FAQ

The Innerbelt Master Plan is part of Akron’s “Reconnecting Our Community” Initiative, a multi-year, community-led process to reimagine the future of the decommissioned Innerbelt.

Phase 1 of “Reconnecting Our Community” Initiative, which took place from 2021-2023, focused on community engagement to understand Innerbelt’s past and gathering Akron residents’ ideas about its future. The Innerbelt Master Plan builds on Phase 1 work, and will turn these ideas into concrete short- and long-term actions.

This northern section of the Innerbelt was where the Mayor wanted to start. It was part of the oldest section of the Innerbelt and in need of repair. It's also adjacent to downtown, which might make its redevelopment easier.

The Innerbelt Master Plan is more than just a plan for physical improvements to the Innerbelt site. It will also deliver ideas for housing, economic, and community development that will benefit Akron’s economy, environment, and community well-being. The Master Plan will focus on how these benefits will be distributed equitably and repair past harms to the community caused by the Innerbelt.

The Innerbelt Master Plan will be the community’s plan. Unlike the top-down planning approach that led to the Innerbelt’s construction, this process will rely on collaborative decision-making with the community. No decisions about the future of the Innerbelt have been made yet, and the Master Plan will be shaped through dialogue, engagement, and shared ideas over the next nine months.

The role of the Advisory group is to serve as a thought partner to the City, providing high level insight that can help shape and guide the overall process. They’re critical to framing what the public engagement could look like and holding the process accountable once it launches. While the group will advise on the process and the information that we receive from it, the determination of community preferences will come from the engagement process, not the group.

The Innerbelt Master Plan process will last until fall 2025. Your voice matters at every stage of the process. There will be many opportunities to participate in the Master Plan process, including community workshops and focused engagement with Akron-based “community coordinators”.

The Innerbelt is an important part of Akron’s landscape, and we value input from many different voices. That’s why the Advisory Group includes people from diverse backgrounds. We also understand that building the Innerbelt caused harm by destroying a neighborhood and cutting off access for others, especially affecting Akron’s Black community. To create a shared vision that promotes healing, we will focus on understanding the needs and wishes of those most impacted, including former residents, business owners, and people in nearby neighborhoods.

In the early 1960s, the Innerbelt was first introduced as an idea. It was ultimately built in 1975, erasing a vibrant neighborhood and displacing residents and businesses. In 2018, a portion of the Innerbelt was decommissioned. This story of how it came to be, attempts to stop it, the destruction it caused, and how it was never fully completed can be found here.

Prior to the Innerbelt, there was primarily commercial, non-residential land to the north and predominantly Black residential neighborhood to the south. The neighborhood had a rich cultural and social history. At one point, it was the center of Akron’s Jewish community. You can read more about the neighborhood history here.

At the moment, there is no dedicated directory of residents who were displaced, though developing a more robust accounting of what was lost was one of the recommendations included in the Phase 1 Report. For a list of businesses that might have resided in the area, the Akron Summit County Historical Society does have old business directories for the area. In 2023, we launched the Innerbelt History Collection in collaboration with the Akron Summit County Public Library. It is an evolving dedicated archive of stories, images, and maps that document the neighborhood that the Innerbelt displaced. 

In 2023, we launched the Innerbelt History Collection in collaboration with the Akron Summit County Public Library. A key part of this archive is an oral history effort, the Innerbelt Neighborhood Stories Project, that is intended to create a more robust record of the life that existed before the highway. If your family lived, worked/ran a business, or worshipped in that neighborhood, we’d love to talk to you. Please fill out the contact form to get in touch.

As the initiative moves forward, there will be a number of opportunities to engage in the process and share your thoughts. Please check out the Participate page for upcoming events and the Contact page to sign up for our newsletter. If you’re interested in helping us reach out to folks in your community, let us know via the Contact page.

The best way to keep up to date with what’s happening on this project is to sign up for the project mailing list. You can also check out the Participate page for the latest events and information about previous events.