Travelers at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport are finally getting some breathing room at arrivals. After months of cones, barricades and detours, the airport says its lower roadway rehabilitation is complete and every arrival door is back in play. The heavy lift centered on the 2,100‑foot pedestrian tunnel that runs under the arrivals road and links the terminal to parking and the RTA Red Line. The driving surface is now fully restored, but travelers will still see construction walls inside as a separate TSA checkpoint expansion heads toward the finish line.
Lower Roadway Work Wrapped Up
Crews from SMCI have wrapped up repairs and waterproofing under the watch of engineering firm RS&H, restoring the corridor used daily by commuters and rail riders to reach the terminal, according to Cleveland 13. With arrival‑level pickup doors reopened, the fix is meant to cut down on leaks and recurring structural headaches in the decades‑old tunnel.
What the Tunnel Project Covered
The city’s Terminal Tunnel Membrane Project rolled out in phases and focused on making the aging connector a little less leaky and a lot more durable. The work included new waterproofing layers, wall and ceiling repairs, upgrades to the drainage system and electrical relocations along the full 2,100‑foot stretch between the terminal and the RTA level, according to the airport’s news release. Local reporting puts the price tag at roughly $5.7 million, paid for largely with Federal Aviation Administration funds, with RS&H supervising construction carried out by SMCI. Cleveland Hopkins International Airport has framed the overhaul as a long‑term solution for a key piece of its infrastructure that had clearly aged out of its comfort zone.
Traffic Headaches While the Work Ran
Getting to this point was not exactly a joyride. Crews periodically shut down two of the four lanes on the lower roadway, which squeezed traffic and created backups during peak travel times. The airport responded by steering drivers toward alternative plans, urging people to use the skywalk between the parking garage and the terminal and to shift meetups to doors 5 through 7 or even up on the departure level. Local coverage tracked the rolling lane closures and the evolving advice for drivers when the project kicked off last spring, as reported by WOIO/Cleveland 19.
TSA Checkpoint Expansion Nearing the Finish Line
While the roadway has reopened, the central security area is still a work in progress. In mid‑June 2025 the airport launched a central checkpoint expansion designed to ease some of Hopkins’ worst bottlenecks. The project will double the number of screening lanes from two to four and stretch queueing space from about 120 lineal feet to more than 300. To make that happen, crews are reconfiguring nearby restrooms and shifting stairs and ramps to clear out a long‑standing pinch point, changes that are also expected to help CLEAR screening run more smoothly during crunch times. Spectrum News reports that work is proceeding while the checkpoint remains open, and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport has laid out the detailed scope of the upgrades.
What Travelers Should Expect Next
The airport says that once all the gear is in place and humming, the expanded checkpoint should take some of the sting out of security lines, especially during the morning and holiday rush. For now, though, a recent travel report notes that installation and calibration of the final TSA equipment could still take several more weeks, pushing the projected completion toward the end of April 2026. That same report ties longer security waits in part to an uptick in local passengers choosing to fly through Hopkins, and airport spokeswoman Michele Dynia has been walking reporters through the latest timing updates. Until the work is officially wrapped, travelers are being urged to budget extra time during peak periods and to keep an eye on the airport’s travel alerts for any day‑to‑day changes, according to Cleveland.com.
