Lorain just landed a $1.5 million federal planning grant to reimagine East 36th Street, a roughly 3.3-mile corridor on the city's south side. The money will cover engineering, environmental review and final design work aimed at cutting down flooding, adding green infrastructure and making it safer to walk, bike and catch the bus to schools and jobs. City officials say the federal paperwork to unlock the grant is finished, and they are now turning to the harder part: tracking down construction cash to turn drawings into actual street work.
What the grant covers
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the $1.5 million award is a planning grant through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program. The fact sheet says the funds will pay for design of new and improved roadway connections, multi-use paths for people on foot and on bikes, and roadside green infrastructure.
The document also highlights work on about one mile of degraded stormwater channel next to East 36th Street to tackle chronic flooding. It notes that the project was scored as serving a historically disadvantaged community and an area of persistent poverty, which helped make it eligible for RAISE funding.
Project area and goals
Per the City of Lorain, the improvements would stretch roughly 3.3 miles from Falbo Avenue to Tacoma Avenue and are intended to stitch together broken segments into a continuous east-west corridor. The local plan focuses on rebuilding existing road sections, adding protected crossings and creating new roadway connections to better link South Lorain neighborhoods with the business district and nearby schools.
City staff say the planning grant will produce construction-ready designs that can be submitted with applications for larger federal, state or philanthropic construction grants. In other words, this is the design phase the city needs on paper before it can chase the big money to actually pour concrete and lay pipes.
Next steps and funding
City leaders told Cleveland.com that the planning dollars are only the first step, and that they will be seeking additional federal, state and local funds to cover construction costs. A public procurement notice looking for consulting and engineering firms tied to the RAISE award confirms the city is moving into the consultant-selection and concept-design phase, according to BidNet Direct.
Officials have not released a construction timeline or a total project price tag, saying those details will depend on what kind of funding they can secure later.
Why it matters for South Lorain
The East 36th Street effort lines up with years of neighborhood planning aimed at reversing disinvestment on the south side and supporting residents who rely on walking, biking and transit to get to work and school. The Southside Gateway plan, which coordinates housing, park and transportation investments in the area, flags East 36th as a key corridor where street upgrades could open up better access to services and jobs.
Local organizers say they are glad to see planning money finally arrive, but they also want firm commitments that shovels will follow the studies and that community benefits will reach longtime residents, not just future arrivals.
Where to follow the project
Design work is expected to take several months and will guide future grant applications and local budget decisions needed to pay for construction. Residents can follow updates on the city's East 36th project page via the City of Lorain, and at upcoming council meetings as officials try to turn planning dollars into visible fixes for streets and stormwater problems on the south side.
