CLEVELAND, Ohio – A long-awaited roadway that will link Interstate 77 with University Circle, potentially sparking economic growth in an area known as the “Forgotten Triangle,” is expected to open in little more than a month.
The target for completion for the Opportunity Corridor was set years ago for early November 2021. Work appears on schedule to meet that goal, said Amanda McFarland, the Ohio Department of Transportation’s public affairs officer for Northeast Ohio.
“We are looking at an early November opening for traffic,” McFarland said. “I’m trying right now to identify the date. I know it will definitely be the first or the second week of November.”
While the roadway will open in the next month, the project will not be complete. Landscaping, lighting, and tree planting along the corridor will continue until about June 2022, McFarland said.
The roadway, nearly 3 miles long from I-490 at East 55th Street to East 105th Street in University Circle, is expected to open the neighborhood to housing and commercial growth.
Already some of that can be seen at the upper end of the boulevard. IBM built an office building at Cedar Avenue and East 105th Street. Other campus-like research complexes were proposed for that area but stalled during the pandemic. Councilman Blaine Griffin, whose ward includes that part of the corridor, hopes those projects are revived.
Griffin expects interest in development, slowed a bit by the coronavirus pandemic, will pick up quickly once the roadway is open.
“We’re already getting a lot of interest in housing and infill housing,” Griffin said. “We’re very close to getting a new grocery store and housing development along East 105th.”
Variations of the Opportunity Corridor were discussed for years, sometimes as freeways that would link the east end of Interstate 490 at East 55th Street with eastern suburbs or to Interstate 90.
In 2015, Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced that money leveraged from Ohio Turnpike tolls would be used to fund the project that will link I-490 with University Circle, via East 105th Street.
The roadway, at a cost topping $300 million, is funded through the Ohio Department of Transportation, with contributions from JobsOhio and the city.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson opposed the idea of dropping a freeway through neighborhoods known as the Forgotten Triangle, an area that includes parts of Ward 5 -- which he represented as a council member. He wanted a 35-mph boulevard that would allow for growth, rather than allowing traffic to just bypass neighborhoods.
Ultimately, the state agreed.
Development in the area also is expected to benefit from access to mass transit – both rail and buses -- and its proximity to highways.
Cleveland intends to build a new police headquarters on the boulevard near the headquarters of Orlando Bakery.
This short stretch of the Opportunity Corridor in Cleveland west of East 75th Street at the Norfolk Southern tracks is the only place where roadbed has not been completed.
While driving by on Tuesday, cleveland.com could see that nearly all the roadbed is complete, and most is paved.
Some areas appear to need a final layer of asphalt. The only area where the roadbed is not built is a short stretch west of East 75th Street that spans the Norfolk Southern tracks.
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October 06, 2021 at 07:05PM
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Roadway for Opportunity Corridor nearly complete, expected to open by early November - cleveland.com
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