ODOT: Innerbelt bridge closes overnight four nights this week

CLEVELAND -- The Ohio Department of Transportation will close the Innerbelt bridge overnight Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. At about 8 p.m. each night, crews will close one lane of I-90 in each direction over the bridge and, beginning at 10 p.m. each night, crews will close Interstate 90 eastbound and westbound until 6 a.m. the next day.

Motorists will be detoured via I-490 and I-77. Crews had originally intended on closing only the eastbound lanes, however in order to maintain ODOT's aggressive schedule, complete overnight closures were deemed necessary.

This work will include pouring of concrete for parapet walls as well as various structural steel repairs and striping.

Repairs will allow for the reopening of the W. 14th Street ramp to I-90 eastbound -- which has been closed since May of 2008 -- and the Ontario Street ramp to I-90 westbound as early as late November.

At least one, additional weekend closure of the structure is anticipated in order to complete work as part of this phase of the Safety Plan, however that closure will take place following late November/early December after all ramps and closed lanes have reopened.

Minor steel repairs will continue through the winter of 2009. Impacts to traffic are not expected as minor steel repairs take place.

After late November, I-90 westbound traffic will be returned to its original configuration -- including heavy truck traffic -- and motorists will again have use of the Ontario Street ramp to I-90 westbound.

Interstate 90 eastbound traffic will reopen to three, through lanes of traffic and one, dedicated lane for those motorists entering I-90 from W. 14th Street.

The right lane of I-90 as it merges onto the I-90 Innerbelt Bridge at the I-71/I-490 split will remain closed and heavy truck traffic will remain detoured from the bridge in the eastbound direction in order to accommodate W. 14th Street ramp traffic and reduced lane widths.

Reopening the ramps will improve connectivity to the Tremont and Gateway neighborhoods, which have had limited access to I-90 since ODOT restricted traffic on the aging structure in October 2008.

The Innerbelt Bridge is a vital link into downtown Cleveland. In October 2008, ODOT engineers restricted traffic on the 50-year-old bridge after inspections revealed that a number of steel members were aging faster than expected.

In March 2009, ODOT announced plans to construct a new westbound Innerbelt Bridge, utilizing federal transportation stimulus funds made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.