Interstate Highways

The Lincoln Highway, however, did not directly benefit urban cities such as Cleveland. The Lincoln Highway, constructed south of Cuyahoga County, did little to ease the traffic caused by automobile congestion in Cleveland. Cleveland, like the rest of the country, could only begin highway construction with federal assistance. As the Great Depression took hold of the nation, highway construction was funded through the Works Project Administration as a way to spur the economy to recovery. By 1936 Cleveland had the beginnings of a highway system with the construction of the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway funded by the WPA. Stretching from E. 9^th to E. 55^th, this 4-mile stretch of highway was the largest WPA project in the nation and required ten thousand laborers and $8.2 million dollars to complete the project. The highway was opened in 1938 to motorists and took on its current name after World War II in honor of the war’s veterans.[1]

Despite the construction of the Lincoln Highway and Memorial Shoreway, Cleveland motorists remained frustrated by the lack of highways. In 1949, one mile of “high class highway” cost $600,000 to $1,000,000 to construct.[2] At the time federal funding, which amounted to only fifty percent of funding, fell short of persuading states like Ohio to implement a national system. State highway planners moved slowly and relied on state budget approbations for project expenses. Meanwhile, motorists blamed traffic congestion on the lack of highways complaining that traffic “steals time, adds to the cost of doing business and increases accidents” and urged highway planners to begin highway construction immediately “before costs rise.”[3] When trouble developed overseas, highway construction was put on hold as the city underwent a transformation.