Routes 6 & 2 Cloverleaf Construction – Nov. 1956

Back in November 1956, construction of the new cloverleaf near the underpass where Routes 6 & 2 and Route 611 intersect was well underway.

The Lorain Journal kept its readers up to date on the progress throughout the summer and into fall with a series of photographs.

The paper had run this photo (below) in August 1956 that I posted (here) during my blog series on the Pueblo. The red arrow shows where the Pueblo was located. You can see the wide ’S’ curve slowly taking shape. The view is looking east.

On October 4, 1956 the Journal included the photo below.

The caption read, “State Route 611 extending from Leavitt Rd. west to Routes 6 and 2 was scheduled to reopen late this afternoon. John J. Blahay and six-year-old Jeff Rowlands, both of Meister Rd., look on a section of the improved highway east of the intersection of Routes 6 and 2.”

A month later, here’s an aerial shot (below) that was featured in the Journal on November 10, 1956. While the construction site is kind of a mess, what’s interesting to me is the small group of white buildings off in the distance to the east on the lake side.

 

A few days later, the photo below ran in the front page on November 13, 1956. It’s kind of neat seeing the Nickel Plate Road logo on the railroad bridge.

The construction of the cloverleaf really altered the western approach to the city forever. It wiped out several businesses in that area and forced a few to move, with a somewhat barren landscape west of the underpass as the result.

The work was completed about a year later in October 1957. The photo below, which ran in the Journal on December 31, 1957, shows the final result.

The caption read, “This new underpass opened for the first time Oct. 3 is part of a $1,385,000 state highway department improvement of W. Lake Rd. The underpass permits through traffic to move on W. Lake Rd. west from Leavitt Rd. to the Nickel Plate Road underpass. City Officials believe that like the traditional cloverleaf this one will bring good luck for Lorain in the form of highway safety. Mayor John J. Jaworski said at the opening ceremony that the “new highway improvement will virtually eliminate traffic accidents at the underpass which is now a beauty spot.”

The view this past Friday