Experts Say No New Entrance to Beachwood Place Mall Needed After Expansion

Beachwood Place owners, General Growth Partners, ordered a traffic study as part of the expansion plans. 

The mall owners plan to add 104,000 square feet to the mall at Cedar and Richmond roads. Of that, 77,000 square feet will wrap around the outside of the mall from Nordstrom to Saks Fifth Avenue. Another 27,000 square feet will be three free standing restaurants. 

In addition, the parking lot on Richmond Road will be expanded. After initial plans for the expansion was presented to city council, some expressed concerns about traffic, according to Sun News. 

Here are five of snippets from the traffic experts, URS Corp. of Akron, came to in their study over June 4 and 5 during the p.m. rush hour: 

1. The roads studied were Cedar Road, Richmond Road and George Zeiger Drive. 

2. George Zieger Drive was found to be underutilized. 

3. Saturday traffic was not measured. 

4. After expansion, they projected an additional 100 cars, or 1 percent, driving in and out of Beachwood Place during the p.m. rush hour. 

5. No new entrance to the mall was recommended.