Lakewood residents have had to adapt their commutes and create a different route due to the extensive road construction that has been going on since the beginning of summer. Now that schools are back in session the streets are flooding with students trying to get to school and inevitably creating more traffic jams. 

The project began in June 2023 and is expected to end by December. This project was much needed and consists of repaving the road and resurfacing Hilliard Road from Riverside Drive to Warren Road.The project also includes the addition of bike signs and other adjustments that will eliminate the pooling of water in the roads.  While the benefits of this construction are substantial, it does include frustrating traffic delays such as a detour for southbound traffic.

This long-awaited project has a 1.5 mile stretch throughout Lakewood that is being paid for by federal funding as well as money from Cuyahoga County and Lakewood. The real question for the community members of Lakewood is: is it worth it, is the estimated 2.5 million dollar project money spent well?  According to Lakewood High School senior Ally Bookman, “It is extremely difficult to get to the highway, getting home from school and practice takes longer, and the traffic is very hard to deal with.” The one-way flow has caused many issues when it comes to specific routes having to detour around construction that should have been nearing its end. 

This ongoing project not only detours residents going to work or to school, but also emergency services. In an emergency, the one lane traffic cannot just pull over to the side for first-responders to pass through, leading to valuable time being wasted.

The construction should be done closer to the winter months and this problem will be resolved by the end of the year.