Work to connect the Junction and Uptown neighborhoods will begin in 2027 with infrastructure projects, thanks to a $20 million grant the city of Toledo received from the U.S. Department of Transportation, city administrators shared with council.
The project aims to upgrade the infrastructure as part of the development of an innovation district, which will accelerate job creation, investment, and work force development and bring equitable, broad-based economic opportunity to one of Toledo’s most disadvantaged areas.
“First and foremost, we’re trying to create an innovation district in the Uptown area, and we’re investing in the infrastructure in the neighborhoods to support the investment,” Brandon Sehlhorst, director of the city’s department of economic development, said at a council meeting Tuesday. “Secondly, with this grant, we are trying to better connect the neighborhoods around the innovation district through multimodal transportation.”
Those neighborhoods were cut off from one another by I-75 overpasses that have minimal pedestrian facilities and bicycle accommodations.
This part of Toledo is typified by vacant lots, vacant buildings, a lack of tree canopy, and parking space. The streets are in poor shape and considered unsafe.
Other planned improvements include bike paths and improvements to the TARTA system.
“It will particularly benefit the Junction neighborhoods along Dorr Street,” Mr. Sehlhorst said.
The project will also include replacing water and sewer lines, reconstructing 6.5 lane miles of roadway on 38 city blocks, pedestrian improvements such as curb extensions, high-visibility crosswalks, and streetscape enhancements, planting 1,000 street trees, and doubling the number of street lights in the project area from 160 to 320.
Additionally, painted and protected bike lanes will be added to 17th Street between I-75 and Adams Street. Enhancements will be made to the Dorr Street Overpass to improve safety and connectivity for pedestrians and cyclists.
A protected bike lane on 17th from Adams to Washington streets will connect directly to the Dorr Street path, providing a dedicated corridor for bike and pedestrian travel from Junction through Uptown.
A TARTA mobility hub will serve as a centralized node of multimodal activity, providing amenities and real-time information to riders. This will include an elevated bus stop for safer and faster boarding, decorative seating, energy efficient LED lighting, free wi-fi, modern bus fare collection kiosks, and bike and scooter shelters.
“We are focusing on slowing traffic down, creating protective bike lanes, and connecting to the surrounding neighborhoods so people have more options in terms of how they access the resources in the Innovation district,” he said.
The $20 million grant supports the $52.9 million Connecting Toledo Neighborhoods to Opportunity project, which aims to bring the neighborhoods’ infrastructure back to a state of good repair and improve roadway safety, mobility, and neighborhood quality of life.
“Among the purposes of the grant is to better connect those neighborhoods, which had been connected prior to I-75 being built in the late ’60s,” Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said. “It basically chopped the neighborhood in half. So part of what the federal government is trying to do is reconnect neighborhoods that were divided in that way.”
The project will be done over four years.
“It will completely redo all of the public infrastructure within the Uptown neighborhood to support this innovative district,” he said. “Funding is also coming from the city’s capital improvement budget and water and sanitary funds for the water and sanitary components of the project.
“We’re tearing up 38 city blocks over the course of four years, and it will have an impact on residents and businesses,” Mr. Kapszukiewicz said. “We want to make sure we are in constant communications with the neighborhoods so we can all plan accordingly over the next four years.”
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