CLEVELAND — A powerful planning agency is advancing plans for traffic changes around the future Browns stadium site in Brook Park, revving up a review process that stalled in the fall.
The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency’s transportation subcommittee gave Brook Park’s proposal a green light Friday morning. Now the plans will make their way through more NOACA committees, with the potential for a full board vote in March.
“There’s a lot more work to do, obviously, as you heard in the session,” Ted Tywang, chief administrative officer and general counsel for Browns owner Haslam Sports Group, said after the public meeting. “But today was a really important milestone for us.”
NOACA and Brook Park are planning a regional meeting about traffic and the stadium project on Jan. 14. That meeting is set to take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Brook Park Elementary School.
The upshot of Friday’s presentation was that the new stadium and entertainment district won’t cause much congestion in Brook Park, after proposed changes to surrounding streets and freeway ramps at Snow Road and Interstate 71. A consultant working with the Browns and NOACA’s in-house transportation and engineering director agreed on that.
But there’s still some friction over the potential impact on neighboring communities.
“We don’t anticipate enough delay or capacity issues at any other intersections that would warrant any other major infrastructure reconstruction,” Dennis Albrecht, the director of transportation for Osborn Engineering, said while outlining Brook Park’s plans.
NOACA’s staff, meanwhile, said there’s potential for slowdowns on nearby freeways and major roads on weekdays, if there’s a Browns game or a big event going on – bringing in 65,000 people and more than 22,000 cars between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Brook Park’s proposed road changes will mitigate the congestion. But they won’t solve every problem.
“We’re seeing that there is delay outside of Brook Park. And so we would want some further analysis and proposals of additional infrastructure improvements outside of the city of Brook Park,” said Grace Gallucci, NOACA’s executive director and chief executive officer.
The Browns are paying for an additional traffic study focused on the area around I-71 and Bagley Road in Middleburg Heights, south of the future stadium site.
Brook Park Mayor Edward Orcutt said he’s heard concerns about slowdowns at that interchange, along with Bagley and Engle roads near Southwest General Health Center.
But slides displayed during Friday’s meeting show minimal backups.
The average travel time to and from Southwest General on weekday afternoons will only increase by a few seconds. And the typical travel time to and from nearby Cleveland Hopkins International Airport will go up by just 30 to 60 seconds, according to the analysis presented by NOACA's staff.
Orcutt said Brook Park continues to work with the Browns and their consultants on ways to manage heavy traffic on game days and during special events. Those plans include temporary road closures and stationing police at certain intersections.
The city also plans to install hundreds of traffic cameras – Orcutt said there could be anywhere from 200 to 344 of them – over the next few years. Those cameras would be used by a dedicated command center during Browns games, concerts and other events.
“It will be as simple as having part-time employees at these traffic-signal boxes with a green button and a red button,” he said. “As we see in the command center that there’s backup in certain areas, what we will do is we will hold up traffic that is not backed up and congested and be able to move traffic that is starting to build up in other areas.”
Brook Park is talking to a technology company called Axon, based in Arizona, about the cameras. It’s not clear how much the equipment would cost – or who will pay for it.
“I’m a former military person,” Orcutt said. “We used automation all the time when we were in the Middle East. So we’re gonna do that.”
NOACA is considering whether to add the Brook Park infrastructure improvements to its long-range plan, which is a framework for investments in a five-county footprint.
The agency is responsible for vetting regionally significant transportation projects, like the updates Brook Park is proposing to the I-71 ramps at Snow Road. NOACA’s long-term plan is also a springboard for federal funding.
In October, NOACA's planning and programming committee pumped the brakes on Brook Park's proposal, delaying the review process by three months because of lingering questions about how the stadium project will impact traffic across the region.
RELATED: Regional planning agency pumps brakes on road plans for new Browns stadium; wants more info
"We would have preferred all of this together coming to NOACA," Gallucci said Friday. "However, I know that the mayor of Brook Park has discussed with us the possibility of a phase one and a phase two. Meaning that what has been proposed at this time is a phase one, and it is strictly the city of Brook Park. And phase two infrastructure improvements would include adjoining communities outside of the city of Brook Park."
The city is seeking $70.3 million for six infrastructure projects through the state's Transportation Advisory Review Council. The nine-member body works with the Ohio Department of Transportation to award competitive cash for major construction that cuts congestion or boosts capacity.
RELATED: Brook Park, Browns make their pitch for $70.3 million in state transportation money
A decision on that funding – for the road and ramp changes and a pedestrian bridge over Engle Road – won’t come until the spring.
Meanwhile, Brook Park still needs to finish laying the logistical groundwork for the mixed-use stadium district.
“We have to do a preliminary development plan. We have to do a final development plan. We have to do a development agreement,” Orcutt said.
The city also plans to update its zoning code to allow nearby businesses to rent out their parking lots on game days. Orcutt said his staff is having frequent conversations with businesses – as well as property owners who might be open to selling land for parking.
RELATED: Report says Browns will be short 10,000 parking spaces on game days in Brook Park
“As you can imagine,” he said, “now that there’s talk of a domed stadium coming to Brook Park, folks and their value of their land has gone up to the point where there probably wouldn’t be that great of a return on that investment for the city or other investors.”
On the heels of reaching a $100 million settlement deal with the city of Cleveland to end several court fights, Haslam Sports Group is focused on getting to a groundbreaking in Brook Park. The Browns aim to move to the new stadium in the spring or summer of 2029, after their lease ends at Huntington Bank Field on the Downtown lakefront.
“We feel great and appreciative and energized,” Tywang said after Friday’s NOACA subcommittee meeting.
“2026 is gonna be a big news year for you guys,” he told reporters. “We’re working really hard on finalizing all the details.”
Michelle Jarboe is the business growth and development reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @MJarboe or email her at Michelle.Jarboe@wews.com.
