The  Irishtown Bend Stabilization Project entails installing approximately 1,400 linear feet of sheet steel bulkheads along the shoreline of the Ship Channel along the section know as Irishtown Bend (between River mile 1.39 and 1.93).  Due to wear and tear and lack of existing functional bulkheads, this hillside section along the Cuyahoga ship channel is at risk of failure. Such a collapse would block movement by freighters that deliver bulk commodity cargos to upstream manufacturing sites. This project will have the following impacts on the economy, community, and environment:

 

• Protection of over 20,000 jobs by maintaining a viable shipping channel on the Cuyahoga River

• Preservation of $5B in the economy assuming dredging and a new bulkhead could be completed within one year of failure based lost production, wages, and tax revenues

 

 Improvement of community livability by:

 

• Securing future land use opportunities to connect residents to  the river via a new hillside park with cultural site, walking trails, and views of downtown Cleveland​

• Allowing for a key link in the regional trails network to be completed

• Providing continued river access for fishing, boating, sailing, rowing, and kayaking

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Mitigation of negative effects of potentially 473,000 trucks being added to the local and interstate systems in lieu of a blocked river channel. Impacts could include:

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• Road and sewer infrastructure deterioration and damage

• Added safety issues due to more conflicts between trucks, cars,  cyclists, and pedestrians

• Environmental impacts such as added sediment and material in the water  and increased pollutants in the air including an estimated 3,424 tons of CO2

 

The project partners are overly concerned about the risk of maritime traffic, which would be blocked, in the event of hillside collapse. The 18-acre site has had at least a 40-year history of hillside instability. This narrow section of the ship channel is vital to commodity freight movements in the region. In response to the imminent danger to commerce, the Port of Cleveland engaged a consulting engineer to evaluate conditions in this area. The engineers identified a comprehensive list of recommendations and preliminary cost estimates to restore Irishtown Bend, totaling $60 million.

 

Many of these project components are being addressed by a variety of stakeholders. However, the largest single component of stabilizing the hillside and protecting the shipping channel is bulkhead installation.

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