Cleveland Resilience Project Approves Design Contract

A waterfront project dubbed the Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Strategy (CHEERS) has won a key approval to move the design stage forward, reports Steven Litt on Cleveland.com. The multi-agency project would use clean dredged sediment to build a new island in Lake Erie north of the city’s shoreline. “In all, the CHEERS project could create 70 to 80 acres of new land along the shoreline, vastly benefiting communities on Cleveland’s East Side that have been walled off from the shoreline for decades.” The plan is meant to protect the Interstate 90 Shoreway from flooding and storm damage and make the coastline more resilient.

To move the project forward, “The Port of Cleveland announced that its board of directors approved a $3.75 million contract with Arup, a global engineering consultancy with offices in 20 countries, to design the project and seek permits needed to advance the project.” According to the article, “The money assembled so far will be enough to bring the CHEERS project to 90% completion of design, said Kelly Coffman, the Metroparks’ principal planner, and Sean McDermott, the agency’s chief planning design officer.” 

Following the design stage, the project will need to seek construction funding. If all goes to plan, construction could begin as early as 2025.