Warren Road was never meant to be the main north-south route through west Lakewood. This fall, four separate official detour instructions have sent traffic onto it. The City of Lakewood's Bunts Road project sends northbound drivers there, and three of ODOT's I-90 ramp closures do the same. The Lake-Clifton Connector to the north uses a different set of streets, and when its biggest phase arrives, those streets will take a share of the load.
The county, the city and ODOT run these projects on their own schedules with their own contractors. Drivers feel them as one detour network, and right now that network leans on Warren Road.
Four Detours, One Street
On the City of Lakewood's Bunts Road project page, Bunts is limited to one-way southbound traffic between Madison Avenue and Lakewood Heights Boulevard, and northbound traffic is detoured to Warren Road. Crews swapped the work zone and the traffic lane on August 5 and 6 so they could work on the west side of the street.
The interstate adds the rest. ODOT's Cuyahoga County traffic impacts page lists these closures on the I-90 Major Rehabilitation between Hilliard Boulevard and West Boulevard:
| Closure | Scheduled through | Posted detour |
|---|---|---|
| Bunts Rd. northbound, Madison to Lakewood Hts. Blvd. | Ongoing, Phase 1 | Warren Rd. |
| I-90 eastbound exit to Alger, Warren and Bunts | November | McKinley Ave. to South Marginal Rd. to Warren Rd. |
| W. 140th St. entrance to I-90 east | December | Lakewood Hts. Blvd. to Warren Rd. to I-90 east |
| I-90 eastbound, Wagar Rd. to W. 73rd St. | Spring 2027, bi-directional pattern | All lanes kept open; exiting traffic uses the right two lanes |
| I-90 eastbound, Hilliard to Alger | November 2026, reduced to three lanes | None listed |
ODOT also listed the McKinley Avenue ramp to I-90 eastbound as closed through Tuesday, November 3, with its own detour via South Marginal Drive to Warren Road. That makes four separate detour instructions this fall that pointed to Warren. ODOT revises these dates often, so check its page before a time-sensitive trip. The whole I-90 project runs from August 2025 to an estimated October 2028, according to the ODOT project page.
The Bunts detour is the one that won't lift with the next ODOT update. Bunts is a multi-year rebuild.
What Bunts Looks Like Heading Into Winter
The Bunts Road Rehabilitation covers the whole road from Lakewood Heights Boulevard to Clifton Boulevard, including the roadway, sewer and water lines. Funding comes from NOACA, ODOT and the city. Phase 1 runs from Lakewood Heights Boulevard to Franklin Boulevard and started April 15, 2026. Phase 2 starts in 2027 once Phase 1 is finished.
Here's where things stood in the city's October 26 project update:
- Bunts and Madison. All pavement replacement in the intersection is complete, including a new red-dyed concrete crosswalk. Terrace Construction was scheduled to pour the last curbs, sidewalks and ADA ramps on the southeast corner the week of October 26. Milling and new asphalt on Madison, east and west of the intersection, was set for October 28 and 29.
- Athens Avenue. Athens is closed at Bunts for equipment and material staging through May 15, 2027. The traffic light there was removed in September and replaced with stop signs. The city reminds drivers that residents still use the crosswalk across Bunts at Athens.
- Sewer and water laterals. About 85% of the west-side properties between Lakewood Heights Boulevard and Madison were done, and the rest are all south of Athens. That work can briefly block driveways.
- Gas valves. The project ran into a conflict with existing gas curb stops. Enbridge's contractor, Wartko, was scheduled to start relocating them the week of October 26, beginning between Madison and Athens.
- Madison to Franklin. Little work happened in this stretch in late October. Delivery of the new streetlight poles was delayed. A landscape subcontractor was expected to start planting new tree lawn trees in the following two weeks.
The same update says that where crews find a lead or galvanized steel water line still in use on private property, the city will contact the owner. Once the owner signs a Right-of-Entry agreement, the private line is replaced with copper at no charge. That's general information about a city program, not legal advice. Owners with questions about the agreement should contact the city or their own attorney.
When it's finished, Bunts will have a 10-foot shared-use path on the west side. That is the same width as the Cleveland Metroparks paths and the path on Detroit Avenue between Graber Avenue and Valley Parkway. The plans also add a mid-block crossing with push-button flashing beacons south of the railroad tracks for people walking to Giant Eagle, plus northbound and southbound left-turn lanes at Franklin. At the north end, curb bump-outs at the northwest and southeast corners of Detroit and Bunts will shorten the crosswalks. That puts Detroit in the plans for both projects.
Clifton Is Still in Its First Phase
Farther north, the Lake-Clifton Connector has narrowed the main road between Rocky River and Lakewood. The city's Lake-Clifton page, updated October 29, lists the current conditions:
- One lane in each direction on the north end of Lake Road and Clifton Boulevard, from Linda Street in Rocky River to Webb Road
- The south ends of Clifton Road and Clifton Boulevard closed
- The "Marion Ramp" from Detroit Avenue to Lake Road and Clifton Boulevard closed
- The bike lanes along the corridor unavailable in both cities, with several crosswalks and sidewalk segments closed and posted detours in place
The project is run by Cuyahoga County Public Works. Perk Company, Inc. holds the contract at $12,313,895.62, with an April 20, 2026 start and a scheduled completion of September 2027. The finished corridor shrinks from four lanes to two. It adds a separated shared-use path, more trees and better pedestrian crossings, and puts a roundabout at Lake Road and Clifton Boulevard. Cleveland.com reported that the Clifton Boulevard Bridge over the Rocky River, above the Cleveland Yachting Club, goes from four travel lanes to two to make room for the path to downtown Rocky River.
The current setup matches the first of three phases that county project manager Trevor Hunt described at a February 24 public meeting at Lakewood City Hall, as The Land reported:
- Two-way traffic stays on the north side of Clifton Boulevard while crews build the south side.
- A 90-day period without two-way traffic while the roundabout is built.
- Two-way traffic moves to the south side, and the north side becomes the trail, which is due to be finished by fall 2027.
"One lane of automobile traffic will be maintained at all times throughout the project with the exception of those 90 days," Hunt said at that meeting, according to The Land. In the same coverage, he said drivers on the corridor regularly reach 45 to 50 mph, and that construction affects 74 homes in Lakewood. At the March groundbreaking, cleveland.com reported that the roundabout work was expected in the spring and that the intersection would need to close for at least 90 days.
Lakewood Mayor Meghan George explained the purpose of the redesign in a News 5 report on the groundbreaking:
"Years ago, in the 1960s, when Route Two came through, it really destroyed the Clifton Park neighborhood. What this is going to do is attempt to bring that back into more of a neighborhood feeling rather than an interstate feeling, than it has today."
Where the Next Detour Lands
Warren Road handles the Bunts and I-90 detours. The Lake-Clifton detours, as The Land reported them from the public meeting, run along different streets:
| Who | Posted detour streets |
|---|---|
| Drivers | Wagar Road, Detroit Road, Sloane Avenue, West Clifton Boulevard |
| People walking and biking | Argyle Road, Battersea Boulevard, Lake Road, Detroit Road, Sloane Avenue, West Clifton Boulevard |
Detroit appears on both lists. During the roundabout phase, when Hunt said one-lane traffic would not be kept open, the Detroit, Sloane and West Clifton route becomes the main way around the Lake and Clifton intersection. The Marion Ramp, the direct link from Detroit to Lake and Clifton, is already closed. Bunts will add its curb bump-outs at Detroit when the rebuild reaches that intersection. ODOT's bi-directional I-90 pattern from Wagar to West 73rd is scheduled to stay in place through spring 2027, and the Athens closure at Bunts runs through May 15, 2027.
The county also plans more connections after this one. The Lake-Clifton project is the first of several, and future work will focus on the Detroit Road bridge and the Hilliard Boulevard bridge. The city's Bunts Road fact sheet describes the new Bunts path as a link between west Lakewood's residential and commercial areas, Rocky River and the Metroparks Rocky River Reservation.
Detroit Avenue is also the site of the next big gathering on the city calendar. LakewoodAlive lists Light Up Lakewood for Saturday, December 5, 2026, from 4 to 8 p.m. on Detroit Avenue between Arthur and Marlowe, as a free event with live entertainment, shopping and family activities. The city emails both road-project updates to subscribers, and the sign-up links are on the Bunts Road and Lake-Clifton Connector pages.
Do you live on Bunts, near Clifton or close to Warren and wonder how a year of construction affects what your home is worth now and after the new paths open? Iconic Partners Group follows these projects block by block and can give you a clear, local read on your street. Get your instant home valuation, and we'll talk through what the finished corridors could mean for you.
