In early December, 2005 Cuyahoga County Planning Commission published a slideshow promoting an "iconic Innerbelt bridge design," citing benefits to the region's image, downtown traffic flow, and downtown redevelopment.

It received a tremendous outpouring of public support. Some signs that ODOT was listening may be read in their awarding the engineering and design contract, in mid-December 2005, to the firm that includes the designer of the elegant, cable-stay Leonard Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston.

In February, 2006 Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson met with Senator George Voinovich and others to resolve the alignment issue of the new bridge. The group supported ODOT's recommendation to build it north of the current structure, a plan state engineers insist will be less disruptive than an alternative southern alignment proposed by the county.

The bridge design team's challenge now is to make it "eye-catching and cost-effective. It needs to rise out of downtown without creating a forbidding concrete canyon and to skate past Tremont with minimal impact on the neighborhood," Plain Dealer art & architecture critic Steven Litt writes. ODOT would like to complete the bridge in 2009.

Don't think great bridge design can happen in Ohio? Look no farther than Toledo, where the I-280 Maumee River Crossing Main Span is under construction. The $220 million Cable Stayed "Signature Bridge" over the Maumee River is the largest single project in ODOT history.

The state seeks input on the design and alignment of the new Innerbelt bridge, or leave a comment here.

Related topics
Bike/pedestrian way on Innerbelt Bridge

Updates

New ODOT administration spurs letter of support for southern bridge alignment and minimal build. (3-6-07)

ODOT Innerbelt Project Manager Craig Hebebrand tells NOACA committee that the replacement of the existing eastbound Innerbelt bridge (scheduled for 2014) could be aligned further south. (2-1-07)