West Side I-90 ramp closures ripple across Greater Cleveland commuting patterns

If you drive west from Mentor for work, your morning is mostly unchanged — the two ramps ODOT closed Monday, September 14, 2026, are both eastbound. But the trip home through Lakewood is about to get slower, and it will stay that way through November.

The closed ramps are the I-90 eastbound exit to Alger, Warren, and Bunts roads on the Lakewood/Cleveland border, and the McKinley Avenue entrance ramp to I-90 eastbound in Lakewood. No westbound ramp or lane is closed through Lakewood this fall; the only recent westbound disruption was weather-related flooding at McKinley Avenue on August 26, not construction.

The Alger/Warren/Bunts exit is expected to stay closed until November 2026, while the McKinley Avenue entrance ramp is expected to reopen by mid-October. ODOT said both closures are needed to replace the pavement on those ramps. The work is part of the $173 million I-90 West Side rehabilitation project, which runs from West Boulevard in Cleveland to Hilliard Boulevard in Rocky River and has a completion target of fall 2028.

The drive home

News 5 Cleveland traffic reporter Caitlin Hunt measured the corridor in April 2026, months before these closures, and found the changes added up to about three minutes — sometimes faster, sometimes slower, depending on the day and the ramp. Three minutes sounds small until you're sitting in it at the end of a workday, watching the lane pattern shift between Wagar Road and West 73rd Street and trying to remember which exit is still open.

Through November 2026, I-90 eastbound runs in a bi-directional split between Wagar Road and West 73rd Street, so drivers exiting between those points must use the right two lanes while through traffic uses the left two. A Lake County commuter heading home is through-traffic and won't use the closed Alger/Warren/Bunts exit, but must navigate the detours and the shifting lane pattern. Brent Kovacs, ODOT District 12 Construction Information Engineer, put it plainly: "Drivers are encouraged to give themselves some extra time and have patience behind the wheel."

The way through

If you normally exit at Alger, Warren, or Bunts on your way home, don't. Exit at McKinley Avenue instead and follow South Marginal Road — the McKinley exit ramp is still open, even though the entrance ramp next to it is closed. If you normally get on I-90 eastbound at McKinley Avenue in Lakewood, take South Marginal Drive to the entrance ramp near Warren Road instead.

Earlier closures in the same sequence are still in effect. The West Boulevard eastbound exit closed August 31, 2026 for about 60 days, with drivers detoured by exiting at West 117th Street and using Lorain Road. The West 140th Street entrance ramp to I-90 eastbound closed July 27, 2026, with ODOT directing drivers to the newly built Warren Road entrance ramp.

Through November

The ramp closures are a rolling, phased sequence that will keep shifting through November 2026, with additional closures announced on a rolling basis through the fall. The broader project runs through fall 2028, with complete pavement replacement on the mainline and ramps, new storm sewer and drainage work, lighting replacement, and bridge and barrier repairs. Because the next closure can shift the detour without warning, the smart habit is to leave a few minutes earlier than you think you need to and check ODOT's posted detours before the drive home, rather than assuming the route that worked last week still applies.