Euclid Corridor, Cleveland, Ohio

The Euclid Corridor Transportation Project represents a $220 million (and growing) investment in the revitalization of one of downtown Cleveland’s most historically significant stretches.

For much of the late 1800s through the early 1900s, Cleveland’s Euclid Avenue was rightfully referred to as ‘Millionaire’s Row’, for it hosted more concentrated wealth than even New York City’s famed Fifth Avenue. Calling Euclid Avenue home were such luminaries as John D. Rockefeller, John Hay, Marcus Hanna, Charles F. Brush, Samuel Mather and Jeptha Wade. Though fewer than 10 of the grand mansions that once lined Euclid Avenue’s elm-shaded elegance remain today, the entire surrounding district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Euclid Avenue has always linked two of the city’s most vibrant business nodes — Public Square at the heart of the city, with its ringing cordon of skyscrapers, malls and civic buildings, and University Circle many miles to the east, with its rich cluster of gardens, educational, medical, arts, entertainment and institutional facilities. Along Euclid Avenue’s length are arrayed many of the city’s oldest financial and business concerns, as well as a number of hotels and the famous Playhouse Square Theater District.

Beginning in 2005, the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) undertook The Euclid Corridor Transportation Project to help heal some of the Avenue’s varied afflictions: stagnating development, difficult business and work access, deteriorating public infrastructure, concerns of safety and ease and congestion.  The project included both the significant reconfiguration of intermodal (bus + auto + pedestrian) transportation systems and the creation of an enhanced transportation hub at the city’s Public Square.

Euclid Avenue was completed constructed from building face to opposing building face, and from Public Square to University Circle. New exclusive bus lanes — to accommodate aerodynamic 62-foot-long articulated buses, both quiet and environmentally progressive — were created, as were new and frequent mid-street boarding stations, shelters, benches, crosswalks and even public art. New signalization was installed to better time and sequence bus flows along the Corridor.

The Euclid Corridor is a prime example of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) development. In such BRT scenarios, buses are provided with dedicated roadway lanes, as well as the ability to synchronize movement relative to traffic signalization. Further enhancements include pay-before-you-board policies (which speed customer boarding times), and system-wide real-time displays of bus arrivals and departures (which enhance reliability and thus customer confidence in the system).