As we prepare for the first Public Open Houses on September 9, 10 and 12, we wanted to share with you some highlights from the Baseline Conditions Report -- the consulting team's full overview of what we know so far.
This section, derived from Page 5 of the Baseline Conditions Report, describes the existing transportation systems serving the Study Area:
The transportation options for traveling to Downtown Cleveland and University Circle from the northeastern region of RTA’s service area are largely limited to automobile and several Laketran and RTA bus or bus-to-rail transfer options.
- Transit services include local bus routes 1 (St. Clair); 28 (Euclid Avenue); 34 (E. 200 / Green); 37 (E. 185 / Taylor); 39 (Lakeshore); and 94 (E. 260/Richmond)
- Transit services also include the Red Line rail and HealthLine bus rapid transit lines from Louis Stokes Rapid Transit Station at Windermere.
- RTA commuter bus Route 239 operates to Downtown Cleveland via I-90 from the Euclid Park-N-Ride located at St. Clair Avenue and Babbitt Road near the Euclid Square Mall.
- Laketran operates an extensive network of commuter bus routes from adjacent Lake County to Downtown Cleveland and local buses connect with Cleveland RTA buses at Shoregate Shopping Center in Willowick.
- There are no High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes on any of the freeways in Greater Cleveland, although state law now permits buses to use the freeway shoulders in certain sections of the freeway system.
- The Interstate 90 / State Route -2 freeway does not provide any direct access to University Circle, which is the greatest concentration of cultural and educational institutions in the country and second largest business district in Ohio, second only to Downtown Cleveland. Vehicular travelers must use Martin Luther King Jr. Drive (MLK Drive) to travel from I-90 / SR-2 to University Circle.
- I-90/SR-2 carries the highest traffic volumes in the study area, with an annual average daily traffic (AADT) volume exceeding 127,000 vehicles between Coit Road and East 152nd Street. AADT is a measure of the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a year divided by 365 days. AADT is a useful and simple measurement of how busyheavily travelled the road is.
- Other east-west roads in the study area include SR-283 (Lake ShoreLakeshore Boulevard), St. Clair Avenue and Euclid Avenue (US-20). North-south streets connecting I-90 / SR-2 to Lake ShoreLakeshore Boulevard, St. Clair Avenue and Euclid Avenue include Babbitt Road, East 222nd Street, East 200th Street, East 185th Street, East 152nd Street-Coit Road, and East 140th Street-Hayden Avenue.
- The use of these connecting arterial and collector streets means travelers must use congested city streets with low speed limits, many intersections and traffic lights to travel to University Circle from Collinwood and Euclid.
- Average westbound morning motorist travel speeds on I-90 between the Junction and East 185th Street declined from 64mph in 2002 to 58 mph in 2006.
- Average westbound morning motorist travel speeds on I-90 between East 185th Street and Eddy Road declined from 50 mph in 2002 to 45 mph in 2006.