I recently
participated in the second to last public hearing on the subject on June 6 in
Akron in front of the state’s TRAC Committee.
Another hearing will be held in August in front of the Ohio Turnpike
Commission, who has final input on the project.
As you may recall, the project will remedy a high crash zone by
modifying the existing I-90/SR 57 interchange, incorporating a diamond
interchange with traffic signals at ramp intersections that will move 620 feet
north, removing the 49th Street Bridge overpass by Midway Mall and
the ramps to Griswold Road and Midway Mall Boulevard. It will also widen SR 57 to six lanes between
the Ohio Turnpike and I-90, widen Midway Mall Boulevard to four lanes and a
left turn lane, bring Griswold Road to current design standards and add
sidewalks and relocate the existing frontage roads.All that being said, the project is being rated including a NEXUS criteria, that rates projects based on their potential impact to a community. This project should score high on the state’s project list because it is at the intersection of the Turnpike, I-90 and SR57; it is in close proximity to a viable commercial area in the Mall, retails strips and an industrial park; and there is potential economic benefits from future growth in 160 vacant acres of undeveloped property.
Anticipated
benefits to the Route 57/49th Street Bridge Reconfiguration:
Project Cost/City Investment: -
Total anticipated cost: $28 million
- City of Elyria’s investment: $1,880,369 – includes:
- $227,000 in preliminary engineering
- $53,369 in detailed design
- $1.6 million cash city match
- Pending additional local match by business community
Vital to Safety and
Helpful to Our Economic Future
-
Improvements to safety to remedy high crash zone
- Improved access/barrier removal between I-90 and the Turnpike
- Improved access to Midway Mall, local hotels, restaurants and strip retail areas
- Improved access to industrial park
- Improves the appears and function of a commercially viable area as demonstrated by new or improved businesses in the past three years: McDonald’s, Olive Garden, Verizon, Chipolte, Key Bank, Hampton Inn
- Aesthetic improvement to City and Mall entrance will retain and expand retail and other development
- Opens the westside of Elyria to future development
- Local and regional employment opportunities in construction trades
- Sales increases to local and in-region construction firms
- Increase in City of Elyria tax base from construction
- Serves as a catalyst for the Mall area Redevelopment Plan
Potential Re-development
Opportunities
-
Opens access to 140.2 acres of undeveloped land
- Central green space created between the two new at-grade intersections will create two highly visible and easily accessible sites for commercial development
- The reconfigured road network creates an opportunity for future business development in the Midway District. These sites will have greater access to both I-90 and the Ohio Turnpike.
- Relocation of southern on/off ramp provides an opportunity for two signature buildings that will create a northern gateway to the Midway District and provide much-needed Class A office space and other multi-story mix-use development spaces
Our Kind Employees Help Elyria’s
Critters…
Being the
animal lover that I am, I had to share a few situations that saved the lives of
a giant snapping turtle, a baby fawn and a cantankerous beaver in the last two
weeks. Thank you Sanitation Department
Head Rodney Eye and Central Maintenance Garage Manager Joe Strohsack for
rescuing a baby fawn who got its nose stuck in a fence at the city’s Central
Maintenance Garage. And if that wasn’t
enough, Rodney responded to a call for help by a resident who had a giant
snapping turtle in his front yard. He
retrieved it and placed it in the river for the resident. And finally, Elyria police Officers Darmstadt
and Witt went above and beyond the call of duty when they rescued a giant
beaver from certain death on Route 57 and Bell Avenue. The
beaver refused to move despite driver efforts to nudge him along so the
officers coaxed him into a garbage container and took him down to the river
where he can obstruct duck traffic instead of people traffic. 