CLEVELAND, Ohio – At least four times over the last quarter-century, planners have studied the potential of a new Interstate 71 interchange southwest of Cleveland. Now they’re going to look at whether there are alternatives to ease traffic in the Brunswick-Strongsville area.
The Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency on Friday approved spending up to $960,000 on a two-year study to identify options and solutions for the I-71 corridor from Pearl Road in Middleburg Heights south to Ohio 303 in Brunswick.
This is the latest chapter in a controversy that has brewed for decades amid growing population in the area. Currently, much of the traffic heading to and from Brunswick cuts through Strongsville, near the SouthPark Mall.
Strongsville has argued that an interchange at Boston Road along the Strongsville-Brunswick border is needed to reduce traffic and crashes along Ohio 82, the next exit north along I-71.
Brunswick officials and residents have protested the idea, saying it would hurt property values, destroy homes in the path of the ramps, and turn a residential road into an unwanted commercial corridor.
State Rep. Tom Patton, a Strongsville Republican, last year inserted language in the state transportation budget in an attempt to spur action on the project. But in June, the state Senate voted overwhelmingly to repeal that language, which would have required the interchange be built. The House has not taken action on that bill. It has until the end of the year to do so.
NOACA, the five-county planning agency that includes both Cuyahoga and Medina counties, will work with the Ohio Department of Transportation on the new study.
NOACA Executive Director Grace Gallucci told board members before Friday’s vote that the study would be different than those in the past– in 1999, 2012-15, 2017-18 and 2023 – that focused on on the prospect of an interchange.
“It is quite the opposite,” Gallucci said. “This is looking to solve the problem through different types of solutions. An interchange could be one of them.”
She said the study would look at the root cause of traffic problems and try to identify solutions. Two of those previous studies were led by NOACA, one by ODOT and one by Strongsville.
HDR Engineering Inc. has been chosen for the contract for the new study that would include:
- A public engagement plan to include four pubic meetings.
- Evaluation of no-build scenarios for both 2030 and 2050.
- An analysis of alternative for both 2030 and 2050.
- And a plan to implement recommendations.
HDR, which has offices in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, has conducted similar studies in Columbus that involved alternatives for freeway and adjacent roadway networks, NOACA said.
