TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – Connecting Toledo Neighborhoods to Opportunity is a multi-million-dollar project aimed at improving the city on a number of different levels. Its focus is projects in Uptown as well as some of the surrounding neighborhoods.
It’s a $53 million project that will include major infrastructure upgrades with a goal of creating more investment and connecting more Toledoans to things like jobs and health care.
City leaders said Connecting Toledo Neighborhoods to Opportunity is one of the most important projects in the pipeline. Among other things, it will create innovation and entertainment-style districts in Uptown.
“Next to the Glass City Riverwalk project, this really is the next transformative project in our region. The reason for that is because it provides better connectivity from areas around downtown to get into downtown and to have access to education, health care and create better job opportunities. The project includes 38 city blocks in Uptown from 13th Street to 21st Street,” Brandon Sehlhorst, the director of economic development for the City of Toledo, said. “All new water and sanitary infrastructure will be completed, all the roads will be reconstructed and new streetscapes will be added to the roads. About 67% of uptown is parking lots and green space so we have an extraordinary opportunity for new development.”
Sehlhorst said the entertainment district will be focused on the Adams Street corridor and the Jefferson Center will be the anchor of the innovation district.
“An innovation district is a partnership between private sector companies, workforce development and educational institutions and also local businesses and residents. The vision for this neighborhood is to be mixed-use, mixed-income,” Sehlhortst said.
When it comes to the surrounding neighborhoods, the I-75 Dorr Street overpass will see major changes.
“There will be an all multi-purpose trail that will extend from the Jefferson Center to the Mott Branch Library and along the Dorr Street corridor. It celebrates the neighborhoods by creating a gateway element. Currently, between the Junction and Englewood neighborhoods and downtown, there are only four overpasses, There used to be 13 connecting the neighborhoods to downtown,” Sehlhorst said.
Sehlhorst said all the work is designed to improve lives for generations.
“At its heart, this project is all about people. Providing better access to education, jobs health care and services within the downtown and Uptown areas,” Sehlhorst said.
Sehlhorst said the project will also include a new TARTA mobility hub that combines multiple modes of transportation at one transit stop. Construction for the overall project is expected to start in the spring of 2027 and be finished in 2030.
The city has created a page on its website with everything you need to know about the project.
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