In the past 10 years, downtown Cleveland has seen a surge of reinvestment and prominent improvements to transit. This growth has increased congestion and raised awareness that more improvements are needed to make biking, walking, public transit, and micromobility viable, safe, and attractive alternatives. B&N was selected to study conditions and develop solutions for the latest project of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency’s (NOACA) Transportation for Livable Communities Initiative (TLCI) program. This effort follows a standard planning process of establishing existing conditions, defining a vision as well as establishing challenges and opportunities to address, and development and ultimate selection of recommendations to improve conditions.
A working group of key downtown stakeholders and implementing agencies ensured all issues were captured, and the proposed solutions will be properly vetted. Key aspects of the plan include public presentations and input surveys, targeted outreach to environmental justice populations, and leverage data and recommendations of prior downtown planning efforts. The project also included modeling existing and proposed alternative traffic pattern changes with a VISSIM model based on the regional travel demand model. The resulting framework plan establishes the critical challenges and opportunities, plan vision, and recommendations needed for implementation.
Transportation for Livable Communities (TLCI) Program
The TLCI program advances NOACA's regional strategic and long-range transportation plan objectives to improve livability through integrated transportation and land use planning. Common objectives include providing more travel options and improving user safety through complete streets and context sensitive solutions. The program supports initial study of areas and issues of regional significance and allows local communities to request federal funding assistance to implement recommendations.
Objective of Project
Develop recommendations to improve the overall transportation system in downtown Cleveland, expanding and improving facilities for non-motorized users, and develop strategies to address vehicular congestion in the area.