CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is planning to start running buses through Public Square Monday, March 6.

Buses have not crossed the square on Superior Avenue since early 2015 before the reconstruction of Public Square began. Starting Monday, four bus routes will stop in the square, while another 17 will travel across the square.

The return of buses ends a seven-month-long debate over whether or not the City of Cleveland would allow buses in Public Square as originally planned in the square's redesign.

Buses stopping in the square: No. 3 eastbound and westbound, No. 38 eastbound and westbound, No. 26 westbound, No. 81 eastbound

Buses running through the square: No. 22, No. 45, No. 51 (all routes), No. 55 (all routes), No. 79 (all routes), No. 246, No. 251 and No. 263

There will be four bus lanes running through the square. The two center lanes will be used by the buses without stops in the square, while the outer two lanes will be used by the four routes with stops in the square - No. 3 eastbound and westbound, No. 38 eastbound and westbound, No. 26 westbound and No. 81 eastbound.

"Buses will run through the square in exactly the way we had planned for them to run through the square," said Joel Freilich, director of service management for RTA. "That was always the plan. We were all ready for that last August."

The only route that will not run through the square as expected is the E-Line trolley, which RTA rerouted to improve overall operations, Freilich said. The westbound E-Line trolley would have required its own turn signal because it would have been the only bus making a left turn into the square.

Originally, buses were expected to cross the square 961 times per day, but that number has been reduced to 885 with the E-Line reroute. Buses will travel at 20 mph through the square.

Buses entering the square will have a separate traffic signal, and all other vehicles will be stopped during that time, Freilich said.

"I think the RTA customers are going to be quite happy with how it works," Freilich said.

Other changes

A central crosswalk is being created to funnel pedestrians across the middle of the square to replace two existing crosswalks closer to the bus shelters.

City officials had raised concerns about the existing crosswalks blending in too much with the walkways throughout the square and wanted to create a more stark difference between the walkways and the bus lanes.

Several cement planters also are being used at the ends of the square to prevent non-bus traffic from crossing.

City officials have not yet responded to requests for comment.

What's been happening

Public Square has been closed to buses since early 2015 while the square was under renovation. However, it was scheduled to reopen Aug. 1, 2016.

At that time, Mayor Frank Jackson chose to ban buses in favor of a more pedestrian-friendly Public Square. Jackson has said he would reopen the square to bus traffic if there were no way to keep it closed without harming RTA's operations or bottom line, and if RTA addressed the city's safety concerns.

RTA is on the clock from the FTA to either reopen Superior Avenue through the square to buses or to repay $12 million in federal grants it received for the the Euclid Corridor Transportation Project by March 7.

Because the city will not permit buses to cross Public Square, RTA is not upholding its end of the funding deal it made for the Euclid Corridor Transportation Project, the FTA asserts. The Euclid Corridor Transportation Project established the HealthLine, which runs down Euclid Avenue and ends in Public Square.