2015 Was A Year Of Dust And Disruption For Traffic

By ideastream's Brian Bull

When the 2015 construction season began in the spring, crews pushed ahead on several major transportation projects.  Cleveland’s Public Square, the Shoreway, and the Opportunity Corridor all advanced.

Public square closed to traffic in early March to accommodate a $37 million makeover.  The plan is to create more green space – including an area for outdoor concerts and patio seating with a café.…all done before the Republican National Convention in July.  In the meantime, 33 RTA bus stops have been relocated.

There’s also the ongoing Detroit/Shoreway Project, which has already created new pedestrian and bike pathways, meant to improve access from the west side to Lake Erie.  This summer, the speed limit along the Shoreway was reduced.

Jocelyn Clemings is with the Ohio Department of Transportation.

"And that’s where we actually take the shoreway itself, between Clifton Boulevard and the Main Avenue Bridge, and we convert that into a 35 mile an hour Boulevard…and most people who commute that way will have already noticed that the 35 mile per hour speed limit is already in place. So that’s another big change that happened this year.”                                             

The project is slated for completion in 2017. 

Then there’s the Opportunity Corridor, which began its first phase in February and will finish up in 2019.  Crews widened East 105 ^th Street between Quebec and Cedar from two lanes to four.  That part of the road is expected to open in late January even as utility and signal work continue through the winter.