Cleveland Memorial Shoreway

Cleveland Memorial Shoreway
Route information
Maintained by ODOT
Existed: 1930s – present
Component
highways:		 I‑90 from Downtown to St. Clair-Superior
US 6 / US 20 from Detroit-Shoreway to Ohio City
SR 2 from Detroit-Shoreway to St. Clair-Superior
Major junctions
West end: US 6 / US 20 / SR 2 in Detroit-Shoreway
  I‑90 in Downtown
East end: I‑90 / SR 2 / SR 283 in St. Clair-Superior
Location
Counties: Cuyahoga
Highway system
The Main Avenue Viaduct carries the Shoreway over the Cuyahoga River

The Cleveland Memorial Shoreway (often shortened to simply "The Shoreway") is a limited-access freeway in Cleveland, Ohio. It closely follows the shore of Lake Erie and connects the east and west sides of Cleveland via the Main Avenue Bridge. The Shoreway carries State Route 2 along its length, and also carries U.S. 6, U.S. 20 and I-90 for various stretches. Although it carries I-90, the "East Shoreway" is typically called such (and not "I-90") because it predates the Interstate Highway System. The Cleveland neighborhood of Detroit-Shoreway is named after the two roads that form the northern border, the Shoreway and Detroit Avenue.

Route description

History

The Shoreway began as a 4-mile (6.4 km) roadway from East Ninth Street to East 55th Street built in 1930s using Works Progress Administration workers, and it served as access to the Great Lakes Exposition in 1936. It was the largest WPA project in the country. Within two years the roadway was extended to the Illuminating Company plant adjacent to Gordon Park, and it was opened for traffic in 1938, although planning delays prevented WPA from laying a second strip of pavement and building grade separations from side streets. After completion of the Main Avenue Bridge was completed in 1940, the highway was extended westward to Edgewater Park. The East Ninth Street interchange was also completed in 1940. The highway was extended to Bratenahl at East 140th Street in 1941. The roadway was envisioned as part of a larger system of high speed highways in the city. A West Shore Drive from Edgewater Park to Rocky River was planned, but further construction was interrupted by World War II. After the War, the previously unnamed highway became the Memorial Shoreway in honor of Cleveland's war veterans.

Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and the Lakeland Freeway: At left is the USGS topographic map showing the eastern terminus of the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway in 1953. At right is the same map area in 1963 showing the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway merging with the newly constructed Lakeland Freeway.

In 1944, the city and county planning departments and the state highway department developed a master plan for freeways throughout the area. However, the only additional freeway built was the Willow Freeway. The Memorial Shoreway permitted crosstown traffic with some stops but was incomplete between East 55th Street and East 72nd Street. In 1953 a further addition connected the sections of Shoreway and widened the original highway to make it an 8-lane, nonstop freeway. The Interstate Highway Act in 1956 provided the funding to complete much of the freeway system planned in 1944. As part of this effort, the Memorial Shoreway was joined to the new Lakeland Freeway, which by 1963 stretched eastward toward Painesville.

Major intersections

For the intersections along the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway, see Ohio State Route 2#Major intersections and Interstate 90 (Ohio)#Exit list.

Future

The Shoreway west of the Main Avenue Bridge is in the process of being converted from a freeway to a surface street in order to increase ease of access to Lake Erie.[1][2][3] Preliminary construction began in 2014;[2] the speed limit dropped to 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) during the project, then permanently to 35 miles per hour (56 km/h) on October 5, 2015;[4] the project as a whole is planned for completion in December 2017.[5]

References

Route map: Bing / Google

  1. ↑ "Connecting Cleveland: The Waterfront District Plan". City of Cleveland City Planning Commission. Retrieved 2011-06-28.
  2. 1 2 "Cleveland Urban Core Projects: Lakefront West". Ohio Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  3. ↑ Grant, Alison (2013-09-24). "West Shoreway Conversion to Boulevard with Lake Erie Access Gets Funding, Is Set to Begin in the Spring". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  4. ↑ "Lakefront West: Speed Limit Change & Herman Ave Bridge to Reopen to 2-Way Traffic" (Press release). Ohio Department of Transportation District 12. 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
  5. ↑ Grant, Alison (2015-06-06). "West Shoreway Speed Limit Drops to 35 mph in the Fall as Boulevard Conversion Begins". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 2015-06-07.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, October 05, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.