The $9.62 million replacement of the Bowery Street Bridge over the Ohio Canal and Cascade Parking Plaza downtown will begin Monday, March 3, with Bowery Street between South Main Street and Quaker Street closing for 240 days, or about eight months.

Transportation patterns in the area will change during the project, according to a news release from the city, including: 

  • Northbound traffic on South Main Street will turn west (left) on State Street (near the O’Neil’s Building at the north end of the ballpark) to Bowery Street.
  • Southbound traffic on South Main Street will turn west (right) on State Street to Bowery Street. 
  • The Cascade Parking Deck will still be accessible from Mill Street as well as from Ash Street to the Quaker Street entrance.
  • There will be sidewalk access to the Bowery Apartments from South Main Street. 

Additional signage will be in place to clearly show detours and how to get to parking.

Signal background

The proposed work includes replacement of the deck, existing sidewalks, parapets, fencing, expansion joints and approach slabs. 

The existing bridge abutments will also be extensively rehabilitated. The ramp between West Bowery Street and Quaker Street will be removed and a raised bike path will be added.

All affected business owners in the area have been notified, the city said in the news release. The city, in collaboration with Downtown Akron Partnership, will host stakeholder meetings with those businesses monthly until the project is completed.

“Downtown Akron has seen more than its fair share of construction over the last decade,” said Akron Mayor Shammas Malik in the release. “We understand the fatigue of orange barrels however we also know the importance of these infrastructure projects for the safety and longevity of our bridges and roadways.”

The $9.62 million cost of the project will be shared — $6.2 million will be covered by the Ohio Department of Transportation, $1 million will be from the Ohio Public Works Commission, and $1.1 million will come from the City of Akron. The remainder will come from third party utility providers.  

Editor-in-Chief (she/her)
Zake has deep roots in Northeast Ohio journalism. She was the managing editor for multimedia and special projects at the Akron Beacon Journal, where she began work as a staff photographer in 1986. Over a 20-year career, Zake worked in a variety of roles across departments that all help inform her current role as Signal Akron's editor in chief. Most recently, she was a journalism professor and student media adviser at Kent State University, where she worked with the next generation of journalists to understand public policy, environmental reporting, data and solutions reporting. Among her accomplishments was the launch of the Kent State NewsLab, an experiential and collaborative news commons that connects student reporters with outside professional partners.