(Cleveland) - Leaders with the Ohio Department of Transportation kicked off their 2018 construction season with a news conference in Cleveland Thursday afternoon.
Eighty construction projects will take place in the Greater Cleveland area this year totaling more than $200 million in construction.
Statewide, ODOT will conduct $2.4 billion in construction projects. Locally, a big project is the 'Opportunity Corridor' which will directly connect I-490 and East 55 Street to the Cleveland Clinic Campus and University Circle area.
The entire 'Opportunity Corridor' project carries a price-tag of $300 million. ODOT's Myron Pakush says it will redevelop an area of Cleveland which has been under-served with transportation.
Pakush estimates some 20,000 drivers will utilize the 'Opportunity Corridor' every day. Currently, drivers have to use Carnegie and Chester Avenues among other to get to the Cleveland Clinic Campus. The 'Opportunity Corridor' will be open to traffic in 2021.
(Photo courtesy of WTAM 1100's Carmen Angelo)