I read a story last month about how Hilliard wants to spruce up their Downtown area and the more I thought about it and looked at some maps, the more I realized that mass transit would need to be a key element in making this revitalization work.
If I had carte blanche to do this development myself, I’d probably take over that rail line that runs parallel to Center Street, but stops before Main (I assume it probably used to run further) and build a rail transit stop right there at the center of Old Hilliard.
Then I’d run a commuter rail train of some sort straight down that line and into downtown Columbus (preferably stopping at a multi-modal station between the Arena District, Convention Center, and North Market).
A hidden parking garage would need to be built in Old Hilliard, but it could be easily built into the existing neighborhood with faux-frontage and ground level retail that matches the historic character of the neighborhood. Adding additional business to the area should be a cakewalk after all this.
And this way, not only do Hilliard residents get one hell of a “park’n'ride” solution for visiting Downtown Columbus, they also make the neighborhood more attractive and accessible for folks to come visit from other parts of Central Ohio.
When you look at the layout of railroad tracks all over Columbus the same sort of plans could be easily applied for every “Old Downtown” area of every suburban neighborhood in Central Ohio.