Ellis said the tragic death of Jeffrey Blan Sherrill on March 7 reminded him of the family tragedies that happened at Blackburn Road and APD 40 before signal lights were installed at that intersection.
“Then we had a tragedy on Fullbright Road where teenagers were killed,” Ellis said. “It was a terrible road to travel at the time, but within months of the tragedy, the road was leveled, the groundwater was diverted, the road was widened and now that road is a credit to the community.”
And now, he continued, there has been an accident on Michigan Avenue because of the increased traffic.
“We knew this was coming,” Ellis said. “The traffic is really bad and someone else will have an accident or lose their life.”
Public Works Director Tommy Myers reported his department was scheduled to begin widening and paving Michigan Avenue Road on Monday.
“From Stuart Road to Benton Pike, we plan on widening it a foot on each side,” Myers said. “That would give us 11-foot travel lanes and a foot outside of that as a shoulder.”
Ellis said the ultimate solution for the road is to level the hills and install turn lanes and traffic lights, “to help the community grow and not provide another headline for the newspaper, another fatality on a dangerous road in the city of Cleveland.”
Myers said in March that widening the road is a short-term solution. A transportation planning report should identify where additional turn lanes are needed, or justify building three lanes between Stuart Road and Benton Pike.
