The North Coast Connector, also known as the land bridge, won nearly $70 million in federal funds for its construction. This view is looking south along the proposed land bridge toward Downtown Cleveland (FO). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Today’s $69 million adds to $59 million from October
Today, the city of Cleveland announced that it was awarded $69.3 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) for its ambitious downtown lakefront redevelopment. This is the second major federal grant for the downtown lakefront since October when the city was awarded $59.7 million from the USDOT. Construction is due to start in 2027.
Together, the two large grant awards total $129 million and will expand the work that the city can do to revamp the Shoreway highway (Ohio Route 2) into a Downtown Boulevard so a North Coast Connector land bridge can be built over the railroad tracks and boulevard. It will link Downtown Cleveland’s central business district with a lakefront redesigned with park facilities, other public spaces and other development.
City officials have stated that the lakefront redevelopment will go forward with our without Cleveland Browns home games being played at Huntington Bank Field. The Browns are taking steps to relocate their home games to a planned enclosed stadium in suburban Brook Park.
“We are thrilled to receive this transformative investment from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the North Coast Connector Project,” Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said in a written statement. “This funding represents a pivotal step in our mission to reimagine the waterfront and enhance accessibility for all Clevelanders.”
This map shows the major infrastructure features for which the city is seeking funding to building. Total cost of these is estimated at about $450 million. With today’s announcement, it brings the total raised to $150 million — enough to start construction on the Shoreway boulevard elements from East 9th Street west (FO).
The Reconnecting Communities program is new, resulting from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by Congress in 2021. Its construction grants are to remove, retrofit, mitigate or replace an existing eligible transportation facility with a new facility that reconnects communities. It was created after many communities complained of being divided by poorly designed or unnecessary highways which might instead be rebuilt as lower capacity, less-divisive boulevards.
“I am extremely grateful to our dedicated congressional delegation, especially former U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and Congresswoman Shontel Brown, whose steadfast dedication, support and advocacy have been instrumental in bringing this grant to our city,” Bibb added.
To build the North Coast Connector requires lowering the Shoreway between West 3rd and East 9th streets. Here, the Shoreway is rising and curving south on a bridge over the lakefront tracks and several downtown streets before crossing the Cuyahoga River valley on a separate, mile-long bridge — Ohio’s longest.
A lakefront multimodal transportation center with structured parking plus a hub for Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority buses and trains as well as Amtrak passenger trains also is planned. So is a streetscape along the new boulevard and existing, nearby streets. Total cost of the land bridge, Shoreway reconfiguration, multimodal hub and streetscape enhancements is estimated at nearly $450 million.
This Shoreway bridge over the lakefront tracks will be removed and replaced with a Downtown Boulevard with intersections at West 3rd and East 9th streets, plus a future intersection with a to-be-extended East 18th Street (Google).
As a Downtown Boulevard, the Shoreway will have intersections at West 3rd and East 9th, with a third intersection planned for a future extension of East 18th Street north to the bouelvard. The Ohio Department of Transportation wants the boulevard because the entry-exit ramps for West 3rd and East 9th are too close together, requiring a dangerous short-weave of traffic entering and existing the highway.
Today’s $69,291,428 grant came from USDOT’s Reconnecting Communities Pilot grant program. October’s came from its Rebuilding America (INFRA) program. The latter will actually be provided in two annual installments — $38,537,761 and $21,181,506, for a total of $59,719,267, said U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown (D-11).
“I am proud to join Mayor Bibb in announcing this significant federal funding for our city,” Brown added. “The North Coast Connector and the Mayor’s broader Shore-to-Core-to-Shore initiative are transformational initiatives that will help us capitalize on our lakefront, strengthen our economy, and position Cleveland to thrive for decades to come.”
“We believe in downtown Cleveland,” she said. “Visionary projects like this are not possible without visionary leaders locally and nationally. The Biden-Harris Administration has believed in Northeast Ohio from the start, and as their administration comes to an end, they have made another investment in our future. Congratulations to everyone with the City who worked on this application, this was a highly competitive grant opportunity and my office was honored to support the bid.”
Before and after images of what the Shoreway will look like after it is turned into a Downtown Boulevard. This and other lakefront investments will go forward regardless of whether the football stadium remains here or not (FO).
According to the city, the first phase of the project includes demolition of the Main Avenue bridge span between West 9th Street and Erieside Avenue, the construction of a widened pedestrian and bike-friendly West 3rd Bridge with a new intersection, and pre-construction and construction of the new Shoreway Boulevard segment from West 3rd Street to the East 9th Street ramps.
Those grant awards will add to local and state funds already raised. Scott Skinner, executive director of the new North Coast Waterfront Development Corp. which is overseeing lakefront development, said in an email today to downtown lakefront stakeholders that enough funds have been raised to start final engineering and construction.
“This puts our total funds raised this year at $150 million and means that we are able to move forward with the enabling infrastructure that will facilitate equitable connectivity and economic development on our lakefront,” Skinner said. “While there is still a lot of work to do until we are shovels in the ground in 2027, having these funds allocated to the project is an enormous milestone.”
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