Length 3.91 km | ||
 | ||
Existed: Designated on November 10, 1973
Completed on September 12, 1990 – present West end: I-71 / I-90 in Cleveland East end: East 55th Street, Bower Avenue in Cleveland | ||
Interstate 490 (I-490) is a 2.43-mile (3.91 km) Interstate Highway in Cleveland, Ohio. The western terminus is a junction with I-90 and I-71 on Cleveland's west side. After spanning the Cuyahoga River, I-490 reaches its eastern terminus at a junction with East 55th Street, just east of I-77.
Contents
Map of I-490, Cleveland, OH, USA
History
The original plans of the Cleveland and other city and federal highway authorities called for the highway – also known as the Clark Freeway and, at various times and in various sections, as Interstate 80N and Interstate 290 – to bisect the east side of the city and the eastern suburbs; the I-290 designation would then have continued north along I-271. I-71 was to have continued along the Innerbelt to Dead Man's Curve, while I-290 was to have used the portion of present I-90 westward to the Parma Freeway near West 65th Street. Freeway revolts in the late 1960s prevented the Clark Freeway east of East 55th Street and the Parma Freeway from being built; specifically, a referendum in Shaker Heights barred the city from allowing the Clark Freeway to pass through the city and its Shaker Lakes. The Interstate 490 designation was applied to the Clark Freeway's altered proposed path in 1973, but this alignment was also not built east of East 55th Street. Ultimately I-90 was realigned to follow the Clark Freeway routing west of I-71 and the Innerbelt, and the middle segment of the Clark Freeway between I-71 and I-77 opened in 1990. The Opportunity Corridor expressway is being constructed to follow the path of the cancelled portion of I-490/Clark Freeway eastward from the end of the completed portion until it veers north toward the University Circle neighborhood.
In 2003, I-490 was dedicated to Troy Lee James, former member of the Ohio House of Representatives.
In April 2011, the ramps between I-77 and I-90 to the west were removed, making I-490 the official route between those highways and between I-77 and I-71.
Exit list
The entire route is in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County.