ODOT To Spend $90 Million To Widen I-77

[Bill Call]

I guess I get a little frustrated
when we are told ODOT has no
money for Bunts Road
"so cut back on you design"

but they have what ever it takes
to widen and improve freeways
unless they are freeways like
the Rocky Rivery Freeway except that

well
yeah they have that money but only
if it makes life more uncomfortable
for the people who live in the town run

through by the freeway
althoughI suppose I should say
Boulevard which in the case of
Clifton Boulevard is a misnomer.

[Brian Pedaci]

Ever consider slam poetry, Bill?

[ryan costa]

the widening of I-77 is a subsidy for sprawl
and for oil addiction.

that funding should go toward bridges.
the widening of I-77 must be destroyed

[Danielle Masters]

I find myself agreeing with you guys

weird

[Charlie Page]

Rather than widen 77 they should do something to reduce the bottleneck towards downtown, where 77 ends and splits into 90 east/west and downtown. Make a three lane road that dumps directly into downtown Cleveland (no exit - just goes from freeway to three lane road), like the Eisenhower in Chicago. Then make the 90 east/west split two lanes each way.

[Bill Call]

Ever consider slam poetry, Bill?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry_slam

If I considered myself a real poet I'd consider myself an artist and I could not consider myself an artist unless I receive consideration from the Star Chamber For The Arts (Cash).

The State is going to spend $90 million to widen I-77 and $70 million to widen I-71. I don't recall any public debate about this expenditure. Ryan is correct when he says this type of "development" is just a subsidy for urban sprawl. So just how does widening freeways encourage economic growth?

I put this in the Lakewood General Discussion because it is this type of State spending that makes our job that much harder. $160 million to widen 10 miles of freeway but Lakewood City officials have to put on their dancing bear outfits to git $1 million for Bunts road.

[Bill Call]

Here is the link to the PD article:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/04 ... .html#more

If that edit button doesn't get fixed soon I'm going to have to start paying more attention to what I'm doing.

[Matt Jones]

Rather than widen 77 they should do something to reduce the bottleneck towards downtown, where 77 ends and splits into 90 east/west and downtown. Make a three lane road that dumps directly into downtown Cleveland (no exit - just goes from freeway to three lane road), like the Eisenhower in Chicago. Then make the 90 east/west split two lanes each way.

I believe something similar to this is proposed for the north end of 77 as part of the Innerbelt Corridor project. I'm not sure about the exact number of lanes proposed each way, though. I seem to recall that the plan was to eliminate the somewhat useless ramp from 77 North to 90 West, and that a wider, more direct ramp would be built from 77 to East 9th/Ontario. It won't be exactly like the Eisenhower, but downtown Cleveland's irregular street grid requires a little more creativity.

There is supposed to be a copy of the Central Interchange plan at the following link, but I couldn't get the PDFs to open. Maybe someone else will have better luck:

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/projects/Cle ... rview.aspx

The Innerbelt improvements are good for the whole region, even people living close to the core. On the other hand, the widening of 77 basically only helps reduce rush hour commute times for people living in the southern exurbs.

[Charlie Page]

Here is the link to the PD article:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/04 ... .html#more

If that edit button doesn't get fixed soon I'm going to have to start paying more attention to what I'm doing.

In the little PDF section, it says "Interstate 77 in Cuyahoga County: Add a third lane south of Rockside Road in Independence to Broadview Heights. Cost: $90 million."

There are already three lanes from Rockside to Pleasant Valley then it goes to two lanes. Broadview Heights is the next exit (Wallings road), about a half mile down 77. There are a lot of people who live in Brecksville/Broadview Heights. This exit always backs up onto 77 during evening rush hour, leaving only one lane moving. It's been that way for the last 10-15 years and getting progressively worse. It's about time they did something to make travels easier but 90 mill seems a bit steep. Unless they are making 77 three lanes down to 82, which would provide little value.

[Matt Jones]

Charlie, the 77 widening project does indeed go all the way to 82 (past it, in fact). And the issues with backups at Wallings could've been fixed by reconfiguring the exit - adding stacking lanes on the ramp and increasing capacity on Wallings near the exit ramps. Much of the backup you see now in that area is due to traffic merging from Pleasant Valley - adding a simple auxiliary lane between PV and Wallings (like the one on 90 between 41st and 25th) would have solved that issue.

The existing problems could've certainly been improved or eliminated for less than $90 million. So much for ODOT's "fix it first" philosophy.

[Tim Liston]

[Valerie Molinski]

[ryan costa]

[Bill Call]

if you drove through Lorain county 20 or 25 years ago much of it would have been fields and woodlands. today it is housing. Post-industrial economic growth relies on excessive sprawl. whatever gains there are are spent on oil wars and related foreign policy objectives.

The State has just announced they plan to spend $160 million in Northeast Ohio to widen 6 miles of freeway. I would have thought there would have been some public discussion. All I saw was the article in the PD matter of factly stating the cost.

If urban sprawl is so bad and the health of the City Center so important why no disussion about widening freeways?

The Clinic (and I suspect the Cleveland Port Authority) are working behind the scenes to kill shoreway development. You would think there would be a story there somewhere.

[Charlie Page]

The State has just announced they plan to spend $160 million in Northeast Ohio to widen 6 miles of freeway. I would have thought there would have been some public discussion. All I saw was the article in the PD matter of factly stating the cost.

If urban sprawl is so bad and the health of the City Center so important why no disussion about widening freeways?

The Clinic (and I suspect the Cleveland Port Authority) are working behind the scenes to kill shoreway development. You would think there would be a story there somewhere.

There were few details other than cost in the PD article. It's hard to discuss every single possibility.....I'll leave that to talk radio.

By the way, if I were a betting man, I'd lay down a wager that it won't cost the full 160 million. I believe they have purposely padded this number to "use" all their road designated stimulus money and the excess will get funneled in to other areas in the state budget with a shortfall.

Maybe you should turn into an investigative journalist. There might be a story there if dig deep, especially if a republican is involved. It seems, to me anyway, that no one cares if democrats piss away a billion dollars but if republicans are involved.....oh the outrage.

if you drove through Lorain county 20 or 25 years ago much of it would have been fields and woodlands. today it is housing. Post-industrial economic growth relies on excessive sprawl. whatever gains there are are spent on oil wars and related foreign policy objectives.

Define excessive. 60 years ago there was farm land on west 130th, near bellaire (according to my father in law). Now its built out. Is that sprawl? Are we all supposed to live on top of each other in crowded cramped buildings? What's your suggestion to fix this? One lane highways? huge tax on gas?