Cleveland Memorial Shoreway

This article is about the sections of Route 2 and Route 283 in Cleveland and Bratenahl. For the full routes, see Ohio State Route 2 and Ohio State Route 283.
This article is about the sections of Interstate 90, US 6, and US 20 in Cleveland. For the full routes in Ohio, see Interstate 90 in Ohio, U.S. Route 6 in Ohio, and U.S. Route 20 in Ohio.

Cleveland Memorial Shoreway
Lake Erie Circle Tour
Route information
Maintained by ODOT
Existed:	1930s – present
Component highways:	LECT from Detroit-Shoreway to Bratenahl SR 2 from Detroit-Shoreway to Bratenahl / North Colinwood line US 6 / US 20 from Detroit-Shoreway to Ohio City I-90 from Downtown to Bratenahl / North Colinwood line SR 283 from Glenville to Bratenahl
Major junctions
West end:	US 6 / US 20 / SR 2 / LECT in Detroit-Shoreway
East end:	SR 283 / LECT in Bratenahl
Location
Counties:	Cuyahoga
Highway system
Ohio Highways Interstate U.S. State Former Scenic

The Cleveland Memorial Shoreway (often shortened to "The Shoreway") is a limited-access freeway in Cleveland, Ohio. It closely follows the shore of Lake Erie and connects the east and west sides of Cleveland via the Main Avenue Bridge over the Cuyahoga River. The Cleveland neighborhood of Detroit-Shoreway is named after the two roads that form the northern border, the Shoreway and Detroit Avenue.

In May 2016 the West Shoreway, the portion of the Shoreway from the Cuyahoga River westward, was named the "Governor Richard F. Celeste Shoreway".^[1]

Route description

The Main Avenue Viaduct carries the Shoreway over the Cuyahoga River

Cleveland Memorial Shoreway in 2013

History

The Shoreway began as a 4-mile (6.4 km) roadway from East Ninth Street to East 55th Street built in 1930s using Works Progress Administration workers, and it served as access to the Great Lakes Exposition in 1936. It was the largest WPA project in the country. Within two years the roadway was extended to the Illuminating Company plant adjacent to Gordon Park, and it was opened for traffic in 1938, although planning delays prevented WPA from laying a second strip of pavement and building grade separations from side streets. After completion of the Main Avenue Bridge was completed in 1940, the highway was extended westward to Edgewater Park. The East Ninth Street interchange was also completed in 1940. The highway was extended to Bratenahl at East 140th Street in 1941. The roadway was envisioned as part of a larger system of high speed highways in the city. A West Shore Drive from Edgewater Park to Rocky River was planned, but further construction was interrupted by World War II. After the War, the previously unnamed highway became the Memorial Shoreway in honor of Cleveland's war veterans.

Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and the Lakeland Freeway: At left is the USGS topographic map showing the eastern terminus of the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway in 1953. At right is the same map area in 1963 showing the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway merging with the newly constructed Lakeland Freeway.

In 1944, the city and county planning departments and the state highway department developed a master plan for freeways throughout the area. However, the only additional freeway built was the Willow Freeway. The Memorial Shoreway permitted crosstown traffic with some stops but was incomplete between East 55th Street and East 72nd Street. In 1953 a further addition connected the sections of Shoreway and widened the original highway to make it an 8-lane, nonstop freeway. The Interstate Highway Act in 1956 provided the funding to complete much of the freeway system planned in 1944. As part of this effort, the Memorial Shoreway was joined to the new Lakeland Freeway, which by 1963 stretched eastward toward Painesville.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi	km	Exit[2] [3] [4] [5]	Destinations	Notes
Cuyahoga	Cleveland				US 6 / US 20 / SR 2 / LECT west	Continuation into Edgewater; western terminus of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway
				191	Lake Avenue / West Boulevard	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
				—	West 73rd Street	Access to West 73rd Street opened December 12, 2015;[6] exit formerly known as Edgewater Park, Whiskey Island
				—	West 45th Street	Eastbound exit and entrance; ramps being rebuilt[7]
				193	West 49th Street	Westbound exit and entrance
				193B	US 6 east / US 20 east to US 42 (West 25th Street)	Eastern end of US 6/US 20 concurrency; to SR 3 (unsigned); eastbound exit and westbound entrance; eastbound entrance in planning stages[7]
				194	West 28th Street – Flats West	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; entrance to be closed to reroute entrance trafic via 45th.[7]
				Main Avenue Bridge over the Cuyahoga River
				194	Lakeside Avenue / West 6th Street	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
				195B	West 3rd Street	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
				195A	East 9th Street – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
					City of Cleveland Parking	Eastbound entrance; former exit removed after 1979[8]
				195B	City of Cleveland Parking	Eastbound exit and entrance, first exit
				195A	City of Cleveland Parking – Amtrak Station	Eastbound exit and entrance, second exit
				196B	I-90 west to I-71 / I-77 south – Toledo, Columbus	Eastbound exit
				196	South Marginal Road	Westbound exit and entrance
				—	I-90 west to I-71 / I-77 south – Toledo, Columbus	Western end of I-90 westbound concurrency; westbound exit from I-90 via exit 174B; eastbound and westbound entrance via eastbound I-90 from the Innerbelt
				196C	South Marginal Road	Eastbound exit, exit follows SR 2 numbering
				Western end of eastbound concurrency with I-90
				175	East 55th Street / Marginal Roads	Exit numbers west of Dead Man's Curve follow I-90
				176	SR 283 west (East 72nd Street)	Western end of SR 283 concurrency
				177	Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
	Bratenahl			178	Eddy Road
				—	I-90 (Lakeland Freeway) / SR 2	Eastern end of I-90 and SR 2 concurrencies; eastbound exit and westbound entrance; signed as exit 179 on I-90 / SR 2
					SR 283 east / LECT (Lakeshore Boulevard)	Continuation into Bratenahl; eastern terminus of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

Future

The Shoreway west of the Main Avenue Bridge is in the process of being converted from a freeway to a surface street in order to increase ease of access to Lake Erie.^[9][10][11] Preliminary construction began in 2014;^[10] the speed limit dropped to 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) during the project, then permanently to 35 miles per hour (56 km/h) on October 5, 2015;^[12] the project as a whole is planned for completion in December 2017.^[13]

See also

• U.S. Roads portal
• Ohio portal
• Cleveland portal

References

Route map: Bing / Google

External links

• "Memorial Shoreway" at The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History