Euclid Avenue in Cleveland is celebrated in the city’s history as the turn-of-the-20th-century home to John D. Rockefeller and other prominent American businessmen. However, as development pressure and Cleveland’s population increased, Euclid Avenue’s luxury homes gave way to parking lots and shopping centers.

Beginning in the 1970s, local leaders set out to reestablish the corridor as a major transportation and economic development link by implementing a new transit system along the avenue. Seeking to connect the city’s two largest commercial districts—downtown and University Circle— Cleveland stakeholders voted to establish a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in 1998. Known as the HealthLine, the BRT has both improved connectivity and attracted new development to the area since its completion in 2008.

In strategic partnerships with state and federal agencies, local stakeholders—including the city of Cleveland, the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (Cleveland’s regional planning agency)—completed the project for a total investment cost of $200 million. The three goals guiding the development were to (1) improve service and efficiency for customers, (2) promote economic and community development along and adjacent to the line, and (3) improve quality of life for residents and visitors of the corridor and for area employees.