With help from a TIGER, Greater Cleveland RTA breaks ground on new Cedar-University station

When we launched our TIGER program in 2009, we wanted to help build high-priority transportation solutions--projects that create jobs, stimulate economic activity, and make it easier for people to get where they need to go. We also wanted to recognize communities that formed innovative partnerships to meet their transportation challenges.

Cleveland's Cedar-University Rapid Station is one such project, and last week Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff joined Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Greater Cleveland Rapid Transit Authority General Manager Joseph Calabrese to break ground on this new station in the city's University Circle neighborhood.

The new center, funded in part by the second round of our TIGER program, will make riding transit safer and more reliable by constructing a new, well-lit train platform, adding better bicycle and pedestrian access, and bringing the station in line with the 22-year-old Americans with Disabilities Act.

University Circle is home to Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals, Cleveland Clinic, and the Cleveland Foundation. These institutions have anchored a fast-growing jobs and cultural center, and the Cedar-University station will help transit riders access the services and opportunities they offer.

One of the area's institutions is John Jay High School, most of whose students get to and from school each day on RTA. The transformation initiated by the new station will give these young scholars a safer environment for the walk between their RTA stop and the school.

The station will also connect the residents of the largely working class neighborhoods surrounding the University Circle institutions with jobs, schools, and services throughout Greater Cleveland.

TIGER is about solving problems by creating more options, and the Cedar-University station will do just that--making transit a more attractive, viable choice for Clevelanders traveling to and from this vibrant community.

As FTA Administrator Rogoff said, “Cleveland deserves a modern, comfortable transit system that offers a desirable and reliable alternative to sitting in traffic or spending more money at the gas pump. This project helps to ensure that University Circle remains a vibrant, attractive neighborhood offering good transportation choices to hard-working families, students, and other residents.”

Getting construction started on the Cedar-University Transit Station is a huge win for Cleveland, one that demonstrates President Obama’s commitment to building strong, sustainable communities that encourage economic growth and development.

And that's what our TIGER program has been doing in communities --like University Circle-- across America.