Congestion Improvement Project on I-480 near Hopkins Airport Underway

Motorist have become accustomed to the traffic backups every day at two busy interchanges in Cuyahoga County: the I-480 westbound merge between the I-71 northbound entrance and the SR 237 southbound exit and the I-480 westbound merge between the I-71 southbound entrance and the Grayton Rd. exit (see map below for more details).   This area of I-480 westbound between Tiedeman Rd. and Grayton Rd. see backups during the evening rush hour between 4:45 and 5:45 p.m., with the average speed through the area documented at 26 mph.

ODOT engineers have designed a project to reconfigure I-480 westbound and the ramps at these interchanges to make merging easier by increasing the available merging space. I-480 westbound will have three lanes under SR 237, I-71 north to I-480 west will have a longer entrance lane, and I-71 southbound to Grayton Rd. will have a dedicated exit lane and dedicated lane to merge onto I-480 westbound.

ODOT’s Traffic Operations Assessment System Tool, which looks at the operations of an area as a whole was applied to I-480 westbound between Tiedeman and Grayton Rd. After reviewing the data through the area, it was identified as an operationally sensitive corridor. Engineers then looked at ways to reduce the congestion throughout the corridor and improve the movement of vehicles in the area within the existing footprint and right-of-way. These improvements will help ODOT’s mission is to provide the easy movement of people and goods from place to place.

The project was awarded to Kokosing Construction Company in the fall of 2022 and is estimated to cost $12 million. Work began in late February with various lane shifts and off-peak lane closures on I-480 between SR 237 and Grayton Rd.  The estimated completion is the summer of 2024.

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