Transportation
Vision
A city with affordable and efficient public transit, streets that are safe for all modes of transportation, and dense, mixed-use neighborhoods where people need less transportation to meet their needs.
Questions
Transportation is costly, and sprawl makes us travel more. How can we design a city and a metropolitan region where more of the things we need (jobs, stores, education, health care, entertainment) are located closer together instead of sprawled out at low density?
How can we reclaim more of our public realm from the automobile?
How can we stabilize and expand public transit?
How can we do our part as one city to reduce carbon pollution from the transportation sector?
Recommendations
Support policies and incentives to promote transit-oriented development, which builds population density along transit lines.
Support the transit vision of Clevelanders for Public Transit — excellent ideas for reforming RTA fare policies, decriminalizing fare evasion, raising more revenue for RTA, improving service, and moving toward transit as a human right.
Ohio ranks at the bottom of states for transit funding, so work with other cities and rural transit providers to advocate for much greater state aid.
Support the Vision Zero program to eliminate traffic fatalities in Cleveland.
Support the creation of more complete and green streets, as required by city ordinance. Good examples of street make-overs include Professor Avenue, Fleet Avenue, Larchmere Boulevard, and Waterloo Road.
Accelerate the installation of bike lanes, both striped and protected.
Plan for rapid roll-out of electric vehicle charging stations in the coming years.
Advocate at NOACA for regional transportation planning that promotes the redevelopment of existing communities rather than more sprawl. Proposals for new highway interchanges are serious threats.
Repair some of the urban damage of highway construction by pushing ODOT to cap highways at strategic locations, such as the Innerbelt through downtown, or relocate highways, such as the segment now splitting Gordon Park.
Advocate at the federal level for funding for high-speed rail connections between Midwest cities. And think about other ways that environmentally friendly rail transportation could enhance the quality of life in Northeast Ohio — commuter rail, scenic excursion rail along the lakefront (modeled on the success of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad), or other rail services that would make Cleveland a hub.
Resources
What’s missing? What else should be included on this page? Go here to contribute your ideas.