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2004 Nov 2
Ohio News Now
Cleveland breaks ground for $200 million transit corridor
CLEVELAND -- Community leaders broke ground Tuesday on a long-planned $200 million mass-transit corridor meant to speed bus riders between Cleveland's two biggest job centers and spur a revival of the city's once-vibrant retail heart.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, whose agency will provide $80 million from a program that promotes bus service over more expensive commuter rail lines, participated in the groundbreaking and predicted the project would generate $700 million in development.
"And of course, with that investment come jobs," Mineta said at a Playhouse Square ceremony along the 7-mile route. He predicted thousands of jobs would be created by the project and expected development that has been a keystone of local lobbying for federal assistance.
The project has been on the planning board for more than 20 years and has had more than five project managers. Officials expect to complete the project in 2008.
Visit the Ohio News Now website for the complete article.
2004 Oct 19
NewsNet5
Euclid Corridor Project Breaks Ground
CLEVELAND -- The city of Cleveland broke ground Tuesday on the $200 million Euclid Corridor Project, which will revitalize the transportation system on the major city street, reported NewsChannel5’s Leon Bibb.
The Regional Transit Authority will run rapid transit vehicles down Euclid Avenue between Public Square and University Circle.
The rubber-wheeled vehicles with a rail-minded design are expected to strengthen both the downtown and uptown regions of Cleveland.
George Dixon III, president of the RTA Board of Trustees, says the new line will reduce travel time between downtown and University Circle by 10 minutes. Travel time will now take about 20 minutes.
Civic and business leaders agreed the project would be paid for with federal and state money.
Visit the NewsNet5 website for the complete article.
2004 May 24
The Newark Advocate
L. B. Whyde
Newark, Ohio native chronicles local rail car company
Larry Brough has written a second book on the now-defunct Jewett Car Company, formerly of Newark, which made trolley cars. He will discuss both the book and the era of early transportation in this country at a lecture at The Works at 7 p.m. Thursday. The book, "From Small Town to Downtown," is a history of Jewett.
During the early decades of the 20th century, the company became one of Newark's largest employers and occupied 10 acres on South Williams Street. The book took Brough and his co-author, James Graebner of Denver, Colo., about five years to research.
The book chronicles the company's humble beginnings in Jewett, its move to Newark and subsequent decline due to the invention of the automobile. The 208-page book is illustrated with 103 period black-and-white photos.
"The most interesting thing I turned up was that one of the treasurers or vice presidents of the company committed suicide in the office in Newark," Brough, 67, said. "It is described in the book. Most of the information I got came from The Advocate."
The Jewett Car Company was known for its elegant wood-and-steel trolley cars. More than 2,000 cars were produced during the company's 25 years, and were shipped to 26 states and Canada. Cars were used in places like Washington, D.C., and New York.
The large car display at The Works was one of the last cars produced for the Lake Shore Electric Railroad.
Visit The Newark Advocate website for the complete article.
2004 March 25
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Tom Breckenridge
Planners seek to transform harbor into a 'new American waterfront'
Robin Richmond likes city planners' vision of a gritty downtown lakefront transformed into neighborhoods of walkable streets, markets and watery vistas. But there's skepticism, borne of the weather.
"There's snow and cold," Richmond said Wednesday night to city planners and a crowd of 300 at Cleveland Convention Center. "How can you talk of a 24-hour neighborhood on a windward lakefront? They won't stroll in the middle of the night during winter or fall."
Yes, they will, city planners say, if the dynamic features of a master plan for the downtown harborfront come to fruition. Cleveland Planning Director Christopher Ronayne and consultants unveiled the plan Wednesday and received solid applause after a 1½-hour pitch.
Ronayne described the plan as "the new American waterfront," which builds on existing museums and features of the North Coast Harbor. The plan also provides for three distinct neigh borhoods, stretching from Burke Lakefront Airport to the Cuyahoga River.
About 1,000 housing units could go up in the next decade, with 1,000 more 20 to 30 years after that sprouting west of Cleveland Browns Stadium. That would be on land and docks now occupied by the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority. Port officials say they plan eventually to move their operations west of the Cuyahoga River, near Whiskey Island.
To lure visitors back to the lakefront, city planners envision an array of attractions, from a trolley-car museum and ferry service to a new marina and cable cars whisking riders from Mall C to North Coast Harbor.
Visit the Cleveland Plain Dealer website for the complete article.
2004 March 24
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Tom Breckenridge
Lakefront could get housing, cable cars
Downtown's drowsy lakefront could buzz with life, teeming with thousands of visitors and residents lured by new housing, two new marinas and entertainment ranging from cable-car rides to a trolley-car museum.
It's all part of a proposed plan for the downtown shoreline, to be unveiled in a public meeting at 6:30 tonight at the Cleveland Convention Center.
At a media preview Tuesday, city planners and consultants showed the 1,000-acre lakefront from the Cuyahoga River east to Burke Lakefront Airport gaining up to 2,000 housing units over the next 30 to 40 years.
Some attractions, such as an ice rink and a ferry to Canada, could develop within the next decade.
Visit the Cleveland Plain Dealer website for the complete article.
2003 November 25
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Rich Exner
RTA studies trolley-style buses as replacements on Loop routes
RTA's 11 downtown Loop buses are likely to be replaced next year by new buses that look like old-fashioned trolleys.
Plans for the new look emerged from talks between the Regional Transit Authority and a downtown business association hoping to promote more shopping and tourism in the city.
Joe Marinucci, executive vice president of the Downtown Cleveland Partnership, said the trolley look would be "more identifiable and hopefully would provide a special feel" for downtown.
Bus drivers assigned to the routes may receive special training to share tourist information, such as what is playing at Playhouse Square or which restaurants are open late, RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese said.
RTA budget plans released yesterday call for spending about $380,000 for a trolley-style bus, instead of about $300,000 for regular buses, when the Loop buses now in use are replaced next year. RTA will seek bids early next year.
Visit the Cleveland Plain Dealer website for the complete article.
2003 November 21
RTA Press Release
RTA offers Northeast Ohioans a trip down Memory Lane
CLEVELAND -- Take RTA's Blue, Green or Red Lines downtown this holiday season for a trip back in time. On Saturdays, Nov. 29, Dec. 6 and Dec. 13, RTA will host the Cleveland Memories Exhibit at its Tower City Center Station, offering a nostalgic look back at growing up in Cleveland. The free exhibit consists of a photo display of holidays past, special appearances by local TV stars of the 60s and 70s, and guided tours of vintage streetcars. The exhibit will be open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Rapid transit riders can obtain an RTA All-Day Pass for only $1 the Saturdays of the exhibit. The two century-old trolleys on display at RTAs Tower City Center Station will be a must-see for transit buffs. Interurban cars 36 (1902) and 303 (1906) were formerly operated by the Chicago Aurora & Elgin (CA&E) railroad. They have been meticulously restored and are now owned by Trolleyville, U.S.A. Interurbans have not been used in Cleveland since 1938. Group tours of the cars will be conducted from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Dec. 6 & 13.
Visit the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority website for the complete article.
2003 September 23
Crain's Cleveland Business
Stan Bullard
Trolleyville may roll downtown
The lower level of the Detroit-Superior Bridge between downtown Cleveland and the West Side is one of the contenders to become the new home of TROLLEYVILLE USA.
The trolley and electric railway museum with an operating trolley line is searching for a new station. Its lease expires in four years at its Olmsted Falls location.
Mark Brookins, president of TROLLEYVILLE USA, said the subway portion of the bridge could serve as a museum. The site also could accommodate trolley rides over all or part of the bridge, Mr. Brookins said.
Visit the Crain's Cleveland Business website for the complete article.
2003 August 7
The New Electric Railway Journal
William S. Lind
Interurbans Run Again in Cleveland
On July 24, 2003, an interurban ran in Cleveland, Ohio for the first time since the Lake Shore Electric quit in 1938. And I had the good fortune to be on it.
The story begins in Trolleyville, the streetcar and interurban museum in Olmsted Falls, Ohio that was founded in the 1950s by Gerald Brookins. Brookins, the owner of a trailer park, loved traction, and over the years he gradually built and wired a loop of track around his trailer park. He picked up the Fox River cars from Shaker Rapid in the early fifties, and later in that decade he bought about a dozen Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin cars, including the last four conventional interurbans built in the U.S. (in 1945). The collection continued to grow, as collections will, the most recent additions being a couple of the "Bluebirds," the original cars used on Cleveland's CTS Rapid.
Visit the New Electric Railway Journal website for the complete article.
2003 July 24
Flats Oxbow Association
Century Old Trolleys Return to Cleveland Streets
Take a ride on Cars #36 and #303, once part of the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad, to promote saving the Trolleyville U.S.A. collection of over 40 cars. Flats Oxbow has been working with the founders of Trolleyville U.S.A., RTA, the City, County Engineer and Stonebridge Development on the preplanning stages to bring the museum Downtown and hopefully in the Flats. Concepts include building a permanent trolley line connecting the Superior Viaduct and the West Side Market with Settlers' Landing and Tower City.
Visit the Flats Oxbow Association website for more information.
2003 July 18
Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
Public operation of century-old trolleys attracts national attention
CLEVELAND -- Transit buffs from around the nation are expected to flock here on July 26-27 for the rare experience of riding century-old trolley cars.
The event
Rides will be offered from 1-7 p.m. on Saturday, July 26, and 1-6 p.m. on Sunday, July 27, on the 2.2-mile light-rail Waterfront Line, part of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA). Rides cost $3 each -- the same price as an All-Day Pass, and purchasing the pass is being encouraged. The cars will stop at all six stations, from Tower City to the South Harbor Station in the Lakefront Municipal Parking lot.
Visit the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority website for more information.
2003 July 18
PR Newswire
Cleveland RTA Offers Historic Trolley Rides July 26-27
CLEVELAND -- Transit buffs from around the nation are expected to flock here on July 26-27 for the rare experience of riding century-old trolley cars.
Rides will be offered from 1-7 p.m. on July 26, and 1-6 p.m. on July 27, on the 2.2-mile light-rail Waterfront Line, part of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA). Rides cost $3 each, and will stop at all six stations along the line.
The weekend is a joint effort of RTA, Flats Oxbow Association, Gerald E. Brookins Museum of Electric Railways, dba Trolleyville, U.S.A., the Western Reserve Historical Society, Enerco/Mr. Heater and Stonebridge Development.
For more information visit the PR Newswire website.
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