Road Rage

Well Cleveland, the rest of the state thinks we're not worth treating with respect.



(I also think that they think we're nuts. A bunch of Dems that don't quite fit with the red part of the state, but I think that's got some merit. We are a little different up here).



As you will soon learn if you don't know already I'm a huge Cleveland supporter. Call me a fanboy, homer, biased or whatever other derogatory slang you want; I'll gladly embrace it. I come from the mind set that only those of us who live and work in the city have any right to point out its shortcomings, and if some dirty rotten from some place like... well anywhere not here, points out our warts, I get my hackles up. That's not to say I won't point out the problems, because I will.



But onto the point.



This on-going planning mini-battle about the inner belt and the I-90 bridge really burns me up. And I don't know why our local leaders are lying down to take it from Columbus and more directly ODOT. Maybe our mayors, council people and state reps and senators are beholden to ODOT and are afraid to ruffle their feathers. After all ODOT can make life difficult for districts that make their job uncomfortable. Maybe our leaders think it's a good idea. Maybe they don't care because only odd-ball planner types and mid-town business people are the ones squaking for now.



Either way it's not right if you ask me.



You see ODOT, in their infinate engineering wisdom, has decided that since the guidelines for interstate interchanges indicate that our downtown ramps are too close together they must go. Never mind that we can find exceptions to this rule all over the country including Columbus. They want to take away the Carneige and Prospect ramps as well as the ramps for I-77 at East Ninth.



That leaves entrances to downtown at East 14th, East 30th (!?), Chester and St Clair (really far out there). We also have the ramps at East 9th and West 3rd along the shoreway, but the traffic counts along State 2 is less than half that across the 90 bridge! The issue is what do we do if we want to get downtown when there's a big play at the square, a show at CSU and a game at Gateway? Get off a mile away at East 30th and Woodland or cram through the traffic at E. 14th? If you miss Chester from the east you're in for a trip either to E 3oth and Woodland on I-77 or across the river before you can turn around. Who is the brain trust that thinks closing and redirecting the majority of traffic to and from downtown and the Cleveland Clinic is a good idea?



You see all they care about at ODOT is that the throughput is increased and "safety" is improved. The problem is that the innerbelt should be the DESTINATION. We shouldn't care about throughput. We should plan the road to help people get into and out of the downtown. It's also the entrance (for now) to get to University Circle for many traveling from the west or south.



The proposals will leave us with few options that all stink and pose serious issues for days where we have multiple events in the Central Business District (CBD). From the east we'll only have St Clair and Chester. The continued efforts of ODOT and the highway system seems to revel in the further isolation of downtown Cleveland and making our collective lives a little more of a hassle.

This to me is just another example of how our government at many different levels is failing us.