Midway Mall Traffic Jams – October 1966

Fifty years ago this month, traffic jams were an everyday occurrence near the recently-opened Midway Mall in Elyria, and a remedy was needed – and fast. Shoppers reported delays of 15 to 30 minutes at the intersection of State Route 57 and Griswold Road.

The temporary solution, as described in an article (at left) that ran in the Lorain Journal on October 6, 1966, was to adjust the traffic signals a bit.

But the permanent solution described in the article was to build a bridge over State Route 57. You know, the one that was torn down last year.

Here’s a last look at it on the Bing Maps website.

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Even though it’s been about a year since the 49th Street bridge was demolished, I’m still not used to it being gone.

And I’m not convinced that getting rid of the bridge (as well as those I-90/Route 57 ramps) was a good idea, either. I had to go out to the mall area last weekend, and it seems like there’s a traffic light every few hundred feet or so on Route 57. Of course, I was snagged by each one as I proceeded south.

The sad thing is that once I got to where I was going (PetSmart), I noticed that most of its neighboring stores in that particular shopping center had vamoosed.