CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s board proposes developing a system of dedicated bus lanes along Cleveland’s West 25th Street corridor similar to Euclid Avenue’s Healthline.
A majority of the trustees heard a presentation on the idea Tuesday, and a board committee then signed off on a $414,000 contract for Boston-based Stantec Consulting Services to further study what would need to be done to develop a so-called bus rapid transit line on West 25th Street.
As imagined, the line would run along West 25th Street, starting at the north end near the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway, through Ohio City, past the MetroHealth System, and end in Old Brooklyn near the zoo.
The expected price would be $36 to $40 million, and the project would take five years to complete, RTA Deputy General Manager Michael Schipper told board members.
RTA would seek federal funding to construct the line, but isn’t eligible for that money until it meets federal requirements for bus rapid transit lines, Schipper said. The consultants would lay the groundwork to help RTA meet those requirements, he said, and include a financial analysis, along with plans for development, design, land use, zoning, and public feedback.
In addition to the Healthline, a bus rapid transit line from downtown to University Circle, the RTA has a bus rapid transit line along Clifton Boulevard known as the Cleveland State Line.
RTA’s MetroHealth Line now runs along the West 25th Street corridor, and is among the agency’s busiest routes with 1.7 million rides annually, Director of Programming and Planning Maribeth Feke said.
But the MetroHealth Line falls short of the federal requirements for a bus rapid transit line in that at least 50 percent of the route does not operate in a bus-only lane during peak hours and the system lacks traffic signal priority and defined stations, Feke said.
RTA plans to work with the city of Cleveland, the MetroHealth System and Metro West Community Development Organization on the plans. Representatives from those three organizations helped RTA select Stantec, which has a Cleveland office.
A $336,000 federal grant would be used to pay for most of the study, and RTA would pay for the rest.
RTA trustees Georgine Welo and Karen Moss on Tuesday raised concerns about how RTA would secure access to a dedicated bus lane along what is an already congested route.
“Between Lorain and Detroit, there are buildings up close to the sidewalks, and the sidewalks can’t be made smaller,” Moss said. “I’m having a hard time understanding how we would ever get past that point because it is so congested.”
Matt Moss, a planner with the Cleveland Planning Commission, said the city is working with community development corporations on a parking plan intended to free up curb space along the corridor.
Director of City Planning Freddy Collier told trustees that West 25th Street is a critical piece of Mayor Frank Jackson’s neighborhood transformation initiative, which focuses on commercial corridors that link areas of high investment with disadvantaged communities.
“Infrastructure dollars are hard to come by, so we have to be very careful where we invest,” Collier said. “And we believe that in this section of town, there’s quite a bit of momentum where that return will be substantial for the residents.”
The RTA study would coincide with MetroHealth’s $1 billion campus transformation and $60 million investment plan in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood. MetroHealth Director of Economic Development Greg Zucca said the RTA’s proposal aligns with the hospital systems’ plans for community investment.
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February 04, 2020 at 12:32PM
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Greater Cleveland RTA considers West 25th Street bus line similar to Euclid Avenue’s Healthline - cleveland.com
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