BRUNSWICK, Ohio (WJW) — A planned I-71 interchange between Strongsville and Brunswick continues to be a source of contention.
Monday, homeowners continued the effort to push back against the interchange, collecting signatures for a petition addressed to the Director of the Ohio Department of Transportation requesting it not move forward.
“We citizens never had a say on this interchange,” the petition states.
An ODOT spokesperson responded Tuesday to a FOX 8 request for comment stating, “Strongsville is currently working on a study, so we won’t have any information to share until that is finalized.”
“I’m very concerned that it’s going to bring in a lot of crime,” said Shrea Kellums, who organized the petition and lives on Boston Road in Brunswick. “I’m afraid that our kids aren’t going to be able to play outside anymore. How can you play outside when it’s a highway?”
Blue signs that read “Say no to the Boston Road Interchange,” dot front yards along Boston Road, which divides both cities.
“We have put so much into our homes to make them the way we want them that we would need $500,000 to buy a new home,” said Kellums. “Eminent domain … you don’t take a house away that’s possibly going to save five minutes to get home.”
Details about where the interchange would be built have yet to be announced. However, some homeowners believe there is still time to stop the effort. An ODOT spokesperson responded to a FOX 8 request for comment stating questions concerning the project are being looked into.
Brunswick City Council President Nick Hanek previously stated city officials were excluded from the decision making process and might be forced to pay for an unwanted interchange.
“From the time you come into Strongsville on the West of 82 and the East of 82 it’s all commercial … when does it stop? When we moved here, there were signs up at the Tree City, USA they just keep taking them down and we’re building more,” said a Strongsville homeowner.
Gov. DeWine signed House Bill 23 into law earlier this year approving the project. State Rep. Thomas Patton, a Republican representing Strongsville, co-sponsored the bill.