By
Air | By
Train | By
Car | Parking | Taxi | Rapid
Transit | Within Tower
City Center | Waterfront
Line and Downtown Map
By Air
Cleveland
Hopkins International Airport is served by at
least eleven commercial airlines and is a major
hub for Continental Airlines. Southwest Airlines
probably offers the most discount flights to
Cleveland. On average, the busiest times at Hopkins
are 6:00 to 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Air
travelers will enjoy the ease and speed of getting
from the airport to the conference hotel, for
just $1.50, via Cleveland’s rapid-transit system
(details below).
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Amtrak
operates two routes that serve Cleveland: the “Lake
Shore Limited” (connecting Boston, New York,
Albany, and Chicago) and the “Capitol Limited” (connecting
Washington DC, Pittsburgh, and Chicago). For
schedule information, call (800) 872-7245 or
visit: www.amtrak.com.
Cleveland’s
Amtrak station is located at 200 Cleveland Memorial
Shoreway, about one mile from the conference
hotel. The station offers rental-car and taxi
service, but the easiest connection (during the
day), direct to Tower City Center, is via the RTA Waterfront
Line (details below).
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From
the East: Take
I-90 West, which merges with Ohio Route 2 (to
form the “Cleveland Memorial Shoreway”), at
the eastern approach to the city. Past East
55th Street, follow the signs for Route 2 West
(not I-90), and exit the Shoreway at
East 9th Street. Turn left, to head south on
East 9th. Go three traffic lights, to St. Clair
Avenue. Turn right and take St. Clair about
four blocks, to West 3rd Street. Turn left
onto West 3rd and go two blocks to the end
of West 3rd, at Superior Avenue—the site of
the hotel.
From
the West: Take I-90 East to the Ontario
Street exit (171B). The exit ramp will put
you on Ontario Street, heading north. Drive
approximately 0.6 mile to St. Clair Avenue.
Turn left onto St. Clair and go one block to
West 3rd Street. Turn left onto West 3rd and
go two blocks to the end of West 3rd, at Superior
Avenue—the site of the hotel.
From
the South, via I-71: I-71 North merges
with I-90, on the southern approach to downtown
Cleveland. Leave I-71/90 at the Ontario Street
exit (171B). The exit ramp will put you on
Ontario Street, heading north. Drive approximately
0.6 mile to St. Clair Avenue. Turn left onto
St. Clair and go one block to West 3rd Street.
Turn left onto West 3rd and go two blocks to
the end of West 3rd, at Superior Avenue—the
site of the hotel.
From
the South, via I-77: Near Cleveland, leave
I-77 at the I-90 East exit (on your left),
following the sign for “Erie PA and East 9th
Street.” Take the East 9th Street exit (163C)
and merge onto East 14th Street. Take a slight
right onto Orange Avenue / Ohio Route 8 / Ohio
Route 87, which becomes Ohio Route 14 and then
Ontario Street. Continue north on Ontario Street,
approximately 0.6 mile, to St. Clair Avenue.
Turn left onto St. Clair and go one block to
West 3rd Street. Turn left onto West 3rd and
go two blocks to the end of West 3rd, at Superior
Avenue—the site of the hotel.
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1. The Renaissance
Cleveland Hotel offers indoor valet-only parking
at $16 per day. Unlike the other parking options
listed below, the Renaissance daily rate includes
unlimited in-and-out privileges. The garage
is attached to the hotel building, with a street
entrance on Superior Avenue, at West 3rd Street.
2. An
outdoor self-park “surface” lot operated by Imperial
Parking (IMPARK) is located across Superior
Avenue from the hotel, at the corner of Superior
and West 3rd Street. This lot has a Pay Station
that accepts credit cards and paper currency.
Rates are:
·
$9 Weekday Maximum
·
$6 Weekday Early Bird Special (arriving before 9 a.m.)
·
$5 after 1 p.m. weekdays, and all day Saturday and Sunday.
3. Tower
City Center Parking maintains a large lot,
located beneath and behind the Tower City complex.
On weekdays, the minimum self-park charge is
$3, with all-day (24-hour) parking priced at
a maximum of $11. Parking is free on
weekends (12:01 a.m. Saturday until midnight
Sunday). An escalator and elevators connect
the Tower City lot with “The Avenue at Tower
City”—a short indoor walk from the lobby of
the Renaissance hotel. Note that the principal
street access to the Tower City lot is on Huron
Road, just west of Ontario Street. Caution: For indoor parking, the maximum permissible vehicle height
is 6'-11"; also, vehicles over 7'-2" must
use the Canal Road entrance to the outdoor
lot. A localized street map and more details
can be found at this Web page: http://www.towercityparking.com/default.asp
4. Most on-street
parking within walking distance of Tower
City and the conference hotel is metered and
therefore impractical for long-term parking
on weekdays. However, meters need not be fed
after 6:30 p.m. or on weekends. To complicate
matters, parking on some nearby streets is
completely prohibited from one hour before
until two hours after “major events” at Jacobs
Field and Gund Arena. Your vehicle might be
towed if you choose to park on those streets,
at the wrong time. Check the signs carefully
and don’t park in a space with a meter covered
by a cloth or plastic bag!
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One-way
taxi fare from Hopkins airport to downtown Cleveland
is likely to run $20 to $25, plus tax. One lower-cost
alternative at the airport, the Royal Fleet Shuttle
Service, provides transport to and from downtown
hotels for $10 per person, each way.
Please
note that taxis are not plentiful in most Cleveland neighborhoods. Locals seldom use
them. While it’s easy to “hail a cab” at the
airport or on Public Square, a phone call will
probably be required to order a taxi in other
parts of town. For more transportation options,
please read on …
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We
recommend that conference attendees use the light-rail
passenger service of the Greater Cleveland Regional
Transit Authority (RTA). It takes less than thirty
minutes to ride the RTA Red Line train from the
airport to downtown Cleveland’s Tower City Station,
and the one-way fare is just $1.50. This is by
far the least expensive option for public transport,
to and from the airport.
By
the way, locals refer to RTA trains as “The Rapid”—to
distinguish RTA rail service
from the RTA bus lines.
RTA’s
Airport Station is located on the lowest level
of the Cleveland Hopkins terminal complex. To
reach the entrance to the Red Line Rapid, take
the escalators or elevators (located near the
center of the Ticketing and Baggage Claim levels) down to
the Rapid.
You’ll
need to pay your fare with exact change, but
a bill changer is available, near the RTA turnstile.
The
Red Line is the only RTA Rapid Line at
the airport. Departing trains go in just one
direction: east, from the airport toward
downtown Cleveland. (No chance of confusion here!)
A
Red Line train leaves the Airport Station every
fifteen minutes, between 4:30 a.m. and 12:59
a.m., seven days a week. Take the train to the
Tower City Station, in the heart of downtown
Cleveland.
For
your eventual departure home, be sure to allow
plenty of time for the trip from downtown to
the airport. Please note that the last westbound
train for the airport departs Tower City Station
at 12:24 a.m., each day.
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Within Tower City Center
Get
off the RTA train at Tower City Station. The
Rapid platform is on the basement level of Tower
City Center. Leave the platform and ride the
escalator up.
When you get off the escalator, you will be on
the middle level of Tower City Center. Go first
to your left (just a few paces, to reach a main
corridor), turn right (into that corridor), and
continue walking in that same northerly direction,
toward Public Square.
When
you reach the front of the Tower City complex,
you’ll be in a large open foyer with a high vaulted
ceiling and many brass-and-glass doors that open
onto Public Square. Don’t go outdoors; instead,
turn to your left and look for a large brass “Renaissance
Cleveland Hotel” sign, over the entrance to a
passageway. In the passage, walk past a little
newsstand, go through a set of brass doors, and
continue up a staircase into the lobby of the
Renaissance. The Front Desk will be on your left.
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RTA Waterfront Line
http://www.riderta.com/pdfs/maps/WFLmap.pdf
This
simplified map shows major downtown streets,
key tourist sites, and the route of the RTA Waterfront
Line. The Waterfront Line provides convenient
transportation from Tower City Center to the “Entertainment
Flats,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum,
the Great Lakes Science Center, and Cleveland’s
Amtrak station—for $1.50 each way.
If
you expect to travel beyond the hotel
on your arrival day, you might wish to purchase
an All-Day Pass (at the Airport Rapid turnstile),
for $3.00. The pass (also available at the Tower
City Station) will allow you to ride anywhere
within the entire RTA system—via trains or buses—until
3:00 a.m. the following day.
