Award-Winning Project Shaping Cleveland Roadways

West Franklin Boulevard in the City of Cleveland is commonly used as a cut-through for area motorists. In response to residents' concerns about speeding, safety, and traffic volumes, a TLCI plan was prepared for the corridor. Seven mini-roundabouts were installed from West 85th Street to West 25th Street as part of the plan to slow traffic down and improve safety in the corridor. GPD was the prime consultant engineer for this award-winning Cleveland roadway project, assisted by Stephen Hovancsek and Associates Inc., and MTJ Engineering.

Pictured (from left): Monica Mosure, ACEC, Rob Chappelle, City of Cleveland, and Dave Neumeyer, GPD Group.

By deploying the mini-roundabouts in a series along the corridor, the project aimed to achieve a sustained traffic-calming impact beyond the discrete locations where elements were installed. With the design progressing during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional evening meetings were not permitted due to local health restrictions. It was determined that the best way to reach people during these trying times was to build a website for residents to view the project information.

Because this project was one of the first of its kind in the city, it required extensive community engagement. To help residents better understand the project, City and design staff met with residents on-site in pop-up engagement events and conducted community walk-throughs. The project team also made the traffic concepts "come to life" by using three-dimensional printing and matchbox cars at public meetings to demonstrate the intended intersection geometries and how to navigate them on foot, on a bike, and in a vehicle. The project team discussed the safety benefits of the roundabout configuration compared to traditional four-legged intersections with residents to help build comfort around the proposed treatment. This experience and performance of this project will now serves as an excellent example of effective communication between roadway engineers and residents and will inform future roadway projects. Already, the Younger Members Group (YMG) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) toured the corridor to discuss design, construction, and community engagement.

The mini-roundabouts were tailored to each intersection's unique geometry and accommodated the access needs of large vehicles. This project replaced several signalized intersections with traversable mini-roundabouts to calm traffic and make the street more pleasant for bicyclists and pedestrians. This was the first application of traversable mini-roundabouts in Cleveland and is one of the only instances of multiple traversable mini-roundabouts along a corridor in the country.