City tries to pave way for I-90 exit
By Jeff Gallatin
Bay Village
Published March 21, 2007

City officials Monday took action to pave the way toward a smooth road for the interchange project at Nagel Road and I-90 in Avon.

City Council passed a resolution of support for the multi-million dollar I-90 interchange project. It comes a few weeks after Avon Mayor Jim Smith questioned whether Bay Village and other Cuyahoga County communities were in support of the Lorain County city putting in the interchange. Sutherland said she would like to see additional study of the matter to see how it impacts her community, but also said she was not against the interchange.

Bay Village officials said the resolution covers different areas.

“This resolution takes into account our concerns in the city about the regulation of traffic in Bay Village being our responsibility and how traffic affects our city, but at the same time expresses our support for the interchange project for I-90,” Sutherland said. “It’s quite specific in expressing our concerns but also our support for the project and getting it done; that really needs to be emphasized.”

Council President Brian Cruse said the resolution is two-fold in council’s view.

“It expressed our support for the project and for Avon being able to do the project,” Cruse said. “But it also notes our concerns about making sure that the traffic is properly handled so our city is not affected in an adverse way by any traffic involved.”

Cruse said city officials want to make sure that all the communities and their concerns are taken care of during the work.

“When we talk about further study, we want to make sure that possible effects of the project are considered and dealt with and how this will affect communities, including 10 or 15 years down the road,” Cruse said.

He said some of the work on possible concerns has been about the closing of Avon Road. He said officials have tried to communicate with other communities as well when devising the language.

“People have put a lot of work in on this to make sure the resolution is right at our end,” Cruse said. “Council members like Mike Young and Jim Scott deserve credit for putting a lot of this together to get it done.”

Ward 4 Councilman Young, who introduced the resolution, said all the council members have worked hard on the resolution and matters pertaining to the interchange.

“There’s been a lot of time spent on this to make sure it was done right,” he said. “We’ve tried to make sure that all cities and concerns were considered as part of that work.”

Young said the resolution notes recent studies which show constructing an interchange would substantially reduce commuter traffic through Bay Village and that it encourages all the surrounding communities to work together to plan together and make the best use of existing roadways to complement the new interchange in order to move traffic in an efficient manner.

“This really is a regional project which affects many people and communities,” Young said. “It’s an example of how communities can work together to do something which will provide different benefits to the region.”

City officials are sending the resolution to Smith,  Avon Lake Mayor Rob Berner, city of Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough and the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency. The additional study by NOACA is expected to be done later this year.