Finally! Connection coming
Meeting to reveal Crocker-Stearns timetable
By Jeff Gallatin
Westshore
Published Jan. 31, 2007

After many years of waiting, work on the multi-million dollar Crocker-Stearns road extension project begins shortly.

There will be a public meeting starting at 7 p.m. tonight in the North Olmsted Community Cabin in North Olmsted Park off Lorain Road. Officials from the Cuyahoga County Engineers Department and affected cities will be at the meeting. The county officials will outline the timetable for the proposed construction work, which begins this spring and is scheduled to go through next year.

For Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough and others it’s the culmination of many years hard work.

“There literally hasn’t been a day in my 20 years in office that there hasn’t been some thought about the Crocker-Stearns connection work,” Clough said. “A lot of people have been working on this for a long time.”

For North Olmsted Councilman-at-large Michael Gareau Jr., the chairman of city council’s building, zoning and development committee, it’s literally been the story of his life. A North Olmsted native, Gareau said the discussion is older than he is.

“You’re talking about 40 years at least,” said Gareau, who is in his mid-30s. “I can always remember talk about the project going on around me.”

Both Clough and Gareau see the work as vital to the area.

“It’s going to give us that link between 480 and 90 and there will be a lot of people on it,” Clough said.  “People should attend the meeting because it’s going to have a major impact on all of us.”

Gareau sees the work as helping spur growth in the area.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Gareau said. “It will affect how a lot of the development and growth of the area proceeds. We need to make sure there is proper planning for how all that work proceeds.”

North Olmsted Ward 3 Councilwoman Nicole Dailey Jones, who also chairs the  North Olmsted council streets and transportation committee, said people should be aware of the project’s impact on them.

“I would urge people to attend the meeting because it will affect many residents and motorists who go through that area,” Jones said.

Noting much of the project extends through her council ward, Jones said evidence is all around that actual construction work on the project will get underway shortly.

“They’ve been working on the utilities, and I’m sure people have seen the flags and other markers in the yards the last few weeks as the workers prepare for this,” she said. “This meeting will let people know what’s going on and see how this will affect their routines.”

She said the project will be a big part of further development both in North Olmsted and the surrounding area.

“Some areas which have been down a little in the project area should get a boost, while it also should provide new benefits for the city as well as getting some vehicle away from driving through residential streets as much to get to other areas,” she said. “It also can be a key to better development of new areas.”

Jones said there also will be additional public meetings about the Crocker-Stearns work, including one in February about potential plans for the area beyond the timetable and plans being presented tonight.