Possible Alternatives To I-71/Boston Road Interchange

[thenetwork]

Looks like a needed exit on I-71 and Boston Road at the Brunswick/Strongsville was defeated by the NIMBYs.

However, ODOT Is studying potential lternatives, mostly in the latter city's area:

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2026/06/i-71-study-boston-road-out-unique-alternative-mulled-for-strongsville-interchange.html

[The Ghostbuster]

I was able to read the first three paragraphs of the story, but the rest required a subscription (and was blurred out). What did the rest of the story say?

[thenetwork]

I was able to read the first three paragraphs of the story, but the rest required a subscription (and was blurred out). What did the rest of the story say?

Surprised they paywalled it after it was initially available to all.  They paywalled it now.

Options they are still looking into:

1) Converting the current SR-82 interchange into a diverging diamond interchange, eliminating all the loop ramps.

2) Adding a braided or C/D ramp which would extend south of SR-82 to an elongated ramp to Howe Road. This way, traffic going from I-71 to Howe Road and, at least from the north, won't have to navigate the signalized intersections on SR-82 between Howe and I-71, which is the current choke point.

3) Building an interchange at Grafton Road in Brunswick to alleviate traffic on both Howe Road and SR-303.

(There was also talk of another option for a new DDI interchange at Drake Road, but I believe that option did not make the cut, either).

From what I recall in the article, ODOT may elect to do one, two, all, or none of these options they are studying.

But pretty much any interchange at Boston Road has been killed and buried after this latest go-round.

[Plutonic Panda]

That's such a weird way to think.

"Hey here's tons of millions of dollars to give you access to a series of super freeways."

"Nah we're good"

[paulthemapguy]

People are surprisingly standoffish about people driving in front of their houses on a public road even when the road isn't theirs.

[carbaugh2]

Here's the page to the study: https://www.noaca.org/tools-resources/recent-studies/i-71-crossroads-regional-transportation-study

I got a different take from the study rather than the article. Basically, the Boston Rd interchange was removed from consideration because the other methods will have fewer relocations, less utility work, and create fewer new problems in the rest of the local traffic network.

[The Ghostbuster]

They are probably going to choose Build 3 (Drake Road Interchange), since it has the highest benefits of all of the build alternatives.

[webny99]

It's just over 5 miles on I-71 between OH 303 (Brunswick) and OH 82 (Strongsville). That's a fairly big gap for an area that's become heavily suburbanized, but the local road network doesn't have any glaring deficiencies. There's a decent grid, and US 42 is mostly four lanes.

IMO the 9-mile gap in Delaware County between Polaris/Gemini and US 36 is a much greater concern. It's almost twice the distance between exits and the local road network is much more limited, making Galena and the Alum Creek area difficult to access, especially from the south.