The history of why tower city is so over built is interesting. The Van Sweringen brothers built the terminal tower as a plan to use it as the hub for all of Cleveland. They are the ones that built the blue and green lines to shaker heights as they owned shaker heights and used it as a development scheme. The plan was to use build more street car / light rail suburbs like shaker heights and connect them to the tower, run all long distance trains there as well (they owned a railroad as well the Nickel Plate Road), and the local street cars. It was the tallest building outside of New York when it was completed. It all came crashing down after the stock market crashed in 1929. Only New York Central signed on to use the complex as well.

8:23 To be fair, the full name of the station is West 3rd-Stadium, and the station's signs are labeled West Third Street FirstEnergy Stadium (with the actual stadium logo). Since you wondered about the Waterfront Line bridge, basically back in 2018 they did an extensive inspection of the bridge. This inspection found stress cracks, so they tried to limit stress in 2019 by restricting traffic to one car crossing at a time. The line was first suspended in October 2020 for the Tower City track rehabilitation project. Service would've been restored in Spring 2021, but they did a second inspection of the bridge that concluded that the suspension should continue, and it was better to fix it than to risk opening it. Temporarily they added four support towers to stabilize until permanent repairs are made (like at 7:05).

Cleveland is always in a renaissance and on the comeback trail lol.

It's too bad Amtrak can't stop at Tower City (and during the day, please). It's a perfect location for an intercity train.

Regarding that airline, the airline's called Ultimate Air Shuttle and they started flights from Cleveland to Cincinnati in 2015 but have since suspended all of their flights in 2021 due to declining ridership related to the pandemic. Now the airport has just two cargo airlines, AirNet Express (to Columbus), and Central Air Southwest (to Dayton and Hamilton in Ohio and Kalamazoo and Ypsilanti in Michigan). The airport used to host the Grand Prix of Cleveland which was held from 1982 to 2007. And it still hosts the Cleveland National Air Show. So South Harbor is more useful than you think. There is no train service to Cincinnati from Cleveland, so you're either stuck driving or taking a bus so I get the appeal of taking a flight.

It is quite tragic to see such a modern transit system having such difficulty. The bridge certainly looked in a bad way. For it to require a supplementary bridge pier so early in its career is more than a little disturbing. Let's hope that it will be restored to use at the date that the authority has committed itself to. Thank you for bringing us this very interesting and informative video presentation and it was great to see our friend, 'Miles in Transit'.

Very few American cities can say they have overbuilt transit. I think it's a great problem to have. From the videos at least, it seems like Cleveland is what urbanism enthusiasts mean when they say that a city "has good bones"

The early 90s architecture and design on the RTA system is actually quite well preserved and is almost becoming retro (or kitsch maybe) now, and its actually kinda rare now as lot of public buildings from this era have been renovated. The whole thing has a liminal space feel, seeing how deserted it is. The distorted Madonna playing on the PA system at Tower City certainly helps. It feels like the system exists entirely within the cover art of a vapourwave album. And the "Track 13" sign at 2:43 is a hint that this used to be a much bigger station.

The stadium station was quite useful to goto Browns home games. It saw quite a few riders during the games I have been there. RTA would line up a number of trains post game to take the crowds away in a reasonably efficient manner. Also from the Tower City station there is a fully indoors walkway to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse and a short walk from there to Progressive field, so all of the major sports venues were well connected with transit in Cleveland when the waterfront line was operational. The end of the Waterfront was a park and ride station even though the ride was only 2 miles

I'm from Cleveland. I love seeing people exploring a part of the world I know so well for the first time. Really enjoyed your Cleveland videos! Thanks!

The Muny lot is a weird thing. It's mostly there for Browns game tailgating, which usually starts at like 7am on the day of the game regardless of the actual start time. The whole area was done up like this for the Gold Coast Redevelopment project in the early 90s, which is where the Rock Hall, Science Center, USS Cod museum ship, and the Browns stadium are.

As a rust belt native from that other state slightly north, I’m both crying and laughing at the idea that those cracks are concerning damage and not just how bridges usually look

Back when this line opened, the RTA had a couple of cars and the "OX" from Trolleyville. I had a ride on a C&AE car down here. The part missing here is the fact that this line was dark territory. No signals. The cars would leave tower city and exit the main line, run to the end. On the return trip the cars would stop at the bottom of the ramp and the operator would go to the left side cab window and insert thier cab key in a box and alert the signal system that they were ready to enter the main line. When the signal changed, away they would go. In the summer most left the window open and had an extra key on the remains of a hockey stick so they would not have to leave thier seat.

Having taken Amtrak out of Cleveland many times: You mentioned the trains running late. No worries, they do, all the friggin' time. Which is quite annoying when you had to stay up until 2:30 AM to show up when it was supposed to come through, only to finally get on at 6:30.

That "minor damage" looks like cracks formed when there is a lack of steel reinforcements that are needed. Looks like they'll have to replace the bridge!

I HEAR YOU CALL MY NAME AND IT FEELS LIKE HOME

I wonder what the cost of fixing the bridges is compared to the cost of the opportunity corridor

Cleveland was the nation's seventh largest city in 1950 and is now the 54th largest. In the interim it has lost about 2/3 of its population. The entire city thus appears overbuilt, with wide, empty streets, a hollowed out downtown (shopping has relocated to malls, some in the nearby flats, but not easily accessible by public transportation), and miles of empty land, now reverting to its natural, forested, state. The rapid transit system was built for a much larger, and more vibrant city. The heavy rail line (red line) to the airport from Tower City (downtown) is a nice amenity, but there is little reason to go to downtown in the 21st century, and I have never seen more than a handful of people riding it, regardless of the time of day. The green line means that the lovely, walkable, Shaker Square neighborhood on the east side is accessible by rapid transit (the green line), but that transit is hardly used. The views you show out of the windows of the red line accurately show the miles of lightly used, or abandoned, industrial buildings, surrounded by vacant land. Amidst the near-desolation is some great ethnic food, fascinating clusters of antique shops, America's finest symphony orchestra, playing in America's most beautiful concert hall, and one of America's finest art museum (both accessible by the BRT Health Line), vestiges of when this was one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the United States.

haha, well done: you gave me a transit down memory lane(s).. i was born/raised/lived in Lakewood, North Olmsted, & Ohio City until i made the decision to transplant myself to Philadelphia (PA) in ‘05.. those were good times as well as interesting (& ultimately tragic) memories of my life’s relationship to RTA.. now that i see all these “new”/strange “modernizations”/changes, i barely recognize my decades-old stomping grounds.. but you guys did (well, to put it in Cleveland terms) the best w/what you had available to you - ha! i gotta say, Philadelphia is an insanely eye opening “next level” experience in terms of the SEPTA multi-transit system! maybe you’ve visited it in the past, but if not, i highly recommend for transit enthusiasts such as yourselves! thank you!

Native Clevelander here. Thanks for this trip down memory lane. I used to ride the Red Line to the Waterfront line to go to the lakefront for the airshow and things like that. I find it highly funny that First Energy Stadium is named after the company that participated in the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio political history. Just about sums up Ohio.

I live in Cleveland Ohio and the rapid stations you see right there is not abandoned it's just closed because of the gcrta waterfront line is suspended indefinitely. They're still working on the bridge they said so hopefully the GCRTA waterfront line will be back in service this year.

That’s parking lot has been there before the waterfront line because you would park then get the old 9/12 trolley to downtown(Discontinued with RTA NEXT GEN)

I'm glad you made this video, I paid a visit to CLE last summer and I walked from my hotel to the Flats East development which has some cool eateries, hotels and clubs in that area. I foolishly thought we could take the light rail home but the station was shuttered and there was no signage why that was.

“What if we built a transit line to serve a parking lot and a stadium that hosts *checks notes* 10 games a year?”

This failed in my option mostly because this was built before much of development was even thought out. When this was completed the only the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Great Lakes Science Center were open. The Browns were on a hiatus so no stadium at W. 3rd, the east bank of the Flats was still 17 years from completing the first phase of development and Amtrak service to Cleveland was already bare bones. This is a case of a good idea with half ass execution. The water front line dead ends into a prime lake front real estate taken up by airport that is primarily used by sports teams looking to leave as quickly as possible, one weekend an annual air show on one side. On the other side a massive parking lot used for tailgating 8-12 weeks a year and the occasional park and walk city hall trip. Build some kind of neighborhood or attraction at the end of the waterfront line. Increase development near the settlers landings station (there are way to many parking lots). Maybe encourage some cross river trips to the West Bank by adding a loop or branch to the waterfront line.

i love that there’s just music playing in tower city central, even on the platforms, that’s hilarious

There's more tracks at Tower City also behind the Westbound wall. They used it temporarily while they were putting new tracks down on the normal station. The entrance is upstairs (2nd floor) on the west side of Tower City behind a double closed door almost by the Public Square entrance next to the old Victoria Secrets. That's why there are so many tracks still coming in to Tower City from the east side and many have grass growing on them. And the middle track on the Red Line side is used for rush hour trips that end at Tower City coming from The Airport or trips starting at Tower City going to the Airport. The end of the Waterfront Line is Muny Lot which is a huge Parking Lot which is used for Tailgating for the Browns games.

FUN TIMES IN CLEVELAND TODAY ITS CLEVELAND COME ON DOWN TO CLEVELAND TOWN EVERYONE LIGHT RAIL SINCE 1996 SEE OUR SUBWAY THAT CARRIES 10 PEOPLE ITS SO EXPENSIVE WE COULDN'T BUILD MORE LINES

I live here and catch it pretty much every day for work. You can kinda tell things aren’t used as well as they could be

The Amtrak station was serve when the Pennsylvanian was a day time train. Muni lot station is to serve tailgaters on game day. I took it a couple of times in 2002

Typical transit system failures. They failed to serve the attractions in the area especially if there was no late night service. The bridge issue is also a problem with newer constructed transit lines. Not over engineered bridges but the least cost items that deteriorate too fast or were not built correctly in the first place. But good enough to get the service started and defects showed up too late to hold building contractors responsible for the failure. Then there are no funds to repair the problems due to ongoing budget problems. Since this is a little used branch line other than for Browns games it will not get a high priority to get fixed.

Omg the song parody at the end was so on point!

Awesome guys

A nice lil scooter powered adventure

They are working on redevelopment of lake front. That last train stop would be huge for tailgating for the muni lot. Also, most people hate that air port. Its for rich people

The terminating rail is the light rail line. Before the waterfront they would stop there.. the driver would switch sides and it would go back

4:18 That made me laugh a little too hard lol

Y'all was having too much fun lol

I believe it's returning again and I hope to ride it

For browns games, we ride red line into tower city and conneced waterfront line. Much faste to walk from tower city to the stadiun

Honestly this is the first time I've ever seen Cleveland portrayed as kind of interesting The stations are actually very nice looking. It's a shame that they did such a nice job on a kind of pointless line that doesn't operate the way it would even need to in order to be useful I've been to many cities that just had a "Stadium" station so they could have just done that

Cleveland's Amtrak station was built anticipation of the Lakeshore Limited being restored via Cleveland. (it had originally went NY-CHI via Detroit).

Doesn’t the line to the Rock and.Roll Hall of Fame only see 400 riders a day?

Pre-cast , segmented bridge. I don't like driving my car over those!

Is the lighting in the underground station always so depressing?

Jefferson is also in the basement of a mall (but weren't they built in tandem?)

I made an Amtrak to light rail transfer in Cleveland. Lake Shore from Chicago, rode train to airport.

Very entertaining transit content as usual! However, I do want to stick up for the RTA and Cleveland a bit though. I am sure they would love it if developers built some T.O.D. around their stations but a lot of people in the Midwest are still so car brained that I doubt developers are even proposing them right now. It's not like the city can (or should) just build stuff itself. It is a shame that line was not currently running, but they seem to have some great infrastructure (well once they finish repairing that bridge lol I just mean stations and alignments) that I am sure Cleveland will have a great transit system soon when the U.S. gets serious about climate change.

I thought Baltimore's Metro Subway and Light Rail lines were poorly used-not even an attendant to monitor and collect fares, not worth his salary for so few paying passengers-students ride for free and seniors only pay $1, but Cleveland's abandoned looking cold and wind-swept river and lakefront is even more depressing.

8:24 - Is this SEPTA t-shirt sold at 1234 Market Street ?

It's semi baaaaack

Could you flag down trains at the Amtrak request stop to board?

Heavy and light rail use different tracks that's why they are in different parts of tower city

"At least we're not Detroit"

i always hate that i get the song bit

Seeing some discussion about the Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland. Not sure where I stand on its usefulness because it is taking up quite a lot of lakefront land near downtown, which is frustrating, but on the other hand, it was built on a repurposed landfill, so while it may not be the best use for existing lakefront land, I find it to be much more excusable since it was a landfill to begin with. Also, I've heard that Burke Lakefront has been somewhat crucial to the Cleveland Clinic in developing a world-class transplant program, and the Clinic adds a ton of value to Cleveland in terms of quality of life for northeast Ohioans as well as folks coming in and contributing to the local economy when they receive medical care.

8:22 I used to think "Sox - 35th" was a funny name for a Chicago rail station but yeah, you knew what was there. It would have made sense to call this stop "Browns." Or sell the naming rights.

The muni lot for the games, big tail gating place

Luxury airline to Cinci because no trains connect the two cities

I would assume the catenary is turned off.

I haven't rode the public transit since I moved to Cleveland maybe I will soon..

Sad to watch is closed...

good way to support a bridge.

After this video can you do another SEPTA trolley video with Miles

Let’s goooo

Miles is adorable! Better hang on to that one. Have you had the pleasure of the NFTA? Right down the road from Cleveland.

You passed my brother's apartment building

Do they seriously need so many years to replace a bridge?

where are your helmets?

It's because the weird bendy shape of the bridge, causing weird forces from thermal expansion.

“Temporarily” Suspended.

ohhh i have some thoughts 1:53 - calling the flats the "premier nightlife district" is... generous 3:00 - Miles is right. the red line runs roughly 24/7, but some time at night (unsure when) it stops crossing town and there is a west-of-downtown and east-of-downtown red line train. So if you have reason to cross town on the red line at night, like if you live on the east side but your flight landed late... go f*ck yourself, I guess 5:06 - right across the river from you two in that big white tent was Jacob's Pavilion, a decently-sized concert venue that hosts some honestly pretty big acts in the warmer months. What I think is a massively missed opportunity is that even though the station is physically near the venue, they are - and I wish I was joking - a 25 minute walk from each other. Building a bridge Right There would be difficult due to the freight boats that pass through that area, but there has to be a better solution than that, right??? right??????? Also apparently the settlers landing station is closed. like more closed than the other waterfront line stops. it won't even show up on google maps for me anymore. 8:03 - one time on an unseasonably warm day in November a few years back, I took the waterfront line to that stop so I could go to the Rock Hall. It was warm but incredibly dreary, I was literally the only person on the train, and when I got off the stop I was appalled at how abandoned the stop looked. It had the exact same energy as a dead mall, except it was (theoretically) a fully functional, operational stop. I was convinced I had entered another dimension on accident. 10:28 - not anymore! that airline stopped doing scheduled service during covid, they're charter-only now. anyway, glad y'all survived

10:27 That would be Ultimate Air Shuttle, which has since suspended all public passenger flights, and is only doing charter flights

The giant parking lots serve Browns' games. So , this is all basically for a 10-12 annual event build up .And everybody with brain function knew it would fall into disrepair and failure in 2 decades. It's just "OPiuM" (other people's moneY)

keep in mind the population of Cleveland has been in full collapse for decades. So it looks overbuilt because there used to be a lot more people.

I think it’s stupid they didn’t build a pedestrian tunnel under the railway tracks to the other side because if they did, South Harbour station could actually be serving something.

Guys, I have a genius idea! So, we have a rail line that's struggling. But, it has great potential! We should... *Remove the rails and make it a Rail-Trail* (Don't actually, please no)

✌🏾

Foe me the weirdest part of all of this was the piped in music on the platform.

Can't even take the light rail in Ohio. 💀

You guys are so sick! Thanks for showing us the unfortunately closed line! My channel talks all about transit oriented development and i would be honored if y’all could check it out!

this is a ridiculous system given how overbuilt and underused it is...also rta makes septa look....dare i say good

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hpt_icSdup-agKs.html for next time 😊

2023

Don’t eat oranges like thaf

It could be worse you could be in DETROIT! ITS STILL NOT DETROIT

Cleveland reminds me of Baltimore... lots of potential and terrible follow-through.

Great Video!! Sadly, This Looks Like A Lots Of Waste. Something Republicans Love To Shout About. I hope that Amtrak will expand in the Buckeye State. But I Will Not Count On It. Thanks Guys.

Cleveland is sad. At least it's not Detroit

So sad to see good transit so horribly decrepit.

Sometimes there is an odd platform 7 in use at tower city, the entrance is like you're heading to a mall toilets. this video shows how to walk to it kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pbybas-CtbmZpH0.html

That line is not abandoned please do your dam research before uploading KZfaq videos it closed do to bridge infrastructure damage and will be reopened by the start of the browns season this year its name is the waterfront line