Route 8 Ramps May Close for Graham Road Project

Construction on the Graham Road widening project may lead to the closure of some Route 8 ramps during the summer of 2014.

Stow City Engineer Jim McCleary said they determined just last month that the Graham Road on-and-off ramps for Route 8 may need to be closed during construction on the project.

"It’s very difficult to build some of these projects with the ramps open and maintaining traffic," McCleary said.

More than 23,000 cars per day traveled on Graham Road near the Route 8 interchange in 2011, according to traffic data maintained by the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study.

McCleary said whether or not the ramps will be closed remains a bit of an uncertainty for now.

If the ramps are closed, how long they will be closed also is unclear at this point.

The Ohio Department of Transportation will review the proposed ramp closures.

Justin Chesnic, spokesperson for ODOT District 4 in Akron, said ODOT will either approve or deny Stow's request to close the freeway ramps at Graham Road.

Chesnic said it's unlikely ODOT would deny the request to close the ramps.

Construction on the project, which has a total estimated cost between $4 million and $4.5 million, will start in early 2014.

Both Stow and Cuyahoga Falls recently started the property acquisition phase of the project.