About Us

We, the organizers of the Save Our Access campaign, are:

Business owners who know how customer and visitor traffic depends on the access provided by the Innerbelt Carnegie Avenue and Prospect Avenue ramps,
Frequent users of those ramps,
People who care strongly about the condition and future of Cleveland and who are convinced that the Ohio Department of Transportation's plan to close the ramps and funnel traffic to fewer points would inflict severe economic and social damage on downtown and the midtown corridor out to University Circle,
People who do not accept ODOT's conclusion that the result of its plan will be "Positive regional economic benefits due to improved facility, reduced congestion, efficient access",
People who have tried repeatedly to get ODOT to recognize the likely impacts of its intended changes - but with absolutely no success.

Thus we take this last-resort course of action. We call on the public to make their protest known to officials in Cleveland, Columbus and Washington - and to give their support for the position taken by the Cleveland Clinic and MidTown Cleveland to halt approval of the closings.

The Clinic and MidTown maintain that ODOT failed to carry out mandated procedures in doing its analysis and planning for the ramp changes - in particular it failed to take account of increased traffic stemming from employment and visitor growth at the Clinic, University Hospitals and the Stokes VA Hospital.

It is ODOT's single-minded focus on improving traffic flow and reducing accidents that leads to their adamant demand to close the Carnegie and Prospect Innerbelt access. We believe there is a way to achieve ODOT's goals without damaging Cleveland's economy.

But Washington officials must agree to hold the decision on the ramps (giving time to produce the needed solution) while approving the rest of the I-90 project (reconstruction of the Flats bridge and Deadman's curve). We support the rest of the I-90 project.

One aspect of the possible solution is construction of "Opportunity Corridor" (a new road being planned from the end of I-490 at E. 55th Street to E. 105th Street near University Circle) which would remove an estimated 40 percent of the vehicles now using the Innerbelt Carnegie and Prospect ramps.

The Washington decision will be made in August - so the time to act is now.

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