Akron’s Innerbelt Highway

Written By Davey Squires

We cannot talk about Akron’s urban fabric without first talking about the gross decommission and degradation of such. After realizing that putting thousands of cars in densely packed cities was absolutely unsafe and replacing said cities economy with miles of parking lots was ehh... not the best economically, socially, or otherwise. The "great" 1960s revolution of “urban renewal” started gaining for traction. In many ways the word ‘renewal’ denotes a connotation of positivity and progress. However, Akron’s Innerbelt highway spur, which is posted as Ohio State Route 59, is more akin to a removal and replacement of communities and culture to concrete and costs. At the massive social, economic, and ecologic cost of an estimated more than 700 households, 100 businesses, and a number of health, worship, and education institutions displaced, erased, and were never replaced. More than 50 years onwards. 

Akron 1947 Highway Master Plan

Original Plan

Akron’s Innerbelt, which is a 4 mile, 6-lane highway spur route of Interstate 76, is an urban monstrosity in the highest order. The original plans for the Innerbelt date back to 1947, as the city of Akron and State of Ohio’s Department of Highways proposed the ‘Engineering Report of the Proposed Interstate Highway System.’ The post WWII rapid increase of automobile ownership in Akron; along with the rapid decrease of the city’s public transit forecasted overcrowding trouble on the horizon. Who could blame them? Akron was on the rise throughout the 40s and 50s; as wartime industrial output turned to a postwar boom in American consumerism. The city’s population increase pushing 20% between 1940 and 1960. Thus, original plans for the Innerbelt were bold and far more expansive than anything that was later built (thank god). 

The OG proposal looked more akin to half a ring road reaching as far south as US Route 224; spanning over twice its current length. Almost certainly cutting straight Akron’s Summit Lake neighborhood. It’s easy to see why they pulled that section of the route with private industrial and later park property to contend with. Routing traffic on Ohio Route 93 and later I-76, farther out of Akron city center, was what it became. However, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The highway was planned continuing northeast connecting to passing through Ohio Route 8. As the route passed over Britain Road it curved north; avoiding the nearby circle of the city of Tallmadge. The highway was set to continue north all the way to Munroe Falls Ave. and damn well nearing the Village of Munroe Falls itself. Before turning east, flowing south of Munroe Falls; in the area where Munroe Falls Metro Park presently is, over the Cuyahoga River in the direction of Kent, Ohio. Continuing east over Ohio Route 91 and paralleling River Road. 

Innerbelt Route Plans; Akron, OH. 1947

The Innerbelt itself even had a spur route planned. This “Cuyahoga Valley Route” would’ve connected the Innerbelt to the East-West Bypass (a route following Silver Lake/OH-59 to Fairlawn/SR-18). The Cuyahoga Valley Route would have no doubt disrupted even more communities in the Highland Square area along W. Exchange, S. Maple, and W. Market Streets. Fortunately, these plans never went through. The city opted to present highway and stroad locations at least marginally further away from downtown including SR-21 and (to a lesser extent) I-77. Nevertheless, citing the preferential treatment of circular urban, the city still decided to realign and widen their downtown SR-18. Along with a relocated north-south State Route 8 connecting to the east-west State Route 91; the fragmented, yet realistic design for the bypass proposal came to be reality. So it was that W. Exchange was left as a suitable thoroughfare between downtown and SR-18. While it was fortunate that most of the 1947 plans for Innerbelt were either shelved or replaced with routes that didn’t raze neighborhoods. Still, for the phase that did get built the effects would be felt. Even now. 



Changed Plans

However, by the time the Innerbelt’s construction started in 1970; Interstate 77 had connected through Akron the decade prior. That same year, the connection from US Route 224 and I-77 was made, as I-277 too finished construction. As the 70s wore on the only question on the Innerbelt project left was, “why?” Slowly, each plan, idea, and blueprint the city department had slowly culminated throughout the 60s was either shelved or shortened, as state highway numbers were rearranged. I-76, running just south of Akron, was fully connected in 1972. This finally brought a main high speed east-west highway to Akron; running just south of downtown. This effectively made the plans for the northeast section of the project past Route 8 pointless. Even still, construction continued on a section that would end up getting the Route 59 designation. Despite the cutting down of multiple phases of 1947 plans; the razing, development, and overall construction of the Innerbelt was slow and absolutely draining for the local neighborhoods that highway barreled through. The highway’s construction took a painfully irritating 15 years to complete. Construction displaced businesses, houses of worship, and other cultural organizations on top of the private homes owned or rented out. 

Effects

According to Akron Beacon Journal’s 2022 article on the effects and what can be done to mend past urban renewal atrocities, which I highly recommend checking out (linked down below). “Incomplete records mean that we do not know the exact number of houses razed or individuals displaced by the Akron Innerbelt.” A document compiled later, in 1975, by the Akron Department of Planning and Urban Renewal puts together at least 737 households displaced during the highway’s initial two phases of construction. Coming off the time of redlining when the Innerbelt was constructed; I wanted to compare what areas the highway plunged its way through with where the redlined areas were. Using University of Richmond’s Mapping Inequality interactive map; I found that, in a 1939 HOLC map, much of the route was marked as redlined. Primarily along Dart Avenue; on the east side of Sherbondy Hill. 

HOLC Map, Akron, OH Metro. 1939

On a demographic level, the Innerbelt wasted no time in robbing the city of its heartbeat. Though granted; there are also a number of connected factors and variables. I believe that, at the very least, the Innerbelt accelerated the decline of Akron overall. According to the US Census Bureau; between 1970 and 1980, Akron’s population dropped by 13.9%. Falling a further 6% by the time the 90s dawned. Overall, a decrease in population from 275,425 in 1970 to 223,019 by 1990. The city losing 1/5th of its population in a 20 year span. The building of the highway essentially created a moat of unsafe, ugly, and inefficient infrastructure. Erasing years of community, family, and business in a predominantly black neighborhood. No doubt; the impact was felt, not only by on those who were forced out of their home, but increasingly was felt by those who remained in the fragmented neighborhoods. For those who remained; effects of the artificial population decline in the area did a number of local business. This creates a feedback loop of business closure begetting business closure, which given enough time will decrease property values. Many reasons why urban highways are so bad can be found within the reason for the decline in property values. The noise pollution, air pollution, and physical pollution, in the form of littering, can be found usually flanking both sides of the highway. All the while disrupting the local historical neighborhood grid for the benefit of suburban drivers convenience and at the moral and economical cost of the people who actually lived in or at least closer to Akron’s downtown. 

Moving Forward

Despite the long and arguous story of Akron’s Innerbelt being the story of the racially-driven razing of entire neighborhoods with little thought socially, economically, or otherwise. This story may have a more positive ending. Moving on past the completion of the highway; in the 1990s and early 2000s the Innerbelt’s road surface was used as the staging ground for the city’s annual fireworks show. It’s almost sad how quick the city was to bring up redevelopment ideas for the area, as by the late 1990s, then-Mayor Don Plusquellic was already bringing up ideas of vacating and redevelop the portion of highway directly adjacent to downtown. So it was in 2016, the stretch of the Innerbelt between Market and Exchange Streets would be vacated. When Ohio’s Department of Transportation gave the land back to the City of Akron for pubic use. The city got started on turning that section into a park area with trail connections to the Cascade Valley Metro Park via the Beech Street Trailhead. 

These and future developments of the area have all been sparked with help of the Reconnecting Our Community - Innerbelt Initiative. This Akron Initiative was created to develop a community-centered vision for future plans of redevelopment along the closed sections of the Innerbelt highway. However, the initiative understands to begin the process of mending urban wounds the city must identify the historical context of the area. The first phase of work overtaken by the organization took place in the last two years (2021-2023), mostly undertaking the initial conversations and ideas for redevelopment with former residents and business owners. Liz Ogbu, designer and spatial justice activist, is at the leading position of this initiative. Though, this is very much a community-lead collective just as much as it’s community-based. Furthermore, there's a larger emphasis on the story-driven, historical aspects of the Innerbelt with this initiative that I personally prefer. Designed to generate knowledge and increase awareness of the injustices done during the creation and facilitation of Akron’s Innerbelt. 

Davey Squires
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