Brookpark Road

Brookpark Road straddles Brooklyn, Parma and Cleveland. (John Benson, special to cleveland.com)

BROOKLYN, Ohio -- With traffic counts ranging from 14,000 to 25,000 vehicles daily, the eastern portion of Brookpark Road serves Brooklyn, Parma and the Old Brooklyn neighborhood of Cleveland.

Due to its poor pavement condition, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has announced that a major repaving is on the books for the busy thoroughfare.

"This is a resurfacing project on a five-mile stretch from West 130th Street to I-480," ODOT District 12 Public Information Officer Isaac Hunt said. "The projected Pavement Condition Rating warrants the need to resurface the road.

"The estimated cost is $4.5 million, with an expected summer 2022 start and fall 2022 completion," Hunt said.

Seeing an opportunity to enhance Brookpark Road in conjunction with ODOT's plans, the cities of Brooklyn, Parma and Cleveland have collectively applied for services from the competitive County Planning Commission's Community Planning Grant Program.

Recently, the communities received word that they were awarded professional planning services valued at $120,000 to study Brookpark Road.

"Brookpark Road is an important east-west transportation corridor that links multiple communities in the county," said Patrick Hewitt, interim executive director of the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission.

"This plan will allow these communities to consider how they would like to work, live and move along this portion of Brookpark Road in the future.

"As one of the first multi-jurisdictional corridor projects funded through the County Planning Commission's Community Planning Grant Program, we're excited to help facilitate this innovative collaboration," Hewitt said.

The grant plays into Cuyahoga County Council's ongoing effort to improve the quality of life, environment and economic development through comprehensive planning.

Hewitt said work on the Brookpark Road study is anticipated to begin in the fall and will continue for 18 months.

Brooklyn Mayor Katie Gallagher said that because the busy road cuts through three communities, the county effort can help create a cohesive plan that each city wouldn't be able to do on their own.

"Working with the county, this allows us to look at economic development planning more regionally and collectively so we can plan the positives of that area," Gallagher said.

"This includes the proximity of the highway, zoning changes that will help with economic development and really kind of look at the county plan as far as transit goes -- whether that's getting cars through there quicker, accessibility for bikes and walking for the residents in the area."

Parma Mayor Tim DeGeeter said the city was approached by Brooklyn to be a co-applicant for the planning grant.

"With the resurfacing of Brookpark Road on the horizon in 2022, it's the right time to make additional improvements to the corridor between the three entities," DeGeeter said. "It's our goal to enhance the viability and economic sustainability of Brookpark Road for the next 50 years."

Gallagher said possibilities for Brookpark Road include streetscaping, traffic light sequencing, curb cuts to help ingress-egress and economic development.

"If you look at the difference between Brooklyn to the north and Parma to the south, we (Brooklyn) have a ton of big box retail and Parma has a lot of smaller retail," Gallagher said "There isn't really any kind of consistency or tie-in of what we're trying to promote to that area.

"Working together, we can look at that in a bigger scope of selling that corridor as far as what's best for all of our communities in the long run."

Read more news from the Parma Sun Post .

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Source: https://www.cleveland.com/community/2020/08/odot-plans-45-million-brookpark-road-resurfacing-brooklyn-parma-and-old-brooklyn-receive-county-funds-to-study-busy-thoroughfare.html

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