Construction half complete on Franklin Boulevard on Cleveland’s West Side

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Imagine watching cars constantly speeding up and down your street. Your family’s life in jeopardy by these dangerous drivers. That’s exactly what people living in one local community are experiencing.

A construction project that was years in the making. Phase one is now complete.

The goal was to force drivers to slow down on Franklin Boulevard between Cleveland’s Detroit Shoreway and Ohio City neighborhood.

The city removed the stop lights, put in roundabouts and lowered the speed limit.

Adam Habbas owns a local smoke shop on Franklin Boulevard. He’s happy drivers are slowing down, but admits the weeks-long closure did cause a headache for his customers.

“You can just tell drastically big-time improvements. It was frustrating. We felt like we were losing business. And we had a lot of customers who were frustrated saying they had to take a different route,” said Habbas.

Angie Schmitt is a mom of two who lives on Franklin Blvd. Slower speeds on this street means the world to her.

“I actually really like it so far. I also think it’s sort of as a driver it’s sort of a worthwhile trade off because you’re not stuck at a light I mean how many times we had these traffic life and you sit there are no cars if you’re going to pass I think a lot of people were speeding to beat the lights,” said Schmitt.

The changes aren’t for everyone. There are neighbors who tell 19 News that they are not pleased.

For others it’s the difference between life or death.

“I love living in a city you know I don’t want to live in the suburbs I want to stay here,” said Jamye Jamison, who lives in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood.

The next phase of construction here on Franklin Boulevard begins this Spring between West 25th and West 50th.

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