Highway upgrades…

The Inner Belt Bridge won’t be orange barrel-free by the time the Republican National Convention is in town.

The Ohio Department of Transportation says it’s not feasible to speed up construction of Cleveland’s second Inner Belt Bridge any more than it’s already doing. That means barrels and detours will be in place when 50,000 visitors arrive in July 2016 for the convention.

“We will not be cleared by that time,” Inner Belt spokeswoman Jocelynn Clemings said.

The completed westbound bridge is carrying Interstate 90 traffic in both directions through downtown Cleveland now — and will continue to do so until the eastbound span is done in October 2016, ODOT says. – Cleveland.com

And a pedestrian bridge…

The Pedestrian Bridge project will not be completed in time for the Republican National Convention, Cleveland officials announced on Tuesday.

In a release from the Pedestrian Bridge Partners – which consist of Cuyahoga County, the City of Cleveland, the Group Plan Commission, the Greater Cleveland Partnership and Destination Cleveland – it was announced the bridge completion date has been pushed from June 2016 to 2017.

The pedestrian bridge will connect the new Cleveland Convention Center and the malls to the lakefront.

“We have one chance to get this right, we have one chance to build the kind of bridge the kind of connection we’ve always wanted for this generation of Clevelanders and for future generations of Clevelanders so it was a clear call,” said Group Plan Commission Executive Director Jeremy Paris. – NewsNet5