Steve Litt writes about transportation issues and Obama's infrastructure funding in NEO in today's PD:

Opportunity knocks for 2 urgent Cleveland infrastructure projects -- Steven Litt commentary

Posted by slitt [at] plaind [dot] com December 13, 2008

Dear Steve Litt,

Why are you in favor of a highway through the neighborhoods of Cleveland? How will the "opportunity corridor" bring jobs to that section of town? Why can't we improve and use Woodland Avenue and Quincy and Central and the Red Line?

I agree, Paul's idea for a southern alignment of the bridge has long been the solution of choice, but the opportunity corridor is the reiteration of the Lee Clark Freeway except not in your town, Steve. Shaker Heights held it back thanks to some well heeled garden club ladies who had more political clout than those who currently live in Slavic Village, Central and Fairfax. So NIMBY, but, yes, put a high speed freeway in someone else's backyard...

Vicky Eaton Johnson - Cleveland's CDC darling wants the corridor. When asked why she wants a high speed freeway running through her neighborhood, she said, "Oh well, by the time it gets to Fairfax, it will be a boulevard." She declined to comment when asked if that meant that she didn't care about what it might be when it goes through Slavic Village and Central.

For someone who cares about water quality, I am dumbfounded that you suggest more road building in the Cuyahoga Valley. To quote you, "A quick word about water. Whenever I speak in public, I get the most applause whenever I say that states and Canadian provinces in the Great Lakes basin should never ship a drop outside the watershed." But our water is in need of help, not more harmful stormwater runoff. We need to protect it in more ways than simply refusing to ship it outside the region. How will this opportunity corridor help our water quality and air quality issues?

Suggestions for the ward 5 plan: Any new development within Ward 5 should seek to maximize these characteristics while also following the best practices suggested by LEED for Neighborhood Development.  Some of these include:

• Encourage infll construction
• Promote pedestrian friendly environments
• Utilize public transportation whenever possible
• Reuse existing infrastructure
• Conserve natural resources
• Encourage brownfeld reuse and cleanup
• Utilize bicycle networks
• Reduce automobile dependence
• Encourage higher density, mixed-use development
• Consider proximity to schools and work
• Wetland avoidance, conservation and restoration
• Reduction of stormwater runoff

How does the opportunity corridor address any of these? The area offers A golden Opportunity for TOD especially with the new RTA stops at University Circle you wrote about recently - why not use the rail? ""The study corridor runs generally parallel to the existing railroad transportation corridor containing Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s (GCRTA) Red Line and freight tracks owned and operated by Norfolk Southern Corporation and CSX." - GCBL) What? Some neighborhoods (Upper Chester, the now on hold Flats Eastbank and St Luke's Pointe) get LEED Neighborhood Design, but other neighborhoods get highways? How is this fair?

We did not think too carefully when we let I-90 slice up west side neighborhoods, will we be more thoughtful this time?

And... can we please find a more positive moniker than the Forgotten Triangle? Learn more about this proposed highway.