Clifton Boulevard Bus Project Back on the Table

Tree-lined medians aren’t coming to Clifton Boulevard, but plans for several other upgrades to the No. 55 route are back on the table.

Brick bus stations, GPS arrival monitors and safety video-phones are among the plans designed to enhance the 3-mile stretch in Lakewood. 

City and RTA officials are hosting a public meeting to discuss the proposal at a community meeting at the Woman’s Club Pavilion at Lakewood Park on Nov. 14.

Lakewood’s investment would be "capped at $50,000 for nearly $950,000 of federally funded improvements," according to a news release. The city would “redirect” other transportation funds to pay for its share.

“This is an opportunity to improve Clifton with a much smaller investment while keeping our options open for future projects funded by state and federal dollars,” said Summers in the statement.

An original plan included a tree-lined median and required a local match required of Lakewood would have been $486,000 for the $8 million enhancement project.

“It wasn’t at all clear what the benefits we’d get for our $486,000 and this project, other than a few new bus stops,” Summers told Lakewood Patch last year. “It was an easy decision for us not to proceed with the project.”

Furthermore, federal restrictions limited the amount of space of the median.

Instead of that plan, Lakewood agreed to pay only $50,000 and still get several upgrades to 2.9 miles of Clifton Boulevard.

But last year, the state rejected the scaled-down plan, following some back-and-forth negotiations between the city of Lakewood, RTA, ODOT and the city of Cleveland. 

But there’s still a need for improvements, city officials have said. 

Earlier this year, RTA increased the frequency of the No. 55 bus route on Clifton Boulevard.

The meeting is scheduled from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 14.