Interstate 490 (I-490) is a

auxiliary Interstate Highway Auxiliary Interstate Highways (also called three-digit Interstate Highways) are a subset of highways within the United States' Interstate Highway System. The 323 auxiliary routes generally fall into three types: spur routes, which connect to or i ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. The western terminus is a junction with

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...

and

I-71 Interstate 71 (I-71) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the midwestern and Southeastern United States, southeastern regions of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 64, I-64 and Interstate 65, ...

on Cleveland's west side. After spanning the

Cuyahoga River The Cuyahoga River (see ) is a river located in Northeast Ohio that bisects the City of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie. As Cleveland emerged as a major manufacturing center, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so mu ...

, I-490 reaches its eastern terminus at a junction with East 55th Street, just east of I-77.

Route description

I-490 begins at a partial stack interchange with I-90/I-71 in the Cleveland neighborhood of Tremont. This interchange does not provide access from westbound I-490 to eastbound I-90 as well as from westbound I-90 to eastbound I-490. The Interstate then meets West 7th Street in an incomplete

partial cloverleaf interchange A partial cloverleaf interchange or parclo is a modification of a cloverleaf interchange. The design has been well received, and has since become one of the most popular freeway-to-arterial interchange designs in North America. It has also bee ...

. The freeway then crosses over industries, railroads, and the Cuyahoga River. After that, the freeway meets State Route 14 (SR 14) and, at a stack interchange, I-77/ SR 10. While I-490 ends at this particular stack interchange, the roadway, which becomes at-grade at East 55th Street, continues east as SR 10 ( Opportunity Corridor) all the way toward

University Circle University Circle is a district in the neighborhood of University on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio. It is home to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance Hall (home to the Cleveland Orchestra), the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Cleveland ...

History

The original plans of the

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

and other city and federal highway authorities called for the highway—also known as the Clark Freeway and, at various times and in various sections, as I-80N and Interstate 290 (I-290)—to bisect the east side of the city and the eastern suburbs; the I-290 designation would then have continued north along

I-271 Interstate 271 (I-271) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, Akron in the US state of Ohio. The highway is officially designated the Outerbelt East Freeway but is rarely referred to ...

. I-71 was to have continued along the innerbelt to Dead Man's Curve, while I-290 was to have used the portion of present I-90 westward to the Parma Freeway near West 65th Street.

Freeway revolt Highway revolts (also freeway revolts, expressway revolts, or road protests) are organized protests against the planning or construction of highways, freeways, expressways, and other civil engineering projects that prioritize motor vehicle traff ...

s in the late 1960s prevented the Clark Freeway east of East 55th Street and the Parma Freeway from being built; specifically, a referendum in

Shaker Heights Shaker or Shakers may refer to: Religious groups * Shakers, a historically significant Christian sect * Indian Shakers, a smaller Christian denomination Objects and instruments * Shaker (musical instrument), an indirect struck idiophone * Cockta ...

barred the city from allowing the Clark Freeway to pass through the city and its Shaker Lakes. The I-490 designation was applied to the Clark Freeway's altered proposed path in 1973, but this alignment was also not built east of East 55th Street, being cancelled in 1979. Ultimately, I-90 was realigned to follow the Clark Freeway routing west of I-71 and the innerbelt, and the middle segment of the Clark Freeway between I-71 and I-77 opened in 1990. The Opportunity Corridor expressway was constructed in the late 2010s and early 2020s to follow the path of the canceled portion of I-490/Clark Freeway eastward from East 55th Street until it veers north toward the

neighborhood. In 2003, I-490 was dedicated to Troy Lee James, former member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

. In April 2011, the ramps between I-77 and I-90 to and from the west were removed, making I-490 the official route between those highways and between I-77 and I-71.Two Interstate 77/90 Ramps to Close Permanently as Part of Innerbelt Work
(press release). ''Ohio Department of Transportation District 12'', April 5, 2011. Retrieved on 2011-07-19.

Exit list

References

External links

{{3di, 90 90-4 Ohio 90-4 4 (Ohio) Cleveland area expressways Transportation in Cleveland Transportation in Cuyahoga County, Ohio