Cleveland Memorial Shoreway

The Cleveland Memorial Shoreway, often shortened to "the Shoreway", is a limited-access freeway in Cleveland and Bratenahl, Ohio. It closely follows the shore of Lake Erie and connects the east and west sides of Cleveland via the Main Avenue Bridge over the Cuyahoga River. The entire length of the Shoreway is part of the Lake Erie Circle Tour (LECT) and all but the very eastern end of the Shoreway is part of State Route 2. The Shoreway also carries parts of Interstate 90 and State Route 283 on its eastern side, and parts of U.S. Route 6 and U.S. Route 20 on its western side. The Cleveland neighborhood of Detroit-Shoreway is named after the two roads that form the northern border, the Shoreway and Detroit Avenue.

Cleveland Memorial Shoreway
Lake Erie Circle Tour
Route information
Maintained by ODOT
Existed1930s–present
Component
highways		 LECT entire route

SR 2 from Detroit-Shoreway to Bratenahl / North Colinwood line
US 6 / US 20 from Detroit-Shoreway to Ohio City
I-90 from Downtown to Bratenahl / North Colinwood line

SR 283 from Glenville to Bratenahl
Major junctions
West end US 6 / US 20 / SR 2 / LECT in Detroit-Shoreway
East end SR 283 / LECT in Bratenahl
Location
CountiesCuyahoga
Highway system

The Shoreway was originally a constructed in 1936 under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and was extended in both directions during the 1930s and 1940s, finally completed and widened in 1953. Later in the 1950s, it was connected with additional freeways. It was named in honor of the city's war veterans during World War II. Between 2014 and 2018, the West Shoreway, the portion of the Shoreway from the Cuyahoga River westward, was reconstructed and, in 2016, was named the "Governor Richard F. Celeste Shoreway";[1] since the reconstruction, this section is also called Edgewater Parkway.[2]

Route description
See also: Ohio State Route 2 § Route description
The Main Avenue Viaduct carries the Shoreway over the Cuyahoga River
Cleveland Memorial Shoreway in 2013

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 the completion of the Main Avenue Bridge in 1940, the highway was extended westward to Edgewater Park (since 2013 part of the Cleveland Metroparks Lakefront Reservation). 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[3] 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.

2010s West Shoreway rebuild

The Shoreway west of the Main Avenue Bridge was rebuilt in order to increase ease of access to Lake Erie.[4][5][6] Preliminary construction began in 2014;[5] the speed limit dropped to 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) early on in the project, then permanently to 35 miles per hour (56 km/h) on October 5, 2015;[7][8] the project as a whole was planned for completion in 2018.[9] The project replaced the median barrier with a landscaped median, and added a vehicular and pedestrian tunnel by Edgewater Park and a bicycle path; original plans to replace grade-separated interchanges with at-grade signalized intersections were dropped due to traffic flow concerns.[9]

Major intersections
CountyLocationmikmExitDestinationsNotes
CuyahogaCleveland US 6 / US 20 / SR 2 / LECT westContinuation into Edgewater; western terminus of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway
—Lake Avenue / West BoulevardWestbound exit and eastbound entrance
—West 73rd StreetAccess to West 73rd Street opened December 12, 2015;[10]
exit formerly known as Edgewater Park, Whiskey Island
—West 45th StreetEastbound exit and entrance; ramps being rebuilt[11]
—West 49th StreetWestbound exit and entrance
193B US 6 east / US 20 east to US 42
(West 25th Street)		Eastern end of US 6/US 20 concurrency; to SR 3 (unsigned); eastbound exit and westbound entrance; eastbound entrance in planning stages[11]
194West 28th Street – Flats WestWestbound exit and eastbound entrance; entrance to be closed to reroute entrance traffic via 45th.[11]
Main Avenue Bridge over the Cuyahoga River
194Lakeside Avenue / West 6th StreetEastbound exit and westbound entrance
195BWest 3rd StreetWestbound exit and eastbound entrance
195AEast 9th Street – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
City of Cleveland ParkingEastbound entrance; former exit removed after 1979[12]
195BCity of Cleveland ParkingEastbound exit and entrance, first exit
195ACity of Cleveland Parking – Amtrak StationEastbound exit and entrance, second exit
196B I-90 west to I-71 / I-77 south – Toledo, ColumbusEastbound exit
196South Marginal RoadWestbound exit and entrance
— I-90 west to I-71 / I-77 south – Toledo, ColumbusWestern end of I-90 westbound concurrency; westbound exit from I-90 via exit 174B; eastbound and westbound entrance via eastbound I-90 from the Innerbelt
196CSouth Marginal RoadEastbound exit, exit follows SR 2 numbering
Western end of eastbound concurrency with I-90
175East 55th Street / Marginal RoadsExit numbers west of Dead Man's Curve follow I-90
176 SR 283 west (East 72nd Street)Western end of SR 283 concurrency
177Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
Bratenahl178Eddy Road
— I-90 / SR 2 (Lakeland Freeway)Eastern end of I-90 and SR 2 concurrencies; eastbound exit and westbound entrance; signed as exit 179 on I-90 / SR 2
SR 283 east / LECT (Lakeshore Boulevard)Continuation into Bratenahl; eastern terminus of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also
  •  U.S. Roads portal
  •  Ohio portal

References

KML is from Wikidata
  1. Ohio Revised Code 5534.53
  2. Bullard, Stan (2019-02-03). "Prime West Shoreway Property is in Play". Crain's Cleveland Business. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  3. Regional Association of Cleveland (1944-02-29). An Express Highway Plan for the Cleveland Metropolitan Area (Map). Reproduced in: Rose, William Ganson (1990) [Previously published in 1950]. Cleveland: The Making of a City. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. p. 1019. ISBN 0873384288.
  4. "Connecting Cleveland: The Waterfront District Plan". City of Cleveland City Planning Commission. Retrieved 2011-06-28.
  5. "Cleveland Urban Core Projects: Lakefront West". Ohio Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  6. 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.
  7. "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.
  8. 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.
  9. Litt, Steven (2017-08-23). "West Shoreway $100M re-do brings benefits, but falls short of original vision". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  10. Ohio Department of Transportation District 12 (2015-12-12). "West 73rd St Extension Opens link to Lake Erie on Cleveland's West Side" (Press release). Ohio Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
  11. "Cleveland Lakefront West: West Shoreway Reconstruction & W 28th/W 45th Street Safety Improvements". Ohio Department of Transportation.
  12. "Cleveland Historical Maps (1979)". peoplemaps.esri. Archived from the original on 2016-03-16. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
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