CLEVELAND — Your commute to and from the flats just got easier following the reopening of the Center Street bridge after more than 21 months of repair work. The historic swing bridge connects the east and west banks of the flats.
This is a story we have been following closely for nearly two years. News 5 first reported back in January of 2022 that the bridge would be closed for what was supposed to be 10 months of construction. Crews were tasked to give the bridge a new paint job and replace its driving surface and steel. Additional lighting was also added among a few other mechanical fixes. Yet, ODOT says the unique and historic bridge caused some unforeseen challenges forcing them to push back the bridge's reopening until this week.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
“This is a very historic bridge. It's a Bobtail Swing bridge, which means it rotates off-center and it's very unique. There's only a handful of them in the U.S.,” ODOT Public Information Officer, Isaac Hunt, said. “It's not something that everyone has experience with…when we first got in there were unfortunately some delays…it just presented some challenges that were not aware of.”
As a result, nearby businesses like the Flat Iron Café, have been impacted.
“The timing was, was horrible and again, you know, just missed deadlines all around,” said Flat Iron Café owner Ryan James.
James says since began on the bridge, they’ve been along for the ride.
“We're typically not open on Mondays, but we did open the bar just to celebrate,” he said. “People were happy to come in and celebrate with us.”
Though as James explained, the Monday celebrations were a survival tactic to help keep business afloat as construction created chaos and disruption for customers.
And this is not the first time.
“It's only been about a decade since they did this to us before. They were about six months past schedule last time. They were about 14, 15 months past schedule this time. So, we're pretty used to this kind of thing around here, unfortunately,” James said. “I think if I did my job like Ohio or, you know, the cities, counties…and the way they do things, I would’ve been out of a job a long time ago.”
Hunt told News 5 that ODOT remained aware of the complaints from residents and businesses.
“We definitely understand those frustrations, but at the end of the day our number one priority [is] safety,” he said. “[If] we were to open the bridge, on the scheduled timeline, it just wouldn't have been safe and, you know, some terrible things could have happened.”
Meanwhile, James says his crew is trying to recoup reported revenue losses.
“We missed two full concert seasons, but those people that would park over here and walk over the bridge, they're not gonna do that for a couple of years before they realize that it might actually stay open for more than, you know, a month or two at a time,” he said. “I do worry a lot about the long-term effects of things like this.”
Though fearful of what comes next, James says Flat Iron Café will remain standing.
“Unfortunately, I can't help but assume it'll happen again in the future,” he said. “But, you know, the Flat Iron has been through anything and everything you can imagine over 100 plus years so we’re not going anywhere.”
