I-77/Miller Road interchange project moving forward

by Melissa Martin

Officials for Ohio Department of Transportation District 4 say construction of the I-77 interchange expansion at Miller Road continues to move forward with a target completion date of summer 2024.

As part of a virtual public hearing on the project May 25, ODOT representatives said that even though a partial interchange already exists, the idea is to add a northbound exit ramp off I-77 as well as a southbound freeway entrance ramp. Currently, the interchange has only a northbound freeway entrance ramp and a southbound exit.

Brecksville Mayor Jerry Hruby, who participated in the meeting, said the project is being constructed as part of the Valor Acres multi-use development about 1,000 feet east of I-77 at Brecksville and Miller roads at the site of a former Veterans Affairs hospital. The centerpiece of the venture will be the Sherwin-Williams research and development center. The design also includes apartments, townhomes and single-family residences, as well as office space. Retail, restaurants and possibly a hotel are also under consideration.

Like the interchange, the target completion date for the Valor Acres project is the mid- to late-2024.

Improving access at Miller Road, Hruby said, is essential to accommodate the additional traffic the Valor Acres development is expected to bring.

“[Miller Road] is the only interchange on I-77 in Cuyahoga County that doesn’t have exit ramps leading both north and south,” he said, noting that a full interchange was not built initially because city residents feared that having a full-service interchange would bring a larger retailer or shopping center to the area which residents did not want at the time.

As part of the public hearing, representatives for ODOT as well as Euthenics Inc., which designed the proposed interchange improvements, gave a brief presentation and invited attendees to voice concerns or questions afterward.

Only one resident asked a question during the public comment period. However, comments on the project are still being submitted to transportation.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/odot/projects/projects/104983 but must be received by June 25.

Preliminary engineering for the project is expected to be complete by September.

ODOT is scheduled to seek bids for construction in December 2022. Before that, the city will have to acquire additional land for all four quadrants of the project, said Al Piatak, project manager for Euthenics. Included in those purchases is land from the Valor Acres site that will be used to add turn lanes onto Miller Road approaching the highway.

Right-of-way acquisition will take place between October and June 2022.

Initial cost estimate for the project was $16.9 million, however, that amount has been trimmed to approximately $9.7 million in recent months due to a reduction in the project’s scope. Of that amount, the city has received a grant of $5.7 million with the remaining $4 million to be funded locally.

City engineer Gerry Wise said Sherwin-Williams will not fund any of the interchange improvements, as the city plans to use tax increment financing, which involves a portion of new property taxes generated from the Valor Acres project to help fund the project, as well as funding from Cuyahoga County.

ODOT will pay half of the land acquisition expense, Piatak said, adding that new traffic signals will be installed as part of the project, as well.

Final engineering work is slated to wrap up in June 2022 with construction to begin in January 2023. The interchange is expected to be open in the fall of 2023, even though work will continue through the summer of 2024, Piatak said. ∞