CLEVELAND — It's going to be a summer of dodging orange cones and taking detours.
This week, the Ohio Department of Transportation closed the Ridge Road exit ramp along I-480 west. The third ramp to close on I-480 after ODOT closed the ramps from I-480 East to I-77 North and I-480 West to I-77 South in April.
It's leaving GrubHub delivery driver Jane Oakes dizzy from driving in circles.
"You have to go and turn around at the next one if you're coming from the east," she said. "And vice versa from the west."
On top of that, Oakes is working around the closure of the West 14th ramp along State Route 176.
"When you're coming back from Opportunity Boulevard," she said. "You can't get off at 7th. I mean it's just everywhere."
Oakes isn't wrong with that observation.
In addition to the closures on I-480 and SR-176, the exit ramp to East 55th Street on I-90 East just reopened after being closed for almost two months.
ODOT said each of these closures was for bridge deck replacement.
"The condition of these ramps definitely needed attention," ODOT's Brent Kovacs said. "There's a lot of potholes on these ramps specifically at Ridge."
But, why all at once?
"Work on a project is based on need and funding," Kovacs said. "Those are the two biggest factors when it comes to scheduling our projects."
The American Society of Civil Engineers believes funding from the $1.2 trillion Federal Infrastructure and Jobs Act is what's fueling and resurging interest in infrastructure improvements.
"A lot of those bridges were built with the interstate era," Craig Haberbrand, The American Society of Civil Engineers' Region Three Director, said. "So, a lot of those bridges were built in the '60s, '70s, and into the '80s. There was a lot of investment in infrastructure. As infrastructure ages, reinvestment is required."
Those improvements could help Ohio's overall infrastructure ranking, which was given a C+ by the ASCE in 2021. While that's a tad higher than the nation's C rating, the ASCE said the best hope for improvement is continued investment.
"Will the next federal transportation bill going to be as robust as the last one?" Haberbrand said. "That's a question we need to keep following, that level of investment to improve the overall system."
The continued back-ups and road rage sometimes make it hard for drivers like Oakes to see the bright side of these road projects.
"There's a lot of speeding up and the screeching around," Oakes said. "They just get mad at everybody."
There is light at the end of the tunnel. The I-480 east to I-77 north, I-480 west to I-77 south, and I-480 west at Ridge Road ramps should reopen in early fall. But, ODOT said it does plan to close the I-480 east at Ridge Road ramp in the fall for bridge deck replacement as well.
