Cleveland - The Northeast Ohio Area-wide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) learned Monday it has been awarded a $9.0 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT). The competitive INFRA (Infrastructure for Rebuilding America) grant will be used to rebuild the bulkheads and stabilize the hillside at Irishtown Bend.
Along the Irishtown Bend, the 60- to 70-year-old bulkheads that line the Cuyahoga River and support the hillside have deteriorated. Without improvements to the retaining wall, a disastrous collapse of the hillside into the river would block all movement in both directions, potentially impeding $3.5 billion worth of economic activity—not just in Cleveland, but across the American Heartland, threatening manufacturing and mining industries and all the jobs they support.
Grace Gallucci, Executive Director of NOACA, stated, “This $9.0 million grant award is fantastic news for the City of Cleveland, the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, and our entire region, and is a testament to the collaboration of our local, state, and federal leaders. Locally, our leaders, guided by the NOACA Board, deemed the stabilization of the infrastructure at Irishtown Bend our highest regional priority, and the U.S. Department of Transportation was able to respond to the need due to the overwhelming support from our congressional delegation and our governor.”
More details will follow. The official announcement will be made on Thursday, July 25th in Washington, D.C., by US DOT Secretary Elaine Chao.
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