NOACA allots funds for West 73rd underpass, Clifton bus lanes

CLEVELAND - A project the city of Cleveland views as a gateway to connect a west side neighborhood to Lake Erie has been given a boost by Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA).

The West 73rd Street extension and underpass at the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks received $15 million from the NOACA’s Governing Board Friday.

ODOT, facing a shortage of construction funds, put the project in limbo.

The $15 million award is down from the $27 million the city had previously requested from NOACA.

The overall Lakefront West Project would change the freeway to a tree-lined boulevard and slow speeds from 50 mph to 35 mph.

According to Cheryl Onesky with NOACA, Cleveland expects to start the project in January 2013 but may still need to find more funds before they can begin the project on that timetable.

Nearby, a pedestrian/bike underpass at West 76th Street is under construction as well in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood.

Other area projects receiving funding at Friday’s meeting were:

- Construction of curb-lane bus lanes in Lakewood and Cleveland along Clifton Boulevard from the west end of the Shoreway to the west end Lakewood bus loop. NOACA earmarked $9.5 million in funding for the bus lane project.

- Rehabilitation of Triskett Road from West 140th to Lorain Avenue. In the same area, rehab Warren Road from Lorain Avenue to Munn Road.

- Construction of an all-purpose trail in Lorain along the Black River from Henderson Drive to Ohio 611.

- Resurface Bainbridge Road in Geauga County from the Cuyahoga County line to Chillicothe Road.

- Replace the East 79th Street Bridge over the Norfolk Southern tracks in Cleveland.