A multimodal transportation grant means bus shelters and new and repaired sidewalks from Treasury Drive to the Blythe Avenue Family Support Center.
The budgeted amount for the project is $961,624. The 2013 Multimodal Access Grant will fund 95 percent and the Cleveland Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is responsible for the remaining five percent of the cost.
The City of Cleveland has done preliminary engineering for stormwater improvements along the section of Dalton Pike from 20th Street to McGrady Drive.
The stormwater project scheduled to begin this summer will correct significant drainage issues necessary for sidewalk construction along Dalton Pike before construction begins in September 2015.
Cleveland Mayor and MPO Chairman Tom Rowland said the project corridor runs through areas of public and affordable housing where walking is the only travel option for many residents, making it particularly important to provide safe walking conditions.
Traffic average daily traffic along this two-lane road averages from 6,000 to 10,000 vehicles. The posted speed limit is generally 30 to 35 mph. South of 20th Street where the sidewalk ends; pedestrians must walk on the shoulder or along ditches. Parking lots for several businesses are simply open areas adjoining the road, which allows multiple vehicles to pull in and out at unpredictable locations.
Since 2003, six crashes involving pedestrians and or bicyclists have been documented along this corridor. In 2011, a 15-year-old was struck while trying to cross the road at a neighborhood market just south of where the existing sidewalk ends at 20th Street. The proposed project adds sidewalk along Dalton Pike at this location.
Mayor Rowland said, “A sidewalk will create better defined driveways, which will make it a safer environment for motorists as well as pedestrians and cyclists. No one, especially children, should be placed in harm’s way while simply crossing the street.”
CUAMPO Coordinator Greg Thomas said the project will build an eight-tenths of a mile segment of sidewalk along the west side of Dalton Pike from 20th Street to Treasury Drive, including the underpass beneath the APD-40 bypass. Short sections of new or replaced sidewalk will also be built along Wildwood Avenue from 14th Street to Ninth Street, along ninth Street from Wildwood Avenue to Chippewa Avenue, along Chippewa Avenue between Ninth and 12th Streets, and along 12th Street to the Blythe Avenue Family Support Center.
Bus shelters on concrete pads will be installed at three key locations along the corridor: near the South Wal-Mart shopping center; near the intersection of Wildwood Avenue and Ninth Street; and Blythe Avenue near the Blythe Avenue Family Support Center.
The mayor said a future phase will address existing sidewalks along Wildwood Avenue from ninth Street to Inman Street.
“While these sidewalks are providing basic essential connectivity, they are in great need of either repair or replacement,” he said.
The locations for new transit shelters and sidewalk extensions were developed through discussion and collaboration among the Cleveland MPO, Cleveland Urban Area Transit System and city planning and engineering departments.
Mayor Rowland said the project runs through areas of public and affordable housing where walking is the only travel option for many residents, making it particularly important to provide safe walking conditions.
The additional sidewalk along Dalton Pike will fully complete pedestrian facilities for a three-mile corridor that has regular transit service. It is anchored on the north end by a planned redevelopment area that surrounds the vacated Whirlpool site and on the south end by a commercial center that includes Wal-Mart, Bi-Lo, several banks, restaurants, auto service centers, gas stations and other retail developments.
Minor sidewalk additions to ninth Street and Chippewa Avenue will connect low- and moderate-income residents who live within a few blocks of Wildwood Avenue on the north end of the corridor. This will provide them with safer connections to reach the Red Route bus service, as well as a neighborhood grocery store, Laundromat, the Cleveland/Bradley County Health Department, food and clothing bank and an emergency shelter.
Sidewalks were recently constructed for the middle section of this corridor through a Safe Routes to School project to serve students at Blythe Bower Elementary School, located within a quarter-mile of Dalton Pike.
The proposed sidewalk would extend the section further south, underneath the APD 40, the southernmost point on the city's Red and Blue bus routes and it is an area of high travel demand.
The Dalton Pike Wal-Mart is the top destination for transit riders throughout the city. In addition, many residents along Dalton Pike are employed at these commercial establishments and walk to work.