taxpayer-funded project: $10 million each from the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, and the balance of $5 million from the State of Ohio.
Public projects should be justified based on needs. So far, no justification has been provided — because none exists. Justification would have included a traffic study that would have shown that the existing bridges (East 9th and West 3rd) cannot handle the volume of pedestrians and bicyclists in the area and thus a new bridge was needed.
I am a retired structural engineer and a senior citizen. I don’t have a car, don’t know how to drive, and walk for miles on end. I have walked a few times from our house on the West Side to downtown – a distance of 9-miles. Cleveland is a very walkable city.
Every time I visit our malls – I find them virtually desolate of the 13,000 or so residents who live downtown. I hardly see any bicyclists or pedestrians in the mall areas. We have all these green spaces and they don’t appear to be used by the residents (I am all for green spaces – the more the better). However, there is a lot of pedestrian traffic on East 9th Street — going towards the North Coast Harbor and coming back.
I voiced my concerns on the absence of a traffic study at the 11-13-14 Public Meeting organized by Cuyahoga County’s Department of Public Works. I also voiced my concern on the Sound of Ideas Weekly Regional Round-up radio program of Friday, 11-14-14.
Norman Krumholz (former member, Cleveland City Planning Commission, and former Prof. in the Levin College of Urban Affairs) raised a similar concern regarding the absence of a justification for the project in a Letter to the Editor of The Plain Dealer, dated Sept. 12, 2014.
We should not build ”signature” bridges – we should build bridges based on need – and the “signature” quality – whatever that means – evolves from the design process – rather than superimposed as a pre-condition. Our Veterans Memorial Bridge is a beautiful bridge and uses a 2,000-year old structural form (the arch). I have walked over the bridge multiple times and every time I am dazzled by the graceful form and the intricate details (each a work of art). A beautiful bridge does not need non-functional curves and contortions in the structure to spark the soul.
Most non-structural engineers are not aware that the concepts of the suspension bridge and the cable-stayed bridge (both inter-related structural forms) are much older – having evolved from the spider’s web.
At the Public Meeting of 11-13-14, Joseph Giuliano, President of the Downtown Cleveland Residents Association, complained that his organization was never contacted for input on the bridge design. However, Mr. Giuliano believes the bridge will not only provide access to the lake but also activate (the now desolate) green spaces. In addition, according to City Hall, this project and similar projects like the proposed $32 million radical makeover of Public Square (close Ontario Street & narrow Superior Avenue), will bring an economic boom to Cleveland that will provide “lasting benefits for both today’s Clevelanders and future generations.” With billions spent, downtown with 3% of the population is prospering. Unfortunately, this prosperity is not trickling down to the remaining 97% of Clevelanders.
Cleveland, with a 37% poverty rate, does not need to waste $25 million on an unnecessary “signature” bridge – a superficial symbol – to impress any one – when we already have two functional crossings (East 9th and West 3rd). People would go to jail if they embezzled $25 million. We can always build a new bridge when we need one. We have great people and a beautiful walkable city as is – that is more than enough to show the world, and our Republican friends, in 2016.