Here's a pic of the Innerbelt progress that's posted on Cleveland's Innerbelt Bridge Facebook page.

 

 

 

And here's Pier 1 

 

I just realized what a dork I am getting excited about bridge foundations...  I have friends coming into town this weekend and was planning to show them the progress.  I'm reconsidering now that it's dawned on me how much less they will care about this than I do

Ever since groundbreaking was announced I had anticipated the day would come when some crazy artifacts from days gone by would surface from all the demo and digging. Has anyone heard of anything found?

And here's Pier 1 

 

 

And Pier W!

 

http://www.selectrestaurants.com/pier/1.0.0.php

 

Here's a pic of the Inner Belt Bridge Project from a story posted on Celveland.com today.

 

 

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/11/odot_cleveland_at_odds_over_no.html

 

From a story yesterday on Cleveland.com:

 

ODOT and its bridge contractor hope to restore Interstate 90 east through downtown to three lanes before Thanksgiving.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/11/post_537.html

If you haven't yet, check out the most recent aerial photos of the innerbelt project.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/innerbelt/sets/72157626983604860/with/6353285319/

If you haven't yet, check out the most recent aerial photos of the innerbelt project.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/innerbelt/sets/72157626983604860/with/6353285319/

 

Very cool. Better perspective then driving through it every day

I was having a few beers out in Lakewood on Tuesday. Heard the guys next to me speaking contractor language. Turns out they're hired by ODOT doing work on the bridge.  Very interesting to hear about the green bulkhead ideas they're studying to help out with providing better habitat to fish.

Anyhow, I told them that I know several people who are afraid to drive over the current bridge. They gave me their scientific explanation, basically how RUST is actually holding a lot of the bridge together. Yep. Scary!

ODOT News Release 1/11/12,

 

ODOT/MidTown Cleveland, Inc. to Undertake Innerbelt Economic Impact Study

Study Centers on Access to the Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor

 

CLEVELAND (Thursday, January 12, 2012) – The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and MidTown Cleveland, Inc. have agreed to undertake an economic development study to address concerns raised by MidTown Cleveland stakeholders regarding the Prospect and Carnegie Avenue exit ramps from I-90 east, along MidTown’s Health and Technology Corridor.

“We’re happy to have come to an agreement with MidTown Cleveland, Inc. about this important corridor,” said ODOT District Deputy Director Myron S. Pakush.  “We look forward to the completion of the study.” The recent agreement sets in motion a study to assess three alternatives for the corridor including:

no changes to the current configuration at Prospect and Carnegie;

the current interchange configuration proposed by ODOT; and

a new configuration that maintains direct access to and from both Carnegie and Prospect.

 

Under ODOT’s proposed interchange configuration, Prospect Avenue traffic would be redirected via a pair of one-way frontage roads to adjacent ramps.  Carnegie Avenue and E. 22nd Street would be consolidated into a single access point at E. 22nd Street and Central Avenue.  Changes are designed to eliminate weaving motions and improve safety and congestion along the corridor.

ODOT and MidTown Cleveland’s recent agreement will reevaluate the impact of the interchange configuration plan and both parties have agreed to abide by the findings of the study.  The study is expected to be complete in 2013 and is funded by the Ohio Department of Transportation.

 

“MidTown Cleveland, Inc. is pleased to be partnering with ODOT on this comprehensive study of the Carnegie and Prospect Avenue ramp system serving MidTown and the Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor”, said Jim Haviland, Executive Director of MidTown Cleveland, Inc.  “By working together, ODOT and MidTown will help ensure that current and future development along the corridor will continue to be supported by the Cleveland Innerbelt”. 

 

ODOT’s Innerbelt Corridor Modernization Plan is focused on improving safety, reducing congestion and traffic delays, and modernizing interstate travel along I-71, I-77 and I-90 through Downtown Cleveland. This investment by the State of Ohio will rehabilitate and reconstruct the Innerbelt Freeway system and address operational, design, safety and access shortcomings that severely impact the ability of the Innerbelt Freeway system to meet the transportation needs of Northeast Ohio.

 

The first of seven Innerbelt Corridor construction contract groups is currently underway with the construction of a new westbound I-90 Innerbelt Bridge.  Work will be followed by a project to remove and replace the existing structure with a new eastbound bridge.  All work associated with the Innerbelt Bridge is expected to be complete in 2016. 

 

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D12/Deputy%20Director/News/Pages/ODOT-and-MidTown-Cleveland,-Inc.-to-Undertake-Innerbelt-Economic-Impact-Study.aspx

 

 

ODOT says money for second Inner Belt Bridge may not come until the 2020s

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/01/post_551.html

Does anyone have the original estimates for cost and timeline for this project that has been talked about since 2001?  I remember 3 alternatives, one that was considered crazy expensive that would have re-routed the entire freeway east of dead mans curve.

 

I am guessing if we went ahead with that one, it would be less expensive than what they are proposing after this latest delay...

ODOT says money for second Inner Belt Bridge may not come until the 2020s

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/01/post_551.html

 

Wow.  ODOT has no problem spending what, over a billion $$$$ or maybe even more on capping overpasses, re-doing on and off ramps, etc in downtown Columbus at the moment... but Cleveland desperately needs a new bridge that connects the entire westside to the city and 120,000 people drive on it everyday.  I hate driving on that bridge, and it looks like other comments to that article hold the same feeling.  Way to go ODOT, screw over NE Ohio again!

Yep.  Great job ODOT.  Great job.

This news should have all of our federal, state and local leaders boarding a bus to Columbus.    All discussions about economic impact aside they are playing with the safety of 120,000 drivers a day.  Stop building sound walls and take care of this project!

ODOT says money for second Inner Belt Bridge may not come until the 2020s

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/01/post_551.html

 

Where's Dennis Kucinich when we need him???

This news should have all of our federal, state and local leaders boarding a bus to Columbus.    All discussions about economic impact aside they are playing with the safety of 120,000 drivers a day.  Stop building sound walls and take care of this project!

 

Agree!  All this talk of other big ticket projects coming up....this should be big ticket number 1 with the integrity of the bridge in question beyond 2016.

Is is time to revisit KJP's plan on page one of this thread? 

Route traffic on I-490 and eliminate the "Central Interchange".

ODOT says money for second Inner Belt Bridge may not come until the 2020s

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/01/post_551.html

 

Wow.  ODOT has no problem spending what, over a billion $$$$ or maybe even more on capping overpasses, re-doing on and off ramps, etc in downtown Columbus at the moment... but Cleveland desperately needs a new bridge that connects the entire westside to the city and 120,000 people drive on it everyday.  I hate driving on that bridge, and it looks like other comments to that article hold the same feeling.  Way to go ODOT, screw over NE Ohio again!

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2924.msg598091.html#msg598091

Cleveland's business, traffic would suffer if 2nd Inner Belt Bridge is delayed a decade, officials say

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The flow of commerce and traffic through downtown Cleveland will suffer with ODOT's plan to delay funding a second Inner Belt Bridge until 2023, officials say.

 

Local leaders are demanding answers and insisting ODOT stick to its timeline of demolishing the existing Interstate 90 bridge in 2014 and building a new one by 2016, to pair with the new span going up now in the Cuyahoga River valley.

 

ODOT shocked community leaders here and across the state Tuesday with a draft list showing that major, new projects will be postponed for years at a time.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/01/clevelands_business_traffic_wo.html

John Kasich doesn't build trains, now he doesn't build roads and bridges.  I understand there are budget issues and it is easy to sit here and point fingers, but if we can't have trains we better have some of the best roads and bridges in the country, and that just isn't the case.  Jerry Wray was appointed by Kasich... another Kasich failure.

ODOT says money for second Inner Belt Bridge may not come until the 2020s

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/01/post_551.html

 

Wow.  ODOT has no problem spending what, over a billion $$$$ or maybe even more on capping overpasses, re-doing on and off ramps, etc in downtown Columbus at the moment... but Cleveland desperately needs a new bridge that connects the entire westside to the city and 120,000 people drive on it everyday.  I hate driving on that bridge, and it looks like other comments to that article hold the same feeling.  Way to go ODOT, screw over NE Ohio again!

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,2924.msg598091.html#msg598091

 

Not a surprise under the current administration...

 

Still, capping bridges vs building a major bridge for an entire CBD.

Is it possible to use this delay in bridge funding to ensure that the new bridge includes options for biking, walking, and transit?  It'd provide another way for Tremont residents to connect to downtown without needing to drive on the highway.

http://www.wksu.org/news/story/30646

 

State panel approves road and bridge project delays,

34 road projects put on hold, including a second Innerbelt bridge

 

The vote from the nine-member Transportation Review Advisory Council, or TRAC, was unanimous. It approves the draft of a list to delay 34 road work projects across the state for at least a few years for some, but two projects – part of the innerbelt bridge rebuild in downtown Cleveland and an interchange on Route 33 in central Ohio – will have to wait till 2036. ODOT director Jerry Wray says it’s the result of falling gas tax revenues with no new federal funds – while new projects were still being approved.

 

 

2036 really?!?!?!  :wtf:    That's not good.  It makes the 2014 - 2016 delay not look so bad!!!

Would this be a good time to ask for another JOBS BILL?

So the existing bridge will be some 20 years beyond it's useful life!!  WTF!  They have to make the new bridge 3 lanes in each direction.  Two lanes eastbound for 23 years will not cut it!

So the existing bridge will be some 20 years beyond it's useful life!!  WTF!  They have to make the new bridge 3 lanes in each direction.  Two lanes eastbound for 23 years will not cut it!

 

I met with a transportation engineer earlier today who has been a part of the Inner Belt project development process at various times. He says the existing Inner Belt bridge is not going to last another 20 years no matter ODOT does to it (reinforcements, limit the number of lanes over it, etc). The bridge they are building now is probably going to have both east-west traffic traveling over it before they are ready to demolish the old one to start work on the second bridge.

With limited lanes, some traffic (through trucks?) will have to be diverted.  How long before the I-490 bridge has to be replaced?

So what exactly has TRAC approved for the next few years?

So what exactly has TRAC approved for the next few years?

 

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/trac/TRAC%20List/DRAFT_Major_New_Program_List-1-31-12.pdf

 

So what exactly has TRAC approved for the next few years?

 

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/trac/TRAC%20List/DRAFT_Major_New_Program_List-1-31-12.pdf

 

 

Not quite sure how to read it, but it certainly looks like most near term items are non-Cleveland!

 

Nothing is near term....CO (green) is construction funding. Hardly anything on Tier 1 is being built until 2018

One of the commenters on the 1/17/12 article had an interesting point...albeit pure conjecture. Could this move be part of a strategy to encourage the sale of the Turnpike? Hey, we don't have the money, but if you want the money for these projects, we still could sell the turnpike......

 

I don't know, I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, but the timing of these announcements is suspect.

^This theory has actually been put forth by numerous public officials and since ODOT made the annoucement, including at least one conversative Republican (Gary Skulidonik (spelling)) who use to be the turnpike director.

Yes there was a story about it in the PD.  Certainly would explain the imbalance away from Northern Ohio projects.

 

Lack of money for Cleveland's Inner Belt project could boost Gov. John Kasich's leasing proposal for Ohio Turnpike: Analysis

Published: Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 10:00 PM    Updated: Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 7:31 AM

By Reginald Fields, The Plain Dealer

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The broken promise for a completed Inner Belt project may just be the problem Gov. John Kasich has been looking for to sway a skeptical public on his plan to lease the Ohio Turnpike.

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/01/lack_of_money_for_inner_belt_p.html

Were there laws/practical concerns against us just slapping a toll on the new bridge, then tearing the old one down?  People who wanted to avoid the toll could have used the 490 bypass, reducing traffic on the single bridge, et voila, a bridge that makes money, less cost in construction (and the ability for a more handsome bridge), etc.

This financial problem has been worsening at ODOT and at all other state DOTs since the mid-2000s, when higher fuel prices started causing fewer people to drive or using more fuel-efficient cars, while the price of construction, metals and petroleum-based road products have gone up. The flat-rate, 18.3-cent/gallon federal gas tax hasn't been raised since 1993.

 

What is more likely, however, is that ODOT and its TRAC did not make this more of an issue until now, and may have kept more funding away from Northern Ohio projects to push the issue of the Turnpike lease. ODOT did not seem to make its financial crisis to be a larger, more public issue until it was politically beneficial to do so.

Does anyone know of a map, or a link to map, that shows the "East 9th extension" that will connect Broadway to Canal under the new span? It was mentioned in the PD today and I have seen the road being built, but due to detours haven't been able to get close enough to see how it connects into Broadway.

 

Also, will Commercial Road stay open after the bridge is built?

 

Link to today's PD article:

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/02/new_inner_belt_bridge_rising_i.html

Does anyone know of a map, or a link to map, that shows the "East 9th extension" that will connect Broadway to Canal under the new span? It was mentioned in the PD today and I have seen the road being built, but due to detours haven't been able to get close enough to see how it connects into Broadway.

 

Also, will Commercial Road stay open after the bridge is built?

 

Link to today's PD article:

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/02/new_inner_belt_bridge_rising_i.html

 

 

The old Commercial Road, coming off Lorain-Carnegie just west of Ontario will be closed and replaced by a new road on the south side of the Inner Belt. That new Commercial Road with a new bridge over the RTA track is almost done. The bridge over RTA is already done, but I've seen it only from trains passing underneath it.

 

Here is a screenshot from page 14 of the LD-01 CCG1 Roadway Engineering, dated Dec. 2009.  Things may have changed in the actual design-build.

 

 

Thanks!

I just wasted almost two hours of my life watching John Kasich's state of the state speech.  He mentioned the Turnpike and Brent Spence, but nothing about the Inner Belt Bridge.  Douchebag!

I have never watched or heard a State of the State speech. To me, I consider it inherently a two-hour waste of time no matter who is speaking!

 

Politics = a game created and played by those who couldn't succeed at anything else.

^You do realize you are, for all intents and purposes, a lobbyist?  It really doesn't get much more political than that, big guy  ;)

^You do realize you are, for all intents and purposes, a lobbyist?  It really doesn't get much more political than that, big guy  ;)

 

Thankfully, I'm limited to spending no more than 20 percent of my budget on lobbying. But it's the least enjoyable part of my job. I guess that's why it's called work. If I wanted to do something fun with trains and transit, I'd be out there painting old railroad stations or volunteering for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic RR or something like that. Believe me, nothing would make me happier than to promote transportation choices without having to deal with politics and politicians.

 

Until then, I'll stick with reading summaries of State of the State speeches so I won't have to listen to them. I'll let someone endure the sound of nails on a chalkboard.

^You do realize you are, for all intents and purposes, a lobbyist?  It really doesn't get much more political than that, big guy  ;)

 

Thankfully, I'm limited to spending no more than 20 percent of my budget on lobbying. But it's the least enjoyable part of my job. I guess that's why it's called work. If I wanted to do something fun with trains and transit, I'd be out there painting old railroad stations or volunteering for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic RR or something like that. Believe me, nothing would make me happier than to promote transportation choices without having to deal with politics and politicians.

 

Until then, I'll stick with reading summaries of State of the State speeches so I won't have to listen to them. I'll let someone endure the sound of nails on a chalkboard.

 

Which sounds like an awesome job.  I was just recently shown around by the chair of the geography department at YSU and briefly met the urban geography professor and the one professor who deals with transportation.  I certainly will be spending a lot of time in the Phelps building next semester.  And yes, John Kasich's speech was typical politics.  Lets say what the people want to hear, take credit from the previous administrations tactics, and address the obvious issues without really tackling the problem.  The best part was hearing all the people scream during his speech about the fracking.  If you live in the Mahoning Valley you know the back and forths with those issues. 

 

Anyway, don't mean to get off topic, sorry.  But yes, his state of the state was truly a waste, and I thought it was comical that he made mention of the Turnpike and quickly started talking about the Brent Spence bridge in Cincy, but nothing about the Inner Belt.

 

Which sounds like an awesome job.  I was just recently shown around by the chair of the geography department at YSU and briefly met the urban geography professor and the one professor who deals with transportation. 

 

Is that Joann Esenwein, Tom Finnerty, or Tom Maraffa? I've met Joann but don't know her, I know Tom Finnerty very well (great guy!), but I've never met and don't know Tom Maraffa.

 

My job is mostly enjoyable but not enriching. Most of my worries come from not knowing where my next paycheck will come from. And I have no idea how I made it through the recession.

 

OK, back to that big road in downtown Cleveland... BTW, I swung by the main post office the other day and made a slight detour to see that the new Commercial Road is pretty much done on the top of the hill. I haven't seen how things are progressing on it at the bottom of the hill, however. If it looks as well-progressed down the hill as it does at the top, perhaps it should be opening to traffic VERY soon.

LaTourette, Kucinich and Jackson rally to find funding for Inner Belt Bridge

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/02/latourette_kucinich_and_jackso.html

 

Local elected leaders and two U.S. Congressmen this morning detailed a plan that they hope will pay to complete the Inner Belt Bridge project by 2018, far sooner than expected under funding delays announced by the state last month.

 

The plan discussed by Congressmen Steven LaTourette and Dennis Kucinich, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and others, calls for the Ohio Department of Transporation to apply for a large federal transportation grant known as the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program.