Make ODOT Listen To Us For Once

 

Wed 10/9 @ 6:15pm

By Joe Baur

The Ohio Department Of Transportation is now accepting comments conveniently through email regarding the Opportunity Corridor. While this may be a practice in soliciting citizen comment merely for the sake of pretending to care (ODOT’s history warrants the pessimism), I’m encouraging everyone to write in to Amanda Lee at Amanda.Lee@dot.oh.us to share your comments and/or concerns. And because these letters are easy to ignore by public officials, I’ve decided to use my venue here at Cool Cleveland to share my letter publicly.

I don’t purport to be an expert in urban planning. My thoughts are generated based on research and what far more educated folks have had to say on the project with a dash of firsthand experience in what it’s like to live car-free in an auto-oriented town.

Good Morning,

My name is Joe Baur, a 27-year-old Clevelander living downtown with some comments on the Opportunity Corridor.

I moved back to Cleveland two years ago because I was excited about what I saw as a new, progressive direction the city was heading in. The Euclid Corridor project proved to be a success, seemingly providing the physical proof this city so desperately needed that the future of American cities is in alternative modes of transportation. With that in mind, I picked out an apartment downtown specifically because it’s located close to the Rapid and has a HealthLine stop right outside.

Since then, my perception of the direction our city is heading in has change for the worst.

We’ve welcomed more parking downtown by adding a casino parking garage, the city has not followed through on promises for more bike lanes; and now ODOT, the city and groups led by suburban residents are trying to sell us on the Opportunity Corridor. This is a new road that we cannot afford. And since my generation is the one who will have to be paying for this road, I feel the need to say something.

First, we absolutely do not need a new road in Cleveland. We have plenty that need attention as is. Current infrastructure is failing across the city, and I question the funding for the upkeep of already existing roads. Federal funding, regardless of the government shutdown, is waning. What is ODOT’s plan once this money goes away? The Opportunity Corridor will only add to our existing infrastructure problems.

Also, this road is going through a part of town where people largely rely on public transportation. How can ODOT honestly say this project is about them and not suburban commuters when many neighborhood residents won’t even be able to access the road? RTA has already said the proposed corridor would not be a priority for them.

Second, ODOT is trying to sell this project as a boulevard, not a highway. Yes, the stated speed limit is 35mph. But anyone who has ever driven in Cleveland knows nobody pays attention to the speed limit. Ontario Avenue off the highway downtown has posted signs for 25mph, yet cars are encouraged to go faster with wide lanes and they happily do so. Not to mention the proposed sound barriers reek of highway, not a street or boulevard where businesses will flourish in a hard-hit part of Cleveland.

Young Clevelanders, the very ones breathing new life into our urban core, have spoken loudly against this project and others like it that contributes to our existing, unsustainable infrastructure. Sweet Moses! When will the state government and ODOT listen to us? People are driving less. Plenty of people who cannot afford a car, $10,000 per year, are forced to own one because of projects like this. We need to stop with the 1950’s thinking of getting people out of the city to the suburbs as quickly as possible and start with a fresh, 21st Century perspective if we want Cleveland to thrive today and in the years to come.

I strongly urge ODOT to cancel this project and redirect the $300-plus million designated for the Opportunity Corridor toward redeveloping our existing infrastructure for alternative modes of transportation.

Thank you for your time.

Cheers,

Joe

That’s the long and short of it. If you’re as fired up about this project as I am, then come on down to the Cleveland Museum of Art for a panel discussion on the project Wed 10/9 at 6:15 p.m. Cheer on writer and activist Angie Schmitt as she takes on the David role against the Goliaths of Cleveland’s “We know better than you young people” crowd.

 

Joe Baur is a freelance writer, filmmaker and satirist with a diverse array of interests including travel, adventure, craft beer, health, urban issues, culture and politics. He ranks his allegiances in the order of Cleveland, the state of Ohio and the Rust Belt, and enjoys a fried egg on a variety of meats. Joe has a B.A. in Mass Communication with a focus on production from Miami University. Follow him at http://JoeBaur.com and on Twitter @BaurJoe.

 

 

 

Cleveland, OH 44106

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