This is what Public Square will look like everyday in the future. Credit: James Corner Field
You’ll note that in the story below we marked Feb. 23 as the likely start date for long-heralded Public Square renovations and bus line re-routing. 

Scratch that.

From WKYC:

Jeremy Paris, executive director of the Group Plan Commission, confirmed that work will begin soon but an exact date is still not finalized.
If you haven’t yet tuned in, the race to the RNC is getting more interesting by the day. 

***
Originally published Feb. 3

This morning, representatives from the nonprofit Group Plan Commission elaborated on their plans for the Public Square redesign and, more specifically, how such a thing will affect public transit. In short: If you use Public Square to get on or get off a bus route, you should start planning ahead.

In the week leading up to construction, expected to begin on or around Feb. 23, RTA staffers will be on-site at Public Square to inform riders of what’s to come. Signage will become ubiquitous. More than 30 bus routes will feature relocated stops and changed routes, and the map of modified bus stops certainly says as much.

Traffic will flow counter-clockwise around the Square’s perimeter over the course of the anticipated 15-month construction job, but not through it. Superior and Ontario’s Public Square segments will close. After all is said and done, the portion of Ontario that bisects Public Square will remain closed and Superior’s east/west Public Square segment will reopen solely to bus traffic. 

The idea is that this whole thing will be complete by the July 2016 Republican National Convention.

This is a huge deal for the people who pass through Public Square — even more so than for the downtown residents and visitors who will, like, use the Square’s new splash zone every once in a while. Bus and HealthLine ridership jumped 10 percent alone in December 2014, bringing last year’s RTA totals to more than 49.25 million non-unique riders. At least in the forecasts of the moment, public transit is taking a backseat to corporate branding and RNC-minded image posturing, which is to say: #thisiscle

RTA CEO and General Manager Joe Calabrese is maintaining his “optimistic” line, so we’ll all join in and warily watch the fast-tracked Public Square overhaul unfold.

This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2015.

Eric Sandy is an award-winning Cleveland-based journalist. For a while, he was the managing editor of Scene. He now contributes jam band features every now and then.

6 replies on “UPDATE: Group Plan Commission, RTA Outline 33 Bus Route Modifications Ahead of Public Square Construction”

  1. “This is a huge deal for the people who pass through Public Square”

    so riders will be displaced 1000 feet at most from their current stops. explain to me, in detail, how this is a problem. ‘it’s not the same as it is now’ is not an answer.

  2. Could we have possibly picked a project that would be a bigger imposition on transit riders? And in the dead of winter. 33 routes.

  4. if the bus stops can be off of Superior for 18 months straight and also for special events, why can’t they be permanently off of Superior?

  5. I am more concerned about the city getting off their ass and building the new kennel that they have been sitting on the funds for. Dogs die and get sick needlessly at the current kennel. It is out dated and off the beaten path. It lacks any ability to provide a safe and engaging environment for the poor dogs that end up there. The volunteers and staff do their best but it is impossible in the abhorrent conditions. So forgive me if I could give 2 figs about grass and a damn chandelier outside. Fix the kennel delay!!

  6. Im sure all the lazy Scene reporters with all their cliches at-the-ready will be “warily” watching and letting us know who’s getting stiffed by this construction.
    Those who can, do.
    Those who can’t, write about it.

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