Waterfront Line Phase II Briefing Paper

Waterfront Line Phase II briefing paper All Aboard Ohio, a nonprofit rail and transit advocacy organization, has formally asked the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority to include in its ongoing Next Gen system planning and 2030 Strategic Planning processes a review options for improving very low and stagnant ridership on its 1996- built Downtown Waterfront extension of its light-rail Blue & Green lines. These are the options All Aboard Ohio suggested to GCRTA in a Nov. 30, 2020 letter: STATUS QUO/ROUTE MANAGEMENT: keep the route as-is but with relatively minor changes such as more advertising, revised schedules, fare-free service & more development at stations. ABANDONMENT: discontinue all service, remove tracks, stations, bridges and refunding to the Federal Transit Administration Waterfront Line state-of-good-repair funds (estimated at up to $10 million). WATERFRONT EAST EXTENSION: In 2004, the City of Cleveland’s lakefront plan (its most recent) proposed a 3.5-mile, seven-station extension of the Waterfront Line east along the CSX railroad tracks to near Bratenahl with new transit-supportive developments near most stations. DOWNTOWN LOOP EXTENSION: In 2000, following a federally compliant Major Investment Study/Alternatives Analysis, GCRTA selected as its locally preferred alternative an extension of the Waterfront Line along East 17th Street, Prospect Avenue, East 21st/22nd Streets, Community College Avenue and East 30th Street. AAO proposes a routing via East 13th Street and Euclid Avenue. All Aboard Ohio favors extending the Waterfront Line as a Downtown Loop because: GCRTA’s Waterfront Line Phase II 2000 study showed that the Downtown Loop could achieve a cost per new rider of less than $14. In 2000, FTA funded projects with a cost per new rider below $20. In 2000, the Downtown Loop was projected to attract 2.2 million square feet of nonresidential development, nearly 1,000 housing units, $441 million in overall development (in 2000$), nearly 9,000 permanent jobs, $250 million in new payroll and $17.8 million in new local tax revenues per year. Those benefits offer the potential for GCRTA to fund much of the local share of the Downtown Loop from short-term tax-increment financing. The non-local share could come from the federal government which is likely to become more transit-friendly under the Biden-Harris Administration. GCRTA is about to replace its 35- to 40-year-old rail fleet with standard light-rail trains that can operate on any line in its rail system, including any future line expansions like a Downtown Loop. Since 2000, Downtown Cleveland more than doubled its residential population, saw downtown employers grow with more than $7.25 billion worth of investment, and attracted new corporate offices from the suburbs and other metro areas seeking low-cost urban workplaces and lifestyles. Only about one-third of the Central Business District is currently within a 5-minute walk of an existing GCRTA rail station. A Downtown Loop routed via East 17th could put nearly two-thirds of the CBD within a 5-mile walk. A Downtown Loop routed via East 13th could put up to 90 percent of the CBD within a 5-minute walk. Major developments along the 2000-favored Downtown Loop route are planned. Chicago-based Akara Partners seeks a massive Flats East Bank expansion of up to 2,000 housing units. Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority is replacing the obsolete Cedar Extension Estates with the mixed- income, mixed-use Central Choice Neighborhood (Sankofa Village, Cleveland Scholar House, etc). Cleveland State University is about to begin a campus master plan process, focusing on redevelopment of the Wolstein Center site, additional housing and more transportation access. END .

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