If Sustainable Cleveland 2019 wants to point to a grassroots effort that has shifted even the largest, most lugubrious bureaucracy, the Sustainable Transportation Action Team (STAT) offers a fine example. The Access for All campaign for a multipurpose path on the Innerbelt Bridge has been more than a thorn in the side of ODOT, it has elevated the dialogue about what cities should expect when dealing with road builders who often operate at a distance and with a fixed lens through which you see only moving cars.

For the past fifty years, it’s been about keeping cars moving at an acceptable level of service for DOTs. That is slowly changing, and the Access for All campaign is right on the cusp of that change. Still the campaign has had to expend Herculean amounts of energy and faced ridicule and ridiculous excuses alike. Despite FHWA signaling that the Berlin Wall of single mode transportation is showing cracks, old fears still prevail. The more ODOT says “no” the more they look out of touch with how bridges are designed today. Communities including Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Charleston are creating tourist attractions and recreational trails out of their bridge investments. What they have in common may be a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed mind set.

At yesterday’s STAT meeting, the bridge campaign update pointing out the latest positive editorials and letters to the editor in the Plain Dealer from business owner, Mike Neundorfer and ClevelandBikes’ Kevin Cronin.

Meanwhile, word has reached us that ODOT is meeting with city of Cleveland officials to pitch their alternative bike/pedestrian route. As we pointed out in this post, if not for the efforts of the Access for All campaign, the alternative route would have been an afterthought, relegated to fighting for the scraps of the aesthetics budget. Instead, ODOT has shown a willingness to respond to the community (in some small respect) by considering upwards (in our estimate) of $5 million to improve access along surface streets. Arguably, ODOT should do this anyway, and the path on the bridge isn’t an either/or.

At the STAT meeting, Gund Foundation Senior Program Officer John Mitterholzer pointed out that the campaign has succeeded in raising the issue of Complete Streets to a new level not just in Cleveland, but nationally. The campaign should be commended for forcing ODOT to acknowledge that Complete Streets are an issue, he said, and that this $450 million is an investment in the urban core (now if we can only get City Hall to stand up for the same). Mitterholzer said he is in continual conversation with the Deputy Director at Federal Highway Administration about the Innerbelt Bridge path (they see it as an example of the new directive to bring equal weight to all modes of transportation) and that Washington is following the campaign on GCBL and national blogs such as Streetsblog.

The STAT group shared updates on its other short-term projects:

The operation of Euclid Corridor as a Complete Street. GCBL’s Brad Chase reports: “The original intent was to get the signals to work as a true complete street. It appears that we may be going down the path of getting the buses to run on time, but not necessarily making the signals operate as they were intended to promote a true complete street.” Chase met with city engineer Rob Mavec who is now addressing the slower than promised run times of the hybrid-drive bus-rapid-transit system. The Plain Dealer quoted Chase widely in its July 6 front of the Metro page article, and Feagler & Friends discussed the problem – the issue is on the radar of the community, at least more than it was before Chase and the 2019 group adopted it as an issue of concern.

Getting the Active Transportation Act passed—Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s Midwest Director Rhonda Boose said Rep. Dennis Kucinich is now signed on as one of 60 sponsors. The campaign looks next to Rep. Fudge and Sen. Voinovich for their support.

Neundorfer introduced a concept for a Sustainable Transportation Index that companies might use as a benchmark and as the basis for a friendly competition. The group wholeheartedly supported the adoption of this project with comments including the need for research to develop the program and recognition that it touches only one group (business).

The group celebrated the release of the limited edition Access for All T-shirt – now for sale. Check out this link for order information.