Last night, the nightmare that has been the resurfacing of Euclid Avenue through University Circle was nearly completed - they are painting the lines on the road tonight. I expect next week there will be fairly normal traffic through "The World's Most Powerful Learning Environment" once again. Euclid Avenue is now a $1 billion-bettered, public-transit-transformed, "Health"-ier place all along the line, and it does show. In East Cleveland the street has been repaved and bus shelters upgraded (although that is about all we got in the way of RTA enhancements). From University Circle through the Cleveland Clinic territory the streetscaping is extensive. And the street reshaping has been extensive, as well... the buses now run down the center of the road, stopping at islands (which the photo below shows will be a big problem...).
The expectation is that these infrastructure upgrades and enhancements will drive more and better investments in the area along and near Euclid Avenue, and it is clear that has succeeded at some level in anticipation of completion of the Health Line. While I'm sure the Clinic has spent the most money along Euclid, and they made their Euclid (and Chester) presence much stronger than before, my favorite new development along the health line has been the renovation and reopening of the Euclid Tavern [1].
So, where does the health of this mainline corridor go from here, now that the big public and private money has been spent, and there are more holes than homes, and folks are starting to get that "Gateway" effect that comes with sitting in a new stadium watching the same old team, and they still suck, beer is $8, your taxes are higher, and you can't afford the cost of entry.
I sure as hell can't afford anything at the Clinic. But The Euc has good happy hour specials, so it was worth the cool $million, to me.
How you feeling about our Big Ditch, er Health Line now?
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PavingEuclidLastNight650.jpg [2] | 149.8 KB |
BusStopSitin650.jpg [3] | 183.34 KB |
ClinicGatewayPanLogo.jpg [4] | 52.2 KB |
Links:
[1] http://realneo.us/content/euclid-tavern-real-neo-and-back-business
[2] http://realneo.us/system/files/PavingEuclidLastNight650.jpg
[3] http://realneo.us/system/files/BusStopSitin650.jpg
[4] http://realneo.us/system/files/ClinicGatewayPanLogo.jpg