UPDATE: October 2025
Walking my dog Bella this AM, I ran into a neighbor who had picked up his college freshman son from the Amtrak station at 3 am this past week and he said “oh my gosh, why is finding the Amtrak station such hard? And its in the middle of the night so there’s no one to ask” I get it. Been there, done that.
So I am reposting a how to, from 10 years ago, so that anyone who may need to drop off or pick up a friend or family member at Cleveland’s downtown Amtrak station as they arrive for the holidays has our inside scoop. PS they also have stops to the west of Cleveland in Elyria and Sandusky, but those are way easier to find and don’t require an entire blog post devoted to finding the station.
Monday, October 12, 2015 – This weekend, along with my sister and her husband, I dropped off my 23 year old niece from Humboldt, CA at the Amtrak station at 5:15 am to catch the LakeShore Limited headed to New York City. Once again I was just dumfounded at how poor the signage is for a major train station in a large city.
I have lived in NE Ohio for 50 years, and I missed it! I’m sure my relatives in the car behind me thought I was crazy when I circled the block for the 2nd time while they were looking out the window at the train on the tracks next to us. Why can’t Amtrak, or even the city of Cleveland, get better signage to help folks find the parking lot for Amtrak? It’s tucked in between I-90 and the Browns stadium and below the bluff where CIty Hall sits. Please don’t rely on GPS, as my WAZE was yelling at me to go in the opposite direction, and we would have missed the train all together. Click here to see proof that others find it as hard to find the parking lot as I do (you’re not crazy if you do).
So here is the easy way to find it, because the trains leave in the middle of the night, and it is pitch black with no one on the streets to give you directions or advice. Drive north on W. 3rd Street toward Lake Erie. Just before you reach the street in front of the stadium, turn right. Even though the signs make it look like you are getting on the entrance ramp for I-90 East, it’s just a connector street that leads to I-90 and the Amtrak parking lot entrance is off of this street. Click on hyperlink above to see photo and note that the street is the one on the right just BEFORE the fence.
This is a LONG feeder street that leads three places: 1) E. 9th Street; 2) I-90 East; AND 3) on the right, just past the overhead bridge a drive that leads to Amtrak parking lot.
If you do a dry run in the daytime (highly recommend!) the entrance to the parking lot is generally locked as the trains only come thru in the middle of the night and the locked gates provide security to those who leave their cars in the parking lot while taking the train.
Anyway, that’s how you do it. You’re welcome!