Posted July 8, 200618 yr AERIAL From the 7/6/06 Sun Herald: Crocker set for a start next spring Thursday, July 06, 2006 By Meredyth McKenzie NORTH OLMSTED - The city is planning for the construction of the long-anticipated Crocker-Stearns Extension to finally begin next spring, and also for the future impact the major thoroughfare will have on the area. City officials will begin work this month with the Urban Design Center on the Crocker/Stearns design plan and redevelopment strategy. UDC will study the area, work with a steering committee of key North Olmsted residents on developing the plan and find a shared vision among nearby residents and officials on the corridor. The project will take place in several phases, which include reviewing background information, studying the actual area, compiling data; defining a vision for the future through a community design process with residents; and detailing the actual plan and presenting it to the residents. Planning Director Kim Wenger expects it to be completed by the end of the year. The city needs a direction and strategy on how to develop this area, reevaluate the land use and find out what is the best appropriate use for the future, Wenger said. We also want to move forward and act in the best interest of the residents in the area and the entire community. Read More...
July 8, 200618 yr When all costs are tallied (legal, property, wetlands mitigation etc) the total cost is actually closer to $30 million. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
October 1, 200618 yr From the 9/28/06 Sun Herald: Work has started on Stearns Thursday, September 28, 2006 By Meredyth McKenzie NORTH OLMSTED - After more than 40 years of planning, work finally is beginning on the Crocker-Stearns extension. Work is taking place along Stearns Road to relocate utilities in preparation for the new road. The road will be widened to four lanes, with new turn lanes added on Lorain Road in this area. Stakes also were put up where the new sidewalk will be, showing how much of residents' yards were purchased to complete the project, said Service Director Duane Limpert. The final plans were completed by the Cuyahoga County engineer's office and sent to the Ohio Department of Transportation for approval. Limpert expects the project to go out to bid in November and to begin in early spring. There will be a pre-construction meeting sometime before the project starts to review details with affected residents. The road will connect Interstate 480 in North Olmsted and Interstate 90 in Westlake by widening Stearns into four lanes and expanding it north over Lorain, through the current Kacirek Funeral Home and a wooded area, to connect with Crocker Road and then continue to I-90. The project is expected to be completed by 2008. A noise wall will be built along the new portion of Stearns, north of Lorain, to block noise from the huge influx of cars expected along the connector. Cost of the $14.6 million project is split between North Olmsted and Westlake. Read More...
October 2, 200618 yr My office is about 500 feet east of the Stearns-Lorain intersection. It will speed up my trip to work, but slow it down from work. Making a left-hand turn out of my office building's parking lot is hard enough as it is. I can't imagine what it will be like after Crocker-Stearns opens. I covered this project for nine years when I covered Westlake. I saw the plans for it several years ago, and I don't think people realize how big the Lorain-Crocker/Stearns intersection will be. Within 500 feet or so of the intersection, Lorain will be widened from five lanes to seven and Stearns widened from two to five or six lanes. Add the Crocker/Stearns segment north of Lorain, and it will be quite the traffic nightmare in only a few years after it opens. As experience has shown for the last 50 years, adding pavement only encourages more traffic. And the investment yield -- free-flowing traffic and economic development -- diminishes as capacity increases. It's simple economics. So is another principal -- supply and demand. There are, of course, only choices for equalizing supply and demand: increase supply or decrease demand. Since we are unwilling to decrease demand by increasing the price of using roads, our only option is to continue increasing supply. Urban sprawl at the expense of existing communities is the price we pay. That's our diminishing return. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
October 4, 200618 yr I was talking with one of the consultants on the project last night. Specifically regarding the deign standards in relation to the lack of in North Olmsted and the relatively ornate in Crocker Park. He said the residents in NO overwhelming want the design standards for the NO portion of the extension to resemble CP as opposed to the standard stuff in NO. I find it interesting that the residents preferred to have a connection with another city's image instead of creating their own.
October 4, 200618 yr ...Or continuing the image of what they already have in N.O. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
October 31, 200618 yr From the 10/19/06 Sun Herald: Concerns raised on Stearns Thursday, October 19, 2006 By Meredyth McKenzie NORTH OLMSTED - With work finally set to begin next spring on the long-awaited Crocker/Stearns extension, Stearns Road residents are concerned about how they will be affected once the four-lane thoroughfare is completed. The project will affect about 60 homes along the road. All residents, except several closest to Hastings Drive, will lose frontage due to the project. The residents went through negotiations last year with the Cuyahoga County Engineer's office, which purchased the land needed for the road. The project, expected to be completed by 2008, will include widening Stearns Road to four lanes, expanding it north over Lorain Road, through the current Kacirek Funeral Home and a wooded area, connecting it with Crocker Road in Westlake and finally with Interstate 90. Read More...
February 10, 200718 yr Sun News: Crocker-Stearns inches to reality Thursday, February 08, 2007 By Meredyth McKenzie NORTH OLMSTED More than 40 years ago, the thought of connecting Interstate 480 with Interstate 90 seemed like a dream. Today, that dream moves toward reality, as work has finally begun on the long-awaited Crocker/Stearns Extension project. "Crocker/Stearns is going to be a reality," North Olmsted Mayor Thomas O'Grady said. A standing-room only crowd attended a pre-construction meeting led by the Cuyahoga County Engineer's Office Jan. 31 at the North Olmsted Community Cabin. The project will be conducted in three phases, area engineer Mike Tworzdelo said, with the first two phases conducted simultaneously. Read More....
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