Interstate Highways

Neighborhoods in the path of the “radial freeways” in downtown Cleveland were divided or destroyed. Communities like Tremont were flanked on either side by concrete rivers (I-90, I-77, and I-490) and isolated. One family in particular was isolated on an “island on land” by the continual construction of the Lakeland Freeway, their house hemmed in on nearly all sides by ramps and roads. [1] Other communities located on land slated for the Innerbelt Freeway were all but destroyed. Census tract records show that neighborhoods in the path of the Innerbelt Freeway grew between 1940 and 1950. But, after construction of the freeway was complete, many neighborhoods lost over half of their population.[2]