Broadway BRT

Slavic Village Davelopment Corporation released their master plan for Slavic Village, the neighborhood in which I live and work. A significant element of the plan is to implement Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Broadway Avenue. This would entail making lanes of the road Bus Only.

Broadway is Ohio Route 14 in the area and is the single largest vehicle artery in the area excluding the interstate highways. During the day there is a significant amount of traffic including cars, trucks, buses, and emergency vehicles. There are two fire stations, No. 11 and No. 13 on Broadway within Slavic Village. Broadway has four lanes of traffic, two heading northwest and two southeast.

If two lanes are dedicated for buses, then all the other traffic is relegated to one lane in each direction. If a vehicle is turning left, traffic comes to a halt or invades the bus lane. Someone looking at their phone instead of minding the traffic signal? Everyone waits.

Because Broadway is a NW/SE roadway, there are not good alternatives. Many roads in the area are limited due to the numerous railroad lines that run the area. Drivers can pick another road to avoid the speed bumps "traffic tables " by going on a parallel street. No such luck for users of Broadway.

A majority problem is that RTA is good at getting funding for infrastructure and capital projects, but they are inept at operations. They are going to request a 0.50% sales tax increase "due to inflation." Funny, I thought sales tax revenues rose with inflation? I don't expect the increase to pass as there are way too many hands out already with Cuyahoga County looking to boost real estate taxes for health and human services and the pro sports teams looking for more money to maintain Rocket Arena, Progressive Field, soccer stadium? Browns Stadium? Cuyahoga County already has the highest sales tax rate and probably the highest real estate tax rates in the state.

I'm for redevelopment for Slavic Village, but am opposed to spending funds to make things worse, like Euclid Avenue, the West Shoreway, and proposals to BRT W. 25th street and turning the East Shoreway into a boulevard. All are lousy ideas.