LAKEWOOD, Ohio — The ramp from McKinley Avenue to I-90 eastbound is closed starting on Monday.
The closure is a part of the three-year improvement project along the interstate to fix various pavement, lighting and flooding issues.
The ramp is scheduled to be closed until June. Drivers will need to use the Warren Road entrance ramp to get on Interstate 90 in the meantime.
The closure, the first of many, is sure to slow traffic into Downtown Cleveland.
The entrance ramps to I-90 eastbound at West 117th Street will close next week.
Contraflow lanes will be coming to the eastbound side of the interstate next week, too, between Wagar Road and West 73rd Street. These lanes will have eastbound traffic traveling on the westbound side.
Once you are inside these lanes, you can't exit, so drivers who exit between Wagar Road and West 73rd Street will have to keep right.
Drivers along the popular interstate have already experienced some major slowdowns due to the construction project.
Last week, the Ohio Department of Transportation reduced the interstate to one lane for two and a half miles between Wooster and Bunts roads.
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The backup extended into Westlake as drivers had to merge to navigate through the construction zone.
Drivers reported it took about 30 minutes to get through the construction.
Even with slowdowns, ODOT said that as long as cones and closures remain in place, drivers will need to lower their speeds.
"The biggest safety factor for this type of work zone is you have to go the posted speed," Brent Kovacs, an ODOT District 12 spokesperson, said. "Which is going well below the posted speed. We find speed being one of the biggest contributing factors to crashes in work zones."
The project is set to wrap in fall 2028.
