Interstate Highways

There is little evidence demonstrating that displaced residence had any control of where highways were going to be constructed. But it should be noted, not all communities were treated equally. An example demonstrating the unequal level of residential control of highway placement is reflected by the 1963 proposed Clark Freeway. The Clark Freeway was designed to extend east to west connecting Cleveland with Pepper Pike. Shaker Heights residents were infuriated by the proposed freeway because it threatened to destroy the scenic Shaker Lakes and several other Shaker landmarks along with over one thousand Shaker Heights homes. The citizens of Shaker Heights fought hard to keep the Clark Freeway from being constructed. Ultimately the residents of Shaker were successful in their campaign against the freeway and inadvertently saved other Cuyahoga County communities that would have been subjected to the effects of the Clark Freeway.[1] Cleveland Heights, after intense public meetings about the detrimental effects of the Lee Freeway on their community, were able to ward off construction.[2] Unlike Shaker and Cleveland Heights, highway construction in the city of Cleveland was to be executed “mercilessly.”[3]