Euclid–East 120th (RTA Rapid Transit station)

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Euclid–East 120th
RTA Rapid Transit station

Station statistics

Address

12000 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106

Coordinates

41°30′45″N, 81°36′2″W

Lines

Red Line

Connections

Bus # 4 (Payne–Wade Park)
Bus # 6 (Euclid Ave.)
Bus # 50 (East 116th–Harvard–West 117th)

Structure

At grade

Platforms

Island platform

Parking

None

Other information

Opened

March 15, 1955

Owned by

Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority

Euclid–East 120th is a station on the RTA Red Line in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. It is located along Euclid Avenue (U.S. Route 20) at the corner of Coltman Road, near the western end of Lake View Cemetery.

The station has the fewest passenger boardings of any station on the RTA Red Line. It receives meager use because there is little commercial or residential development around the station and no immediate parking. RTA plans to close the station and open a new station at Mayfield Road in 2010.

1 Notable places nearby
2 History
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Notable places nearby

Lake View Cemetery
Little Italy
Case Western Reserve University (northern campus)

[edit] History

The station is near the site of the old Nickel Plate railroad station. The lobby building of the railroad station was located on the other side of the tracks along the south side of Euclid Avenue. That railway station was removed as part of the Cleveland Union Terminal project and replaced by the East Cleveland station adjacent to today's Superior Rapid Transit station.

When the Cleveland Transit System Rapid Transit was constructed in the early 1950s, it used the original right-of-way laid out for the Van Sweringen brothers' rapid transit system in 1928. The original right-of-way included passenger tunnels and stairways at Mayfield Road (U.S. Route 322), but CTS decided not to place a station there because the buses running on Mayfield Road were those of Redifer Bus Co., not CTS, and CTS did not want to provide an interconnection for a competing bus line.^[1] Therefore, the Mayfield station was eliminated in favor of the Euclid-East 120th station. The station opened with the opening of the CTS Rapid Transit on the east side on March 15, 1955.^[2]

When originally opened, the entrance to the station along Euclid Avenue was in the middle of the railroad bridge over the street. The station was not very visible, and this may have contributed to its disuse. A further tunnel was constructed under the tracks to provide a more visible entrance at the east side of the bridge.

As ridership on the rapid transit system declined, RTA examined the economic viability of maintaining stations that had minimal rider counts. As few as 70 people a day used Euclid–East 120th Station, making it the least used station on the system, and a policy was proposed to allow closing the station.^[3] The Plain Dealer endorsed the station closing as part of an overall program to control costs on the rapid transit system.^[4] Despite protests from city and union officials, RTA adopted the policy.^[5] However, opposition to closing the station increased,^[6] and the station has remained open. In September 2007, RTA announced plans to begin construction of a new station at Mayfield Road (U.S. Route 322) to replace the East 120th station.^[7]^[8] Plans call for construction to start in 2009 and be completed in 2010.