Drivers stuck in traffic on a heavily congested section of West 130th Street in Cleveland can expect to see changes as early as Monday, Ward 16 Councilman Brian Kazy said Friday.
Kazy said Cleveland Police officers will direct traffic at major intersections between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
“Cleveland Police will be at 130th and Enterprise. They’ll be at the I-480 exit ramp. Hopefully we’re trying to work something out to get them at 130th and Bellaire, and Brook Park is going to take care of manually manning the light at 130th and Brookpark.”
Phase 3 of an 18 month-long repaving project has W. 130th down to one lane between Bellaire Road and Enterprise Avenue near the I-480 interchange. The work is managed by Cuyahoga County. Perk Construction is the contractor for the $8 million project.
Kazy said police should have been directing traffic, but with the project spanning across Cleveland, Brook Park and Parma borders, there was confusion as to which police agency had jurisdiction.
At one point Perk even hired private traffic controllers. An ODOT spokesperson said Friday a permit was issued to close the ramp from I-480 temporarily during off-peak travel times, in an effort to help ease congestion.
Drivers said the congestion was already bad enough last week, and has now been made worse since the Cleveland Metropolitan School District went back in session Monday. Many drivers have no choice but to use the road because it's the only way into certain neighborhoods.
On Friday, drivers complained to News 5 that it took them an hour or more to move through the one mile stretch of road. It’s a trip that could take fewer than five minutes without traffic.
Will Rodriguez chose to skip the traffic, park his car and walk close to half a mile to his destination.
“I came through here yesterday and I’m waiting for like two hours,” Rodriguez said.
Al Shaneyfelt at Broken Wheel Auto Parts says he’s losing money because customers and suppliers can’t get to his shop.
"You can’t make any money like that. My parking lot’s empty!” he said." We can’t get customers! Who wants to come down this road?”
Kazy expects two-way traffic on W. 130th between Enterprise and Bellaire to resume by the second week of September. In the meantime, he's urging anyone who does not need to use the road to find an alternate route.
