A south-looking aerial view of the proposed Cleveland Browns Stadium Station for rapid transit trains. The under-construction Huntington Bank Field is at upper-left and the Berea Freeway is at right. Across the freeway is Hopkins International Airport (Bowen). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Funding sources, project ownership a mystery
It’s not everyday that new light-rail stations are built from scratch in Greater Cleveland. But when a $3.6 billion mixed-use entertainment district appears along Ohio’s most-used passenger rail line, a new station is hard to pass up.
An infill station on the Airport-Downtown-Windermere light-rail Red Line was initially proposed by Haslam Sports Group (HSG) as one feature of their new Huntington Bank Field complex but hasn’t seen much traction recently.
Such a station would connect Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s (GCRTA) rail system to the future home of the Cleveland Browns in suburban Brook Park.
NEOtrans was first to learn that a project titled “Browns Stadium Station” was added this week to the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) online project management database called “Ellis” — complete with a project identification number.
This is notable as the department will typically create new identifications like this for projects actively pursuing funding or those moving into development. It is a strong indicator of a project that’s actively moving forward.
What looks like a bunch of boring data on the Ohio Department of Transportation’s project management system called “Ellis” is actually what amounts to a validation. It acknowledges the activation and progress of a bona fide transportation project, in this case the Browns Stadium Station (ODOT ELLIS).
With a total cost of $30 million, $26.75 million would be allocated for station construction with the remaining $3.25 million for design and administrative work, according to the ODOT database.
The database even shows an anticipated construction start date in the first quarter of 2028. Except there’s one little problem: no one seems to know anything about it.
When asked about the project shown on their own website, Brent Kovacs, ODOT District 12’s public information officer, told NEOtrans that “ODOT is not involved at this time. We have not heard anything about this project.”
“ODOT’s only role as of right now is to pass any funding they might be entitled to in the future to them,” he added, with him emphasizing the “might be” part.
Executive Director Grace Gallucci of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), which helped coordinate transportation management plans surrounding the new stadium, was equally unaware.
Circled in blue in the upper-left corner of this schematic of public infrastructure improvements around the Brook Park stadium is the proposed location and layout of the new Browns Stadium Station. North is at the top of the image (Osborn).
“This project has not yet gone through NOACA’s process to be added to the long range plan,” she said. “We are unaware of any funding proposals.”
An HSG spokesperson declined to comment at this time. This article will be updated if HSG does provide a comment.
So who exactly is seeking funding for the Rapid station then? GCRTA is named as the sponsoring agency and the database lists the funding as a “local match,” suggesting a construction project funded entirely with private or local non-federal dollars.
However, some federal funding has come into play. The City of Brook Park won in June a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Innovative Finance and Asset Concession (IFAC) program.
Brook Park’s IFAC award will allow the suburb to, as its descripted noted, “evaluate how to structure, finance, and deliver high-priority transportation infrastructure” connected to two major, neighboring projects on the Red Line.
Looking southwest from the station’s platform, set between the two Red Line tracks, at the ramp leading up to the walkway over the railroad tracks to the new Huntington Bank Field off-image at left (Bowen).
Those major projects are the new Huntington Bank Field stadium with its supportive development and the other is the $1.6 billion phase one modernization of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The IFAC grant can be used for design and doesn’t require locally matching funds.
GCRTA is also named in ODOT’s database as the designated sponsor of the station project. Any available funding gives it a limited notice to proceed, such as with design and engineering but not yet construction.
Does that mean GCRTA is actively pursuing funding for this new station? If so, they haven’t told anyone else about it. NEOtrans was unable to reach the authority for comment, which is understandable given the tragedy earlier this week.
“Regarding this rail station project and funding, you need to contact the Haslam Sports Group for answers and details,” GCRTA Public Information Officer Robert Fleig told NEOtrans last year. “It’s their project.”
GCRTA General Manager and CEO India Birdsong Terry more recently stated that the authority would be proactive in working with HSG developers and that it could potentially boost Red Line frequency and capacity to the new stadium on event days in the meantime.
After walking through the pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks, the first views of Huntington Bank Field emerges (Bowen).
Preliminary concepts developed by HSG and architects RL Bowen & Associates of Cleveland showed a station in between the Brookpark and Hopkins International Airport stations. The firm initially estimated a total cost of $40 million for the station.
Shown was a pedestrian bridge connected to the station that would cross over the existing, heavily used Norfolk Southern freight tracks and connect to the northwest corner of the stadium.
The station will likely be designed with what’s called a center-island platform, meaning a portion of GCRTA’s two parallel tracks would have to be spread apart to accommodate the new boarding platform in between them.
Actively seeking funding would be the first step to advance what some see as a critical public transit connection for Northeast Ohio. Due to concerns about the limited amount of stadium parking, developers and NOACA alike have grappled with the issue of getting fans to and from the suburban stadium efficiently.
Thousands of Huntington Bank Field attendees in Downtown Cleveland ride the light-rail Waterfront Line for its convenience and to avoid congestion and steep parking prices.
The pedestrian bridge from the Browns Stadium Station is proposed to land in the middle of a parking lot for the stadium, but have its own ground-level path at right into the stadium (Bowen).
The existing Brookpark Rapid station on the other hand is roughly 1 mile from the new stadium site and would require a long walk through industrial areas to get there and back.
Therefore a station dedicated to serving the future Huntington Bank Field alleviates some of the parking and traffic concerns in surrounding areas.
Plus, having the station on a high-frequency transit line that operates daily rather than an event-only basis has the potential to boost rail ridership and reduce confusion that comes with using the sporadically operated Waterfront Line currently.
The new unified railcar fleet entering service in Summer 2027 on the Red Line and Summer 2028 on the Green and Blue lines will allow GCRTA to run more frequent trains on the main trunk line between the Airport and Tower City without passengers having to make transfers downtown.
Until then, it remains to be seen who takes responsibility for this project. The Browns recently announced a planned opening date of May 2029 for the new stadium. It is unclear currently if a new Rapid station would be fully operational by the time the first scheduled concerts and football games begin.
Ken Prendergast contributed to this article.
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