The rendering above is of the aerial footprint of the new westbound bridge to be built in Cleveland, for over $300 million, in a multiyear, disruptive, near $ billion construction nightmare, which will make life in Northeast Ohio pure hell for commuters and the Cleveland economy through 2012 and leave a massive, ugly scar across Cleveland's greatest asset - the Cuyahoga River Valley - forever. All that is pathetic, but not nearly as sad as the loss of development potential for Cleveland, the city, and the area of the Flats around the current and future bridge sites and on the east and west banks of the Flats and surrounding neighborhoods. Destroying that potential is the whole point of regional leadership creating this disastrous outcome... what could be better for sprawl-mongers than further destroying the urban core?
As you look at this photo, and others of the overpriced and unimpressive bridge design at the ODOT Innerbelt site [1], you see 100s of acres of prime real easte turned into an eternal wasteland, insuring the port authority and gravel companies always have blighted land along the Cuyahoga to make more blighted with their dirty old economy businesses, and making sure current and future real estate barons' land in other areas of Cleveland and especially the suburbs and exurbs will never need to compete with more desirable land that would become available if the Flats and east and west banks were developed with intelligent design. So much for intelligent design or leadership in NEO. Welcome to your future, NEO... viewed below in a rendering of the westbound deck out of town... will it be wide enough for those fleeing town?
