Sound Wall Noise

Will our I90 Sound Walls ever be replaced? I get that question at just about every community meeting, and, the answer is "yes." In fact, work is finally underway again with the section
just west of 260th about done. The new walls will be just like the walls installed in western Lake county: pressed brick with sections embossed with "Euclid" and water front scenes.

That our old sound barriers were ugly can not be denied. That they gave the City a horrible image for any commuter passing through the City is also true. So, the replacement is welcomed.

Yet, the cost is not cheap. The final tab will run about 3 million for the entire Euclid stretch of
interstate. No, none of this is being paid by the City . But, like most projects, who pays was the big issue for many, many years.

For almost a decade, members of Euclid City Council have pressed the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to replace the walls. They refused because of cost. Funny how ODOT works: they have put up walls of all sorts, including clear panel walls all over the state, yet, allocated no money for replacement of older failing walls.

So, for the past 8 years, Euclid has endured numerous paint and patch jobs, which was really putting lip stick on the hog, so to speak. Replacement is what we wanted!

A few years back, after more council pressure, ODOT again painted the panels, (but, not the posts). They also glued on the walls, a medallion with "Euclid" embossed on them. That was about the very worst is could get: patched sections of wall, with rusting posts with Euclid medallions that started to fall off after a winter season.

ODOT was absolutely going to leave the City with this eyesore. When it was suggested that
ivy be planted to grow and cover the walls, ODOT refused to consider this, saying nothing could grow along the highway.

So, how did we finally get new walls? You can "thank" the national recession and subsequent federal stimulus money. The Feds allocated to Ohio and ODOT 10s of millions of dollars. In turn, ODOT then had money freed up to finally replace Euclid's section of wall. Of the approximate 3 million dollar cost, federal money is picking up about 90% with State money covering the rest.

So, about 2.7 million in federal stimulus money has gone into the replacement of the sound walls.

I can only hope that we will receive some federal money for projects such as the downtown transportation plan and the lakefront.

But the saga does not end there: Demolition of the old walls occurred in late summer, so why the delay? The ODOT engineers did not figure in the fact that the old posts would be reused. Because of this mistake, the panels were not manufactured properly leading to cracks and misfitting panels.

Remember, the walls were originally installed under ODOT supervision, it's their wall. For ODOT to make such a mistake, well, lets just say that you should expect better from any
public agency.

Finally, ODOT is now working with Cleveland to potentially install new sound walls along I90 on the near west side. That project is tentatively to be paid for entirely by ODOT.