A longstanding debate in Northeast Ohio is making its way to the statehouse. Brunswick and Strongsville neighbors near Boston Road are voicing their concerns about proposed highway access from I-71 during testimony for House Bill 276.
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“We have all fought to be here together today,” Cindy Meadows told the House Economic and Workforce Development Committee on Tuesday.
The committee was hearing testimony in support of HB 276. The measure would remove language added to the Transporation Budget earlier in the year.
“It’s been the most stressful six months I’ve probably ever had in my life,” Shrea Kellums said.
News 5 previously interviewed Shrea Kellums and her husband, Mike Kellums, at their home on Boston Road in the spring, shortly after the Transporation Budget was signed into law. Shrea has been organizing neighbors, relaying information and collecting petition signatures for months.
In March, Strongsville State Representative Tom Patton, who is also the chair of the House Finance Subcommittee on Transportation, added language to the transportation bill requiring limited access on and off ramps every 4.5 miles on the interstate between cities with more than 35,000 people when at least one of the cities is in a county with more than one million people.
Some believe the inclusion was tailor-made to create highway access on Boston Road between Strongsville and Brunswick. At the time, Patton told News 5 that such a project would help alleviate heavy traffic and safety concerns on Route 82 in Strongsville.
“As I mentioned to the governor, I said this will be the poster child for this safety project,” Patton said.
A feasibility study partially funded by the City of Strongsville pointed to high crash rates at the Route 82/I-71 interchange, projecting intersections in the area will reach “unacceptable” levels of service in the coming decades.
The study looked at several options for creating highway access at Boston Road. All of the combinations of on and off-ramps found it would likely be necessary to widen the 2-lane residential street and relocate a fuel pipeline on the road.
It also confirmed the fears of many who live near Boston Road: Homes and neighborhoods would likely be displaced by a partial or full interchange project.
“It’s heartbreaking. It’s literally heartbreaking,” said Tom Helderman, a Strongsville resident whose home is among the closest to I-71 on Boston Road. “It’s devastated what we have worked for to raise our family for the last 24 years in our home. For what? For a few minutes of someone sitting in traffic?”
During a Strongsville City Council meeting in early September, the company that completed the feasibility study told council members the findings showed some congestion would be reduced from an additional highway access point, though it predicted backups would likely still occur on Route 82.
It was a point some witnesses stressed during testimony on Tuesday. Several Brunswick city leaders attended the hearing and told committee members the current language in the Transporation Budget is vague and could create harmful requirements for communities across Ohio.
“At the end of the day, we want to make sure our citizens have the quality of life they deserve. And this will take away from that if it’s actually able to go through,” said Brunswick Ward 3 City Councilman Brandon Lambert.
Rep. Patton was not available for an interview Tuesday, but he provided News 5 with the following statement in response to HB 276 and the ongoing interchange debate:
"This proposal has always been about safety. To that end, we are taking the opportunity of the one-time money within the Governor's new Highway Safety Fund to increase safety in an area noted previously by ODOT to have had severe traffic issues. I'm optimistic this funding solution will address the ongoing safety problem our area has faced for far too long."
HB 276 is sponsored by State Representatives Melanie Miller (R - District 67) and Sharon Ray (R - District 66).
A companion bill in the Ohio Senate, SB 155, has had its initial hearing in the Senate Transporation Committee. It’s sponsored by State Senator Mark Romanchuk (D - District 12).
