City May Revisit I-71 Interchange at Boston Road
Long-discussed plan for new on-ramps would alleviate a lot of traffic problems, officials say
Photos
A plan for a new I-71 interchange at Boston Road -- an on-again, off-again idea that's been bandied around for more than two decades -- should be considered again, a Strongsville official says.
Council President Mike Daymut suggested setting up a meeting with Brunswick leaders to revive a local push for the interchange.
"I want to resurrect those meetings with Brunswick," Daymut said.
He made the suggestion at a meeting to discuss traffic tie-ups in Strongsville last week.
Royalton Road is Strongsville's accident hotspot, with 38 percent of all crashes reported in the city last year taking place on that road -- most near I-71, according to police department figures.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the two cities made a major push to get an interchange built on Boston Road, going as far as drawing up plans while lobbying for state and federal money to build it.
Daymut said neither city would have to contribute toward the construction.
City Engineer Ken Mikula said local officials have talked about the idea with the Ohio Department of Transportation and Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency and got a lukewarm response.
"We pretty much got the message," Mikula said. "They weren't real supportive of funding an interchange there."
But Daymut said Strongsville and Brunswick already have an agreement to widen Boston Road in 2016, which is the first step toward getting a long-awaited interchange built there.
"We should at least put it on the back burner again," he said.
klf
10:52 am on Friday, March 16, 2012
Have they ever looked at just a 71 southbound exit and a northbound entrance at Boston Rd? It seems that the other ramps that would be "missing" in a typical 4 ramps interchange could be picked up by either 303 or 82 easily since there should be less volume there. This should reduce the cost for the interchange by some near 50%.
lyn
1:51 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
Excellent idea!
More brainstorming like this should be done to find ways to get THIS project done.
Much effort, time, planning and consulting is already being spent and done in trying to get the $12.5 million widening of Pearl from Drake to Boston. Maybe the city and mayor should devote at least as much time and thought to this other much needed and desired solution to our city's major traffic problem instead - we need to fix our current problems first!
lyn
2:40 pm on Saturday, May 12, 2012
RE: "Strongsville and Brunswick already have an agreement to widen Boston Road in 2016"
How much of Boston Rd. is going to be widened, from where to where? This really seems to be a priority, as westbound traffic does backup on Boston at Pearl. Maybe our funds should be diverted to this expansion, and the expansion of Pearl should be put off until at least 2019, when ODOT said they would give us the funding. It doesn't make sense to start the Pearl widening now, if ODOT isn't coming through with the funds until 2019.
And, how much did the city actually have to pay in itself for Phase 1 of Pearl Rd. widening? Phase 1 was a definite much needed and longer expansion. It would be interesting to know, to compare to what we would be spending on Phase 2.
noyb
9:59 pm on Friday, June 22, 2012
What they don't tell you is that they want to widen the road with a turning lane. Making it three lanes. I was told by the Perciak Administration that this would be great for residents that cannot make left hand turns onto the road because the turn lane could be used as a merge lane. One, that is illegal in the state of Ohio and two, we can now look towards Boston Road as being the leader for traffic accidents, as residents from Brunswick seek to make left hand turns at the same time someone is looking over their shoulder, driving down the street to merge into traffic. One must think before they propose such great traffic alleviating plans.
tom m
10:57 pm on Friday, June 22, 2012
why is a 3 lane road illegal (there are 3 lane roads all over the place)
KLF
12:51 pm on Saturday, June 23, 2012
No, 3 lanes roads are not illegal. I think he means when you take a left turn from say Saratoga onto Boston east, it is illegal to turn into the middle lane to then merge over into the right curb lane to proceed east. And just to the east of Boston/Saratoga is Skyview Dr. ending at Boston where a lot of people also turn left to go west onto Boston. If both left turners move into that center lane, they could have a head long collision.
Boston is dangerous no matter what, but 3 lanes would really help.
joe simonton
2:34 pm on Saturday, June 23, 2012
WOW noyb how paranoid is that, your reason not to add a 3rd lane is because someone might do something illegal (lets close all the roads on earth because someone might speed)
kristen
5:11 pm on Wednesday, October 10, 2012
I hate traffic on Howe/royalton. Its awful. Sometimes you sit through 2 lights to turn onto howe. An exit and enterance at Boston would be a wonderful thing!
MFHK
1:38 pm on Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Although I think this is a GREAT idea and necessary as long as they continue to build and expand Strongsville and Brunswick- I'd be happy if they'd just pave the roads in Brunswick! (without raising taxes). And as far as accidents on 82- maybe if everyone didn't go through red lights, it wouldn't be a problem. The light to turn south on Pearl at Pearl and 82 lasts so long that only 3-4 cars get through, so everyone runs the light... right by the police station too! This is so frustrating and dangerous!