| (09/17/07) - Progress has forced Akron to
replace some 20-year-old downtown bus shelters. Deputy Mayor for Administration Dave
Lieberth said the project is actually overdue.
"The original structures were designed as part of a Main Street Transit Way in the
late 1980's, and at that time, we had 15,000 workers downtown. Now we have 31,000. Our
needs have changed. The buses routes have changed. Pretty much everything has
changed," said Lieberth.
There is a visibility problem and an access problem now, that didn’t exist 20
years ago. Because downtown building uses are different than they were over the past two
decades, the current shelter on the east side of Main Street near Bowery is a pedestrian
obstruction to the Main Place office building, a structure that didn’t exist when the
shelters were erected.
The shelter on the west side of Main at Cascade Plaza obstructs foot traffic in and out
of the First Merit Building.
Then, there is the safety issue, Lieberth said.
"We have to eliminate these old stone bus shelters. They have provided cover for
people who weren’t riding the buses, and often would shield individuals who were
committing crimes, from the view of police patrolling downtown streets," said
Lieberth.
Because METRO is relocating its bus transfer
operations in 2009 to the new Intermodal Transit Center at Broadway and Bartges, this
presents an opportunity to reconfigure downtown Akron to accommodate pedestrian workers,
visitors and bus passengers.
When the new transit center opens, METRO passengers will be able to transfer to and
from buses in a sheltered area, without the traffic flow in and around buses, as they do
now on Main Street in downtown.
The new shelters will be placed on Main at Mill Street on the east side of the
thoroughfare and on Main at Bowery, on the west side of the street allowing for a better
flow of pedestrian traffic.
The new shelters are Plexiglas and include some seating for passengers waiting to board
a bus downtown. The new, see-through design will discourage people from using the shelters
as all-day housing.
The bus shelters are 4’ x 12’ and have
three sides with an opening in the front. They employ clear, tempered safety glass and a
barrel vault roof.
This has been done in collaboration with METRO, the City, and the Downtown Akron
Partnership.
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