The downtown Cleveland, OH area is a striking example of an area with a street system laid out at a time before cars and dictated by geography. The comfluance of the heavily industrialized Cuyahoga River valley and the Lake Erie shoreline resulted in a massive tangle of major streets that go in nearly every conceivable direction. Some go parallel to the shoreline, some along the valley, either at the river level of at the top of the ridges. Others go in various 'radial' directions. A well developed railroad network completes the maze.
Enter the automobile. The inefficiencies inherant in such a street layout came to bear early in metro Cleveland and especially in the downtown area. What is now I-90 (the 'Inner belt' freeway) and the OH 2 'Shoreway' were relatively early urban freeways. Later on, I-77 arrived along with its very tight connection to I-90 as well as several other streets in the area. Traffic congestion is frequent here with the tight ramps, short merges and 'rapid-fire' nature of the street interchanges on both I-90 and I-77 in the area. The lack of any other freeway alternative to points east and northeast adds heavily to the congestion.
Downtown Cleveland has undergone a true 'renaissance' during the 1990s with many major, popular attractions being developed. These include the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame', a new stadium for the 'new and improved' Cleveland Browns (both on the lakefront), as well as the 'Gund Arena' (NBA Cavaliers), locatedwhere the 'OH 8' marker is northwest of the interchange, and the HUGELY popular 'Jacobs Field' (AL Indians), located at the 'US 422' shield.
I am unaware of any current plans to re-engineer the freeways in this area.
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This page © Michael G. Koerner |
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