Comments on: Photo Tour: Cleveland’s Abandoned Subway

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 02:19:59 +0000

Growing up in Cleveland I remember riding the streetcar and was always a bit scared crossing the bridge because you could see the river water down through the rails. We lived off Madison Avenue that had a line that went that same way to downtown as the Detroit line. The comment about Atlanta (where I live now) is true that the old Underground Atlanta is a mall. It is really under bridges where they tried to elevate streets to help traffic congestion. Did not help for long. East-west and north-south interstates go right through the heart of town.

By: Pop-Up City and Cleveland’s Bridge Project | Rust Wire

Pop-Up City and Cleveland’s Bridge Project | Rust Wire — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:31:32 +0000

[...] streetcar level under the bridge has been featured in this blog before. Cleveland’s rapid transit rail service ran under the bridge long ago. [...]

By: Bob Cerny

Bob Cerny — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:18:05 +0000

As a kid I use to travel the maze of tunnels beneath the terminal tower. Thet are all still there but entry to most is closed. I also walked this “subway bridge” as a kid to get to Ohio City.

By: Michael Gill

Michael Gill — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:43:15 +0000

The Trolly line that is pictured here ran from the west edge of Lakewood on the surface of Detroit Road. It dipped underground at West 28th street, just a few hundred feet before the Detroit–Superior Bridge, which crosses the Cuyahoga River Valley. They call it the subway because it uses the “subway” level of the Detroit-Superior Bridge to cross the valley. It came back up onto the surface on Superior Road, on the East end of the bridge.

No, Cleveland doesn’t have a full fledged subway system, but this trolly line briefly dipped underground, and the RTA Red Line–which runs on the surface from the Airport to downtown–dips underground at the Terminal Tower, runs in a trench (not a tunnel) east of their until coming up on the surface again.

The red line walls are covered with colorful graffiti.

The subway level of this bridge will be used for an arts festival (a joint venture between Ingenuity, the Cleveland Urban Design Center of Kent State University, and the County Engineer’s office later in September.

http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/high-in-the-basement/Content?oid=1607694

By: GLUEspace » Blog Archive » Thursday Rust Wire News Round-up

GLUEspace » Blog Archive » Thursday Rust Wire News Round-up — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:44:24 +0000

[...] Cleveland’s abandoned subway; [...]

By: geozinger

geozinger — Thu, 28 May 2009 02:42:52 +0000

As a former Steel Valley resident who spent eight years in Atlanta, I can tell you that the mall you refer to in one of the captions is NOT their defunct subway tunnels, but rather the old city. Underground Atlanta, is the old downtown preserved with the new downtown built on top of it. It was really touristy when I lived there, probably the best part of it was the backdoor access to the World of Coca-Cola. No, really!

Atlanta’s ‘subway’ part of the MARTA system of buses and trains, isn’t really a subway either, more like a commuter train that runs underground for sections of the routes, both east and west and the north and south trains. They meet in the main downtown train station called Five Points, which is underground.

I rode the trains and buses through town for the better part of four years there. The traffic was awful then (I can’t imagine it now), it was really the best way to deal with daily commuting.

By: Diggitt

Diggitt — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:40:50 +0000

I have dim (pre-1954) memories of rapid transit in Cleveland. I was very little and a visitor from Youngstown, but it seemed quite marvelous. These photos show structures that have been kept in good shape. Are they really? Amazing to think that government could be so foresighted.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:59:55 +0000

Yes, it was in operation until 1954. The streetcars ran on the bridge's lower level, so people called it a subway. It's worth visiting if you have the chance. There's a Flickr group devoted to the bridge, and it has lots of great images of both levels.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:23:43 +0000

From the pictures in my book, it appears that the system was essentially an underground streetcar. But it was most definitely in operation.

By: schmange

schmange — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:29:16 +0000

Hmm. The county engineer and Plain Dealer both refer to it as a subway. The PD even has interviews with people who remember riding it. Check out our links.