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Get In
By plane
• Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, CLE. Cleveland's main
airport is located on the west side of the city. The airport is served by most
of the major domestic airlines, and it is one of Continental Airlines' three
hubs as well. The RTA Red Line Rapid Transit (see, below) provides frequent and
fast rail service from inside the airport to the heart of downtown in roughly 22
minutes for $1.50.
• Burke Lakefront Airport. A small airport right on the shore of Lake
Erie that handles private jet and business traffic.
• Cuyahoga County Airport is located in northeastern Cuyahoga
County.
• Akron-Canton Regional Airport, CAK. Visitors could also
use this airport which served by regional airline affiliates and is a 45-minute
drive from Cleveland.
By car
Three two-digit interstate highways serve Cleveland directly.
• Interstate 71 begins downtown and is the major route from downtown
Cleveland to the airport. I-71 runs through the southwestern suburbs and
eventually connects Cleveland with Columbus.
• Interstate 77 begins in downtown Cleveland and runs almost due south
through the southern suburbs. I-77 sees the least traffic of the three
interstates, even though it is the primary connector of Cleveland with Akron.
• Interstate 90 connects the two sides (the terms "East Side" and "West
Side" have deep root in defining this region) of Cleveland, and is the northern
terminus for both I-71 and I-77. Running due east/west through the West Side
suburbs, I-90 turns northeast at the junction with I-71 and I-490, and is known
as the Innerbelt through downtown. At the junction with the Shoreway, I-90 makes
a 90-degree turn known as "Dead Man's Curve", then continues northeast, entering
Lake County at the eastern split with Ohio 2.
• Interstate 480 runs east-west along the southern border of the City of
Cleveland and also connects the suburbs of the East Side and West Side. It
intersects all three of the above highways, plus it intersects I-271, which
serves the eastern suburbs and has two connections to the Ohio Turnpike (I-80).
By train
• Amtrak - Cleveland is served by Amtrak with a station located on the
north end of downtown (near Cleveland Browns Stadium). Unfortunately, most
Amtrak routes serving Cleveland arrive and depart in the wee hours of the
morning (like in the 1:00 to 4:00 a.m. time frame).
By boat
Many boaters utilize the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway and their connection
points as a travel route. There are many marinas and public boat ramps available
for this purpose. Also, the Great Lakes Cruising Company
and the American Canadian Caribbean Line
provide cruises that include Cleveland on the itinerary.
Getting Around
By car
Cleveland might be one of the easiest cities in the world to navigate. There are
almost no one-way streets, because the city was planned to have "European
Avenues" (which resulted in the foresight to make them broad enough for
vehicular transportation that couldn't have been imagined in the late 1700s).
Traffic is generally not a problem relative to other major U.S. metro areas.
Throughout the downtown area, purple signs direct visitors to let you know where
you are and what district you are in. The streets that run north-south are
numbered, except for Ontario Street (the north-south street bisecting Public
Square). Numbered Streets are named as "West", west of Ontario and "East", east
of Ontario. The major east-west streets are generally named as "Avenues".
By public transit
Greater Cleveland is also served by a public bus and rail transit system,
operated by the
Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, also known as "RTA".
The rail portion is officially called the Cleveland Rapid Transit, but is known
by locals as "The Rapid". It consists of two light rail lines, known as the
Green and Blue Lines (which extend to the east side suburbs), and a heavy rail
line, the Red Line (which connects Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and
the west side suburbs with Tower City Center downtown and continues to
University Circle and beyond). In the late 1990s, RTA added the Waterfont Line,
a short track specifically catering to tourists by connecting Tower City Center
to the Flats Entertainment District, Cleveland Browns Stadium, Great Lakes
Science Center, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Burke Lakefront Airport. RTA
is currently installing a bus rapid transit line, coined the "Silver Line",
which will run along Euclid Avenue, providing a direct route between Cleveland's
primary tourist attractions from downtown to University Circle.
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