STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — As neighbors and leaders in Strongsville and Brunswick comb through the details of a proposed highway interchange, it becomes the subject of passionate conversation in the area.
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The public comment period at Tuesday evening’s Strongsville City Council meeting revolved around the possibility of highway access from I-71 to Boston Road on the dividing line between Strongsville in Cuyahoga County and Brunswick in Medina County.
The long-discussed project has been proposed as a solution to relieve traffic and safety concerns on Route 82 in Strongsville.
“That was just a poor excuse for your poor planning and greed,” said one woman during the Tuesday City Council meeting.
Mayor Tom Perciak responded, “Ma’am it’s not greed and it’s not poor planning. Your facts are flawed.”
Tensions became inflamed in late March when State Representative Tom Patton (R-Strongsville), the chair of the House Finance Subcommittee on Transportation, added language to the state transportation budget to include funding for such a project. It requires ODOT to ensure there is 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 in Brunswick and along Boston Road felt the move was specifically designed to benefit Strongsville’s interests.
“This is a shared problem that people are passionate about,” a neighbor said during the council meeting.
Another added, “We’re going to do everything we can to put a wrench in whatever you guys have planned.”
For its part, Strongsville city leaders said they are consulting experts to develop plans for any possible interchange. The city commissioned a feasibility study to look at the need for a project and the possible options to create highway access.
“It really is the beginning phases of many phases and many years ahead of us,” Strongsville City Council President Jim Carbone told News 5 Tuesday.
The feasibility study looked at possible plans for creating a full interchange or several alternatives at Boston Road. All of the options would require the widening of the residential street and the removal of houses.
“There isn’t one design seen in any of these plans that wouldn’t consume my home,” one man told the city council.
Some neighbors whose homes would not be displaced by an interchange project still worry about the effects a close access point would have on their property values, quality of life, and families' safety.
“Put yourself in our shoes,” one woman urged council members.
The study also says any interchange or alternative would require the widening of Boston Road to accommodate increased traffic. It says such an endeavor would require extensive coordination with the energy supplier responsible for two petroleum lines on the south side of Boston Road. Relocating the fuel lines could cost around $5.5 million.
Council members said they are reviewing the study for themselves. The information released in early June is the first of a multi-part study commissioned by the city. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) will review the study information before a project moves forward.
“What might happen is that that information may not justify for us to do anything and it will have to go somewhere else. Everybody’s jumping to conclusions. That’s what the studies are for,” Perciak told the speakers Tuesday.
One neighbor replied, “I think if we sit on our hands and let it happen, we know it’s going to happen though. That’s why we’re trying to be aggressive about it.”
A second phase of the study will include community conversations and impact. State officials originally said an interchange at Boston Road would not begin until 2030 at the earliest.
You can read more about the proposed project and view the complete first phase of the feasibility study by clicking on this link.
