Looking north along West 25th Street from the intersection of Franklin Boulevard in Cleveland’s Ohio City, the 25Connects plan would do more than speed up bus service between downtown and Old Brooklyn. It could also help energize high-density, mixed-use development called Transit-Oriented Development that boosts transit ridership, walking and biking thereby reducing car dependency as this conceptual design shows.
City Planning Commission approval is expected tomorrow for a comprehensive plan to enhance public transportation service along the busy West 25th Street corridor between downtown Cleveland and the Old Brooklyn neighborhood.
The proposed 25Connects bus rapid transit project would speed up Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) buses by 10-20 percent, tapping federal transit funds to redesign the street and create bus-only lanes similar to the HealthLine along Euclid Avenue. GCRTA is undertaking 25Connects with design assistance from Stantec Inc. of Edmonton, Canada and Seventh Hill LLC of Cleveland.
The plan is to turn West 25th into a “Complete Street” with protected bike lanes, landscaped sidewalks, public art and, of course, lanes for cars and some on-street as well as off-street parking. It has broad involvement and support from a variety of stakeholder groups, according to GCRTA.
With north at the right side of this image, the 25Connects project area is shown here along with areas of opportunity and constraints to offer dedicated bus and bike lanes. The area of proposed investment extends along West 25th Street from Old Brooklyn to the intersection of Detroit Avenue in the Hingetown section of Ohio City. Along the way, faster buses on mostly dedicated lanes serving more substantial bus stops and neighborhoods with denser, mixed-use, walkable developments are envisioned. To receive federal funds, bus trip times must be reduced by at least 10-20 percent, requiring some design challenges through some highly constrained sections of the corridor.
This latest 25Connects presentation to be given before the City Planning Commission tomorrow will focus on Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) with the proposed creation of a TOD zoning overlay, a streamlining of the process for approving mixed-uses and establishing new parking requirements.
More at NEO-trans.blog
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