The Euclid Corridor, Ch. 1

Who's the winner with the new design of the Euclid Corridor?

1. Not the bus riders(A) The buses now run down the middle of the road so the pedestrians have to compete with car traffic to cross the car lane to get to the bus stops. No matter which direction the rider wants to go, or which side of the street he's on.

2. Not the bus riders(B) The rider, in order to be legal, has to walk up or down the block to get to the traffic light to cross to the bus island, then walk back to the actual bus stop. I hope my bus doesn't come while waiting at the light.

3. Not the bus riders(C) Now the rider is on the bus hoping to make the trip quickly. The buses, however, need to stop for all the same lights as the cars. With the number and duration of the lights, the buses make average less than 10 MPH.

3. Not the buses: they have to stop at all the same traffic lights the cars do, AND they have to stop at the bus stops in the middle of the block. They don't move any faster than the they did before.

4. Not the local businesses: the ones that went out of business during the protracted construction process are just gone. The remaining business now have access to only half of the car traffic coming down the road. There is a center barrier preventing a car from turning left into the business so the car has to travel to the next available left turn lane, sometimes several blocks. Sometimes the driver will just drive on to the next restaurant. It doesn't really matter, there is almost no parking on The Corridor.

5. Certainly not the cars: if one follows the 25 MPH speed limit (very close to the speed of a school zone) then the car is caught by numerous traffic lights (sorry, no turn on red at any intersection in any direction on The Euclid Corridor). It turns out that the lights are almost perfectly timed for 35 MPH travel (DAMHIK)! By following the actual speed limit, a car can average almost 12 MPH on The Euclid Corridor, being at a complete stop 37% of the time.

So who is the winner after years of construction and huge expenditures? It's not clear to me yet. But I have more questions for the next chapter.