Work continues on plan for Cleveland's second Innerbelt Bridge

CLEVELAND - When it comes to road projects, the area under a bridge is basically dead space; temporary storage surrounded often by fencing and weeds.

Under the second Innerbelt Bridge, ODOT looks to make the most of the space to bring people to a part of Tremont few would ever see.

"For a highway project, this is very unusual," said urban designer Skip Smallridge who outlined the plans to a crowd of around 50 people Tuesday night in Tremont.

"I mean, we work all around the country and this is about as expansive a scheme as I've ever seen. It's taking every little piece of land that's left over and putting it into some kind of productive use.”

Those plans will include the tow path trail, which will make its way up from the Cuyahoga River under the bridge to a spot near Sokolowski's Restaurant. It will also include a nature park and educational garden with bocce courts and a natural play area for kids.

"The nature park is very unique because very few of them exist," said Smallridge. "Two in Columbus, there are none in Cleveland."

Once the first bridge is completed in the fall of 2013, work will begin to demolish the present bridge with work scheduled to begin on the second bridge in the fall of 2015.

Residents and city leaders who came out Tuesday night liked what they saw.

"ODOT in the past hasn't paid attention like this," said Councilman Joe Cimperman.

"What the city of Cleveland is going to get after tonight is a new park, more places for people to recreate, more parking for people to use in Tremont. And then on the downtown side, hopefully a better entrance to downtown so the people who are coming here from all over the country don't come into a chain link fence and a place that looks like you don't want to come back to."