Photo: Destination Cleveland
We thought you might ask
North Coast Connector
For over a century, access from Downtown Cleveland to its lakefront has been constrained. There are currently two main access points: East 9th and West 3rd Streets. Both streets have safety concerns where car, truck, bicycle, scooter and pedestrian paths intersect. They are also challenging for people with disabilities, and they have limited capacity to carry large volumes of visitors (such as fans on Cleveland Browns game days) who are not using cars to access the lakefront. This discourages use of our lakefront and creates barriers for general use. We want to change that. With your help, we can make Cleveland’s North Coast accessible for everyone by installing a land bridge over and across the infrastructure that divides the community from the lake.
Now is the time to make smart, innovative choices that will bring new investment to the city for decades to come. There is political and civic alignment around this priority and opportunity to attract new funds to Cleveland to implement the community’s vision. A renewed and reconnected lakefront is overdue.
The North Coast Connector will develop over multiple phases. Last year, the City examined various concepts to determine which might be feasible. Right now, the City is examining those concepts in more detail during an alternatives evaluation, which will conclude in early 2024 when the City selects a preferred alternative. The preferred alternative will recommend either that we keep the Shoreway, which is currently a limited access freeway with speeds at 50 mph, or rebuild the roadway as a boulevard—a local road with medians, signalized intersections and slower traffic speeds. The Connector would then move into fundraising and detailed design and engineering in 2024 and 2025, before construction could begin as early as 2026 contingent on funding opportunities.
During the Feasibility Study, we asked Clevelanders to imagine what the Connector (both the land bridge and the roadway infrastructure) could look like and what it should connect to. At the same time, engineers reviewed Connector alternatives to examine their impacts, both good and bad. Traffic analysis and modeling using the forecast year of 2050 aided decision-makers in eliminating alternatives. Engineers also developed cost estimates for the alternatives. All of this helped guide the City toward the design that will work best for Cleveland.
The City of Cleveland had a budget of $5 million for the alternatives evaluation, with half of the cost covered by a grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Office of Jobs & Commerce and the other half by the City. This cost was metered out over several years during the study.
The exact cost of the proposed land bridge and roadway changes depends on many factors, including the land bridge’s shape and size, what will be built on top of the bridge, and the extent of changes to the Shoreway. However, estimates suggest the project could cost between $254 million and $329 million. Specific sources of funding are also not known, but they may come from a combination of City of Cleveland investment, private partnerships, and grants from state or federal transportation agencies.
North Coast Harbor is home to world-renowned institutions like the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Families make great memories at the Great Lakes Science Center and aboard the Goodtime III. However, current accessibility challenges have resulted in few residential, restaurant and retail developments. A land bridge and boulevard would create new spaces for development opportunity. The Connector would open up the lakefront to a range of new possibilities and uses, from potential housing and hotels to restaurants and shopping in addition to parks and greenspaces that together support tourism. Visit the North Coast Master Plan page to learn more about development opportunities.
If we build a boulevard, it will have a speed limit of no more than 35 miles per hour. With this slower speed, some of the traffic that travels through downtown, from one side to the other, will divert to other roadways, such as Interstate 90. On these roadways we do see some sections where traffic does not operate as well as it would without the additional vehicles, but overall there aren’t significant problems. On the boulevard itself and at downtown intersections, we’re still examining how many lanes we would need for through traffic and how and where turn lanes might be. We need to balance these lanes in the best way possible to maintain pedestrian and bicyclist safety.
North Coast Master Plan
In early 2023, under Mayor Bibb’s leadership, the City of Cleveland hired Field Operations to co-create with our community a Master Plan for the downtown Cleveland lakefront. This work is grounded in Mayor Bibb’s vision for equitably redeveloped, accessible and joyful waterfronts and stems from a place of healing and wellbeing.
To create a future space where all Clevelanders feel welcomed, the project team listened first, through research, focus groups, salons, workshops, surveys and built awareness of the work through visibility at festivals, community meetings and aligning stakeholders both in and outside of the lakefront district to build consensus around redevelopment as a citywide goal and regional amenity.
In July 2023, an early concept for the Master Plan was illustrated by Field Operations, capturing stories and values and principles unearthed from conversations with Clevelanders. Since then, community input has shaped the evolution of the plan and will continue to influence the design and implementation as we seek from the community help to prioritize amenities and infrastructure for construction. This is about reinventing our community’s relationship with the lakefront over a period of time.
The creation of the new master plan is a collaborative effort led by the Cleveland City Planning Commission in partnership with the Greater Cleveland Partnership and Field Operations, a renowned planning firm responsible for designing inspiring spaces around the world and in our own backyard, including Public Square in Downtown Cleveland. This team, consisting of urban planners, architects, landscape designers, and community engagement strategists—including ThirdSpace Action Lab, MurphyEpson, Compass Consulting, Neighborhood Connections, and the Full Frame Initiative—works collaboratively to develop a visionary and inclusive master plan that leads with the public realm. Most importantly and distinct to this planning effort, the team is dedicated to putting Cleveland residents’ voices at the center of the design process through robust and creative community engagement that surfaces the “whole history” of lakefront development and invites everyone to become a storyteller of their memories, hopes and dreams for a redeveloped lakefront.
Amenities recommended by the Master Plan are based on public feedback and market analysis. Throughout the visioning process, we’ve invited people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to share their ideas and help shape the future of our lakefront through touchpoints such as public meetings, community festivals and in school classrooms.
We’ve also gathered input from more than 5,000 survey respondents. We heard that Clevelanders desire more greenspace and parks, spaces for families, free and affordable activities and parking options and attractions that are uniquely Cleveland. Local and minority and women-owned restaurants and retail that will make the lakefront a popular place to regularly visit are highly desired by our community of respondents.
Redeveloping the North Coast lakefront is a multi-decade vision that will require construction overtime depending on community priorities, funding and real estate demand. An adopted Master Plan with community input – vison and values - shaping the design positions the City to compete for large Federal and State grants, enabling the City to move into detailed design, construction document and implementation. The enabling infrastructure, the land bridge, is a priority for enhancing connections between the community and the new public realm and real estate investments proposed behind the stadium and is considered Phase I along with redevelopment of the lakefront on the approximate 22-acres of existing asphalt north of the GLSC and the Cleveland Brown’s stadium.
Transformative projects of this scale require a diverse funding stream from Federal, State and local entities in addition to philanthropy, economic development tools and public/private partnerships. The City of Cleveland and the NCDC are committed to seeking State and Federal funding to implement the vision of the Master Plan and have aligned community partners in this strategy, beginning with Federal grant requests anticipated in spring 2024 upon completion and adoption of the North Coast Connector and Master Plan. Pending funding and contract letting for professional and construction services, construction could begin on the large infrastructure moves as soon as 2026. Moreover, $5M of State funding is allocated towards preliminary engineering for the land bridge and funding is dedicated from the City’s Federal ARPA allocation to create near-term activation of the lakefront. Developing these early amenities and activation of space could begin in the next few years and demonstrates momentum in the long-range vision.
Preliminary cost estimates show vertical investment and public amenities at the lakefront to cost around $600M. Of primary importance is the ability to attract new pubic and private monies to the community and that the resources spent to construct the projects benefit the community directly through jobs and wealth creation.
A Master Plan is the initial vision document in a long-range, capital improvement project. Both the North Coast Connector and the Master Plan are anticipated to present to the Cleveland Planning Commission to seek adoption of theirs plans and recommendations in early 2024. This enables the plan to move into future phases of design and engineering while simultaneously seeking funding for implementation of near and long-term improvements to the lakefront. Opportunities to protype unique concepts of the master plan, such as the “front porches”, may advance in 2024 in collaboration with the community and artists.
Once adopted, the Master Plan will serve as a the guidestar for the City of Cleveland and a new non-profit formed under the leadership of Cleveland Mayor Bibb and Cleveland City Council as a development authority with a singular focus on downtown lakefront development and actualizing the North Coast Master Plan. It is called the North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation (NCWDC). An authority is an economic development tool that is purpose-built to live outside of the political cycles that often delay or stop transformative infrastructure development. It has been used successfully in waterfront communities from Cincinnati and Louisville to Seattle and Copenhagen, Sweden. The intention of the authority is to deliver the amenities recommended by the Master Plan and the enabling infrastructure from the North Coast Connector by attracting and creating financial resources that do not impact the City’s general fund.
In addition to future rounds of community engagement, Frequently Asked Questions, print and recorded materials from previous public meetings, and a comment form for your suggestions are always available at clevelandnorthcoast.com. We encourage you to sign up for e-news and to check back often for updates.
There are currently over 10,000 off-street spots in the lakefront district, most of which will be retained and/or become better connected to the lakefront redevelopment via the land bridge, such as the Huntington (County) and Willard (City) garages flanking Mall C. The garage attached to the Great Lakes Science Center will be rebuilt under the land bridge and increase capacity by approximately 75%, or 375 new spaces. In addition, occupancy rates of off-street parking are being explored, with some garages, such as North Point at a reported 5% occupancy on weekends without major downtown events. Expanded opportunities for on-street parking are also under exploration.
Regarding parking, while we recognize through our community engagement work that 76% of Clevelanders today look to drive their own vehicle to the lakefront, we also recognize that not all Clevelanders have access to a personal vehicle and that off-street parking options can be prohibitively expensive and thereby restricting access to the lakefront. Therefore, it is a mandate of the North Coast Master Plan to plan for and prioritize multiple modes of transportation, including light rail, bus, bicycle, walking and rolling and that access to these spaces for people must be safe, equitable and high quality.
As the Master Plan Vision is a long-range framework plan, it is also reasonable to expect innovation and preferences in mode-shift over time.
General questions
The North Coast refers to the lakefront area along the shores of the five Great Lakes. You’ve likely heard of the East and West Coasts of the USA, and we believe the North Coast is just as important a coastal community as a large source of the world’s freshwater! For our projects’ purposes, the North Coast lakefront is Cleveland’s downtown lakefront along Lake Erie, centered on the area known as North Coast Harbor and home to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Cleveland Browns Stadium and connecting into the Convention District and the historic downtown Malls, flanked by the Hilton Hotel and City Hall. The goal of the North Coast Master Plan and Connector is to reimagine this part of Downtown Cleveland, improving connection to the lake and making the lakefront an exciting and (physically and socially) welcoming destination for everyone in the community.
We hear you! Clevelanders have shared with us that dedicated and traffic- separated bike paths and parks are essential for the downtown lakefront, especially along its touches with Lake Erie. Specific locations and details of public spaces are under development and will incorporate ideas from the community to ensure these elements appear in the landscape in a way that is the most desirable for everyone. There is also ongoing collaboration between the City and other agencies developing trails, bike paths and greenspace along our lakefront to ensure connection and continuity, including but not limited to the integration of the western terminus of the Cleveland Metroparks and Cuyahoga County E. 9th to E. 55th bike trail, slated to begin construction in summer 2024.
The City of Cleveland, through a competitive RFP process, has engaged with a consultant to conduct an economic impact analysis of Burke Lakefront Airport. The goal of the analysis is to quantify the current economic impact of Burke as well as the potential future economic impact of potentially closing the airport and using the land in alternative ways. The study will be completed in 2024, coinciding with the completion of the North Coast Connector and Master Plan contracts.
The Cleveland Browns have expressed to the City of Cleveland their intent to remain on the North Coast and integrate the stadium into the developing lakefront vision of the Master Plan. Potential stadium renovation plans – including enhanced year-round, public-facing amenities – will be released this fall and lease negotiations are underway between the land and stadium owner, the City of Cleveland, and the leaseholder, the Cleveland Browns.
Transportation is a persistent barrier in Cleveland where approximately only one in four residents owns a personal vehicle. Public transit options—both local and regional—are essential for the livability of our city and a redeveloped lakefront. So far, we heard from residents that they highly value transit options as part of a sustainable and accessible North Coast. The City is working closely with the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA), Amtrak and other transportation providers to ensure that transit options are integrated effectively into plans.
The Ohio Department of Transportation has plans to make Cleveland’s Innerbelt Curve (a sharply turned section of I-90 east of the project area) into a safer route for drivers that can serve as a diversion for traffic not desiring to travel into downtown via the lakefront. The City, its partners, consultants and ODOT are coordinating as both the Connector and the Innerbelt Curve Modernization develop.
A component of the work of the Master Plan is a market study and economic impact of the proposed development, which will be part of the final Master Plan. Cleveland continues to grow as a tourism destination for conferences, conventions and personal travel. We believe what works for Clevelanders will be inherently good for tourists. For instance, the Port of Cleveland is receiving more than 50 cruise ships in 2023, docking at the downtown lakefront with a reported local spend of $150 per passenger. A redeveloped lakefront with trails, greenspace and locally run commercial activities that Clevelanders frequent could also function as a beautiful front door for international visitors to our Great Lake. Cities that have completed similar capital projects have seen major economic benefits—for example, after St. Louis revitalized the area around the Gateway Arch, visitors to the monument stayed in the city half a day longer on average than they did previously.
You can send us a comment or question by visiting the Connect page. Watch this website and sign up for our e-newsletter for details on public meetings, future surveys and other ways to ensure your voice is represented in the future of our lakefront redevelopment.
