Status: Under construction Constructed 2008 | Existed: 2008 – present Counties: Cuyahoga | |
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West end: I-490 / East 55th Street in Cleveland | ||
Cleveland opportunity corridor aerial animation
The Opportunity Corridor is a 35-mile-per-hour (56 km/h) boulevard in Cleveland, Ohio, under construction as of 2016, that is planned to connect Interstate 77 and Interstate 490 to the University Circle neighborhood. The Opportunity Corridor will supplement and enhance the progress underway in these neighborhoods led by their residents and leaders who have worked tirelessly to build on the numerous neighborhood assets and reinforce the sense of pride in their community. The project will reconnect the neighborhoods through investment in a multi-modal transportation network that supports transit, bicycle, and pedestrian-friendly design and development.
Contents
- Cleveland opportunity corridor aerial animation
- Opportunity corridor cleveland transportation project
- History
- Active project
- Opposition
- References
Opportunity corridor cleveland transportation project
History
In the 1960s, Cuyahoga County had planned to build a freeway called the Clark Freeway in Cleveland and environs, part of a network of planned freeways, along a portion of what became Interstate 90, all of what became Interstate 490, and eastward to the Outerbelt East Freeway (Interstate 271). The highway ultimately was not built east of East 55th Street due to freeway revolts. For more details, see Interstate 490 (Ohio)#History.
Later plans for a highway along this general routing included a plan to build a freeway northeastward to Interstate 90/Ohio State Route 2/Cleveland Memorial Shoreway, rejected in 2002, and a highway proposed by Ken Blackwell in his failed bid during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign.
Active project
The current project as of 2016, part of the Innerbelt project, involves building a boulevard to University Circle, named the "Opportunity Corridor". This iteration was conceived in 2008; its Record of Decision was issued in May 2014. Construction began in March 2015 along the portion east of East 93rd Street; construction along the remainder is to begin in 2017. The target date for the completion of the road is 2020.
The Ohio Department of Transportation has proposed that the road receive an extension of the Ohio State Route 10 designation.
Opposition
The Opportunity Corridor has a number of opponents, including a grassroots group, Clevelanders for Transportation Equity. Many of the objections are rooted in the upheaval of the local community, which is predominantly lower income and African-American.
