The Fate Of The Akron Innerbelt -- 2026 Edition

[thenetwork]

The city of Akron has just released a final report on the demise of the section of the Akron Innerbelt (OH-59) that was decommissioned between W. Exchange Street and W. Market Street.

https://cms2.revize.com/revize/akronoh/Documents/Misc.%20Files/Innerbelt%20Master%20Plan%20Final%20Report%202026-03-19.pdf?t=202603201327180

There is also an option on the table to decommission the remaining Innerbelt freeway from W. Exchange to I-76/77. 

For those familiar with the Akron Innerbelt, it was basically a half-baked idea that originally was to be a western downtown connection between I-76/77 and SR-8.  The first section was a "highway to nowhere" as it was a short stub freeway built with exits to and from the center of downtown Akron. 

In the 1980's it was extended south to within a half mile of I-76/77 without a direct connection.

In the early 1990s, the missing link between the Innerbelt and I-76/77 was completed, albeit a half-intersection for travelers heading north and west of Akron on I-77 and I-76 accordingly.

And, like some other urban freeways, like I-375 in Detroit, the Innerbelt pretty much tore down an entire lower-class neighborhood to separate downtown with other impoverished areas -- only to become an overbuilt/underused freeway in a dying city center.

[The Ghostbuster]

When the Inner Belt Freeway is completely removed, the OH 59 designation should be truncated to OH 8's Exit 6.