Dark conditions beneath the Memphis Avenue railroad bridge in Brooklyn, Ohio had long created a hazard for pedestrians, drivers and cyclists passing through the corridor. Now the city has fixed that problem itself, paying to install new LED lights on both sides of the Norfolk Southern-owned overpass rather than continue waiting on the railroad to act.
The lighting addition comes after Brooklyn spent roughly a decade trying to get Norfolk Southern to repair the bridge's crumbling concrete façade, according to Cleveland.com. The railroad eventually repaired the façade in 2024 after chunks of concrete had been falling off the structure, per the outlet's reporting, but made no additional investment in the bridge beyond that fix. Under federal rules governing railroad bridges, that outcome isn't surprising: 49 CFR Part 237 requires track owners to maintain structural integrity, load capacity and safety inspections, but does not obligate them to fund street-level lighting or cosmetic upgrades for the roadways passing beneath their tracks, according to the Federal Register.
That regulatory gap left Brooklyn to cover the cost of the new lighting on property it doesn't own, a decision city officials framed as necessary for public safety. Ron Van Kirk, addressing the dynamic between municipalities and railroads, said railroads generally do not act unless a bridge is literally collapsing, the article notes. The new lighting followed a related 2025 partnership between Brooklyn and neighboring Linndale to repaint the bridge structure, the same reporting states.
A Small Neighbor, A Shared Border
Linndale, which sits along the same Memphis Avenue and I-71 corridor, is Cuyahoga County's smallest municipality, with roughly 108 residents packed into just 0.08 square miles, according to Cleveland Magazine. The tiny village relies heavily on traffic enforcement along those shared roads for municipal operating revenue, the magazine reports. Brooklyn's decision to partner with Linndale on repainting, and later lighting, the bridge reflects the kind of cross-border cooperation that inner-ring Cuyahoga County communities increasingly rely on to manage shared infrastructure.
Brooklyn itself covers about four square miles in central Cuyahoga County, with a population of 11,359 as of the 2020 U.S. Census, bordered on three sides by Cleveland and to the south by Parma, per the City of Brooklyn. The city sits about six miles south of downtown Cleveland with direct highway access via I-71 and I-480, making Memphis Avenue a heavily used commuter corridor.
Part of a Larger Push Along Memphis Avenue
The lighting project isn't an isolated fix. Brooklyn has also added a new entry sign with landscaping near the Linndale border, part of a broader effort the city designated in 2024 to treat that stretch of Memphis Avenue as a key municipal gateway, according to Brooklyn's own planning documents. The city separately has charter authority to levy up to 1 mill of property tax specifically dedicated to street lighting projects, per Brooklyn financial records reviewed by the Ohio Auditor of State.
Investment along the corridor has picked up in recent years. Cuyahoga County completed an eight-month replacement of the county-owned Memphis Avenue bridge before reopening it to traffic in June 2022. The Cuyahoga County Public Library later opened an $18 million, 25,000-square-foot Brooklyn Branch at 7619 Memphis Avenue in November 2024, according to Axios, significantly increasing foot traffic along the street. Brooklyn also issued a 2024 redevelopment solicitation for 4.5 acres at 8707 Memphis Avenue, aiming to attract new single-family and multi-family housing after a commercial demolition on the site.
Brooklyn's Master Plan additionally calls for a future road diet along Memphis Avenue between Tiedeman Road and Ridge Road, converting the wide corridor into one travel lane in each direction, a center turn lane and dedicated bike paths, according to Cleveland Magazine. Traffic studies had identified the wide stretch as a high-accident zone where drivers were creating informal extra lanes, the magazine reports. Brooklyn separately scheduled multi-year bridge overhauls over I-480 at Tiedeman Road and Southwood Drive starting in 2024, including concrete repairs, repainting, new fencing and upgraded lighting.
Clinton Road Bridge Could Be Next
Brooklyn now plans to bring similar lighting improvements to the Clinton Road railroad bridge, though that project will require hiring an outside electrician, per Cleveland.com. City officials expect the Clinton Road lighting to be completed within six to 12 months, and the mayor has indicated the work could land in either 2026 or 2027. For now, the improved visibility under the Memphis Avenue bridge stands as the more immediate benefit for Brooklyn residents navigating the corridor on foot, by bike or behind the wheel.
