After more than a year of interviews, workshops and community discussions, the City of Akron has released a master plan that aims to repair the harm caused by the construction of the Innerbelt and the destruction of the neighborhood in its path.
The plan, developed by Sasaki, a Boston-based planning and engineering firm, acknowledges that it will take decades — and tens of millions of dollars — to implement the litany of proposals that extend far beyond the currently decommissioned portion of the highway.
In fact, aside from planting tufted grasses and other greenery to help repair the soil and carving a walkway on the Innerbelt from the existing surface, the plan mostly leaves the milelong roadway alone in favor of recommending increased housing, new road connections and other improvements that can help enliven the area and connect it to downtown…