Shore Center Drive has started to become a noticeable problem for residents of Euclid. With the road being shared with Dave’s Market, barbershops, beauty salons, pizza parlors, a liquor store, and a resting place for RTA buses between shifts, residents using the sidewalks have very few places to cross the road safely. According to Euclid Director of Planning and Development Patrick Grogan-Myers, the start of the new year will also bring with it a reimagining of what the area could look like, starting with the preliminary planning of a demonstration project and “developing its design through the end of winter and early spring,” according to a statement sent by the city. “We are hearing a lot of complaints from businesses, from residents, who are using that space,” Grogan-Myers said. “There is also RTA buses that use Shore Center Drive both as part of their route but also as a layover spot next to Dave’s. So, there’s just a lot going on in one short stretch of roadway and we want to make sure everyone stays safe.” According to Grogan-Myers, the city was awarded a Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation late last year and are in the process of finalizing the paperwork that’s required before accepting it. He said that every street will have its own set of factors that need to be addressed, but that the public will notice during their testing, different traffic patterns being repainted, possible crosswalks installed, and cones changing the dynamics of the streets, all to see how drivers react to a possible new configuration. “Part of what’s on tap for this year is to do a demonstration project to focus on road safety,” Grogan-Myers said. “We hear a lot of traffic concerns, safety concerns, around speeding, bicyclists using the roadway, pedestrians crossing, there really is only one place where pedestrians can cross a designated crosswalk between Lakeshore Boulevard and Babbitt Road-so recognizing that there’s a lot of different types of users using that one roadway. “What we received funding for is to do a demonstration project. it’s designed to be temporary and designed to test out whether a proposed improvement could make things safer.” While traffic seems to have increased in recent years, Grogan-Myers said that part of the problem has been years in the making. Originating in how roads have been historically designed to favor flow of vehicle traffic over the safety or comfort of pedestrians and the neighborhoods around them with wide field of views and big expanses of roadway leading to increased speeds. While increased policing of speeders has been used in other cities and within Euclid in the past, it hasn’t shown many signs of dealing with the underlying problem with addressing why people are speeding in the first place. Grogan-Myers said that this project will hopefully start to change that. “It’s a great example of where you have three lanes of road, two travel lanes, and the center turning lane, you have the sidewalk on both sides and in most areas, you have parking next to the sidewalks so ultimately it feels safer to go faster because your field of vision is very wide,” he said. “The psychology behind it is to narrow that field of vision with trees, with road design, maybe doing a Road Diet depending on the circumstances.” He said addressing the need for more crosswalks and pedestrian access will also be a focus for the city because many of the areas have limited mobility for the majority of residents in Euclid who don’t own cars but have to travel among them. “…(T)here are also too many spots, especially in walkable areas that don’t have enough crosswalks,” he said. “So, you have to walk five minutes out of your way, when you just want to cross the street, you have to walk five minutes away from where you are at and then have to double back, so there are a couple behaviors that we have to assist in helping to correct.” After testing different traffic patterns, Grogan-Myers said that the city will analyze the data collected and see if more studies should be done, or if permanent improvements should be made along the corridor, with results expected later in the year.