I-71 And The Big Creek Initiative (Cleveland)

[thenetwork]

Happened upon this study that was assembled around 2015.

http://friendsofbigcreek.org/BC_I-71/index.html

Supposedly there has been talk of redesigning the I-71 corridor between roughly Memphis Avenue and Fulton Road in order to reconnect the Brooklyn and Cleveland Neighborhoods together with Brookside Park and the the Big Creek area, which I-71 bi-sected the park when it was built in the 1960s.

Included in this study is what to do with the Parma Freeway stub, which is now used as a half-exit to Denison Avenue/West 65th Street.

One of the alternatives mentioned is eliminating the stub exit and to create a full diamond exit at Ridge Road, which actually would be a hell of a good idea.

However, this was the first I ever heard of it, and I'm curious if this is just a pipe dream, or if it is still being actively pursued?

I will say that the suburbs of Brooklyn (and the west and Central areas of Parma) could really benefit from a full exit at Ridge, which is a 5-lane surface street that, IMHO is underutilized  between Denison and Memphis.

This could also make for a good Redesign This thread topic.

[zzcarp]

That is an interesting find! I drove that stretch frequently when I lived in NE Ohio and I was surprised how much pavement ODOT kept maintaining for that never-built freeway interchange. I did enjoy the quasi-rural nature of I-71's footprint, and it definitely could be put to a better use with parkland around it.

[The Ghostbuster]

Pipe dream or not, a full diamond interchange at Ridge Rd. would make more sense than the existing spur to Denison Ave. Of course, the northbound and southbound lanes would have to be pressed together through the area to avoid encroachment on the rail line or the cemetery.

[skluth]

Pipe dream or not, a full diamond interchange at Ridge Rd. would make more sense than the existing spur to Denison Ave. Of course, the northbound and southbound lanes would have to be pressed together through the area to avoid encroachment on the rail line or the cemetery.

Wow. Too bad this seems to never have gone further, especially with Concept Plans B & C to build a new interchange at Ridge Rd.

This is getting heavily into fictional here. The Ridge Rd viaduct over I-71 has enough spacing that the NB lanes could easily fit under the space used by the Denison Av exit. SB lanes may also fit in the median between the lanes through the other gap under the viaduct. However, Ridge Road would likely need to be widened to five lanes here to accommodate turn lanes; it doesn't become five lanes until several blocks south of I-71. It would be best to just rebuild the entire area as that could also create safer pedestrian and bike crossings over I-71 as part of the new interchange. The current configuration means construction could be done incrementally to reduce interruptions to I-71 traffic. Adding a nice chunk of parkland to replace the old Denison Av exit would be a great addition to a neighborhood surprisingly lacking in parks. A diamond or DDI at I-71/Ridge Rd would be a definite enhancement for local traffic.

Anybody want to try this in the Fictional Highways Redesigning Interchanges thread?

[thenetwork]

Pipe dream or not, a full diamond interchange at Ridge Rd. would make more sense than the existing spur to Denison Ave. Of course, the northbound and southbound lanes would have to be pressed together through the area to avoid encroachment on the rail line or the cemetery.

Wow. Too bad this seems to never have gone further, especially with Concept Plans B & C to build a new interchange at Ridge Rd.

This is getting heavily into fictional here. The Ridge Rd viaduct over I-71 has enough spacing that the NB lanes could easily fit under the space used by the Denison Av exit. SB lanes may also fit in the median between the lanes through the other gap under the viaduct. However, Ridge Road would likely need to be widened to five lanes here to accommodate turn lanes; it doesn't become five lanes until several blocks south of I-71. It would be best to just rebuild the entire area as that could also create safer pedestrian and bike crossings over I-71 as part of the new interchange. The current configuration means construction could be done incrementally to reduce interruptions to I-71 traffic. Adding a nice chunk of parkland to replace the old Denison Av exit would be a great addition to a neighborhood surprisingly lacking in parks. A diamond or DDI at I-71/Ridge Rd would be a definite enhancement for local traffic.

Anybody want to try this in the Fictional Highways Redesigning Interchanges thread?

Personally, I think a SPUI would work best there.  Based on the locations of the full exits on either end of the Big Creek area (Pearl/Fulton and W.130/Bellaire) the bulk of the traffic entering & exiting at Ridge would be either Northbound to Northbound or Southbound to Southbound transitions, hence why an elevated SPUI over I-71 would be most logical.