Where a crumbling, rocky shoreline now sits beneath apartment buildings and houses, a new multimodal pathway and beachfront area will soon take shape as part of a Cuyahoga County lakefront trail project.

The $15 million trail will run along Lake Erie between East 151st Street and Euclid Beach Park in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood and is part of a broader network of lakefront trails the county is developing.

The Euclid Beach Connector Trail, which will be about two-thirds of a mile long and will transform a stretch of private beachfront into public lakefront access, is slated to open in 2027.

Plans for a new multimodal pathway and beachfront area will soon take shape along this stretch as part of the lakefront trail project.

The $15 million Euclid Beach Connector Trail will run along Lake Erie between East 151st Street and Euclid Beach Park as part of a broader network of lakefront trails the county is developing.

The trail will stretch roughly two-thirds of a mile to transform a stretch of private beachfront into public lakefront access. It is slated to open in 2027, after the groundbreaking ceremony kicked off the project this past Monday, May 4.

Trevor Hunt, a project manager with the Cuyahoga County Department of Public Works and the County’s lead staff member on the project, says the Euclid Beach Connector will expand lakefront access on Cleveland’s East Side, where he says it is most needed.

“Equitable public access was our focus,” he says. “We looked at communities with inequitable public access, and the East Side of Cleveland was one of those communities. There are over 1,000 residents within a quarter-mile of the new trail and, once improved, they will have access to the lake.”

Euclid Beach TrailTo make that public access possible, property owners agreed to give easements to Cuyahoga County—allowing public lakefront access in exchange for shoreline stabilization efforts. All of the properties involved face erosion issues.

Cuyahoga County will stabilize the shoreline to prevent further erosion. County officials reached agreements with three beach associations, several private property owners, and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District to move the project forward.

The Euclid Beach Connector project is similar to a project completed in 2025 at Sims Park in Euclid. Hunt refers to the Sims project as “the Euclid model” because he says the county hopes to replicate it elsewhere.

“These are areas where they’re experiencing rapid erosion,” Hunt says. “We focused on areas where we had buy-in from property owners, and where we could exchange shoreline protection for public access.”

The Euclid Beach Connector Trail will have three access points: East 151st Street, East 156th Street, and Euclid Beach Park near the pier.

Hunt describes the project as a “mix of grey and green infrastructure.” While the trail and shoreline stabilization features will be constructed with stone, the beaches will consist of cobblestone and submerged woody debris intended to support fish habitat.

The Euclid Beach Connector project is similar to a project completed in 2025 at Sims Park.The project will also include native plantings, kayak launch points, and an overlook with views of the lake and Downtown Cleveland skyline.

Hunt says the county has identified five focus areas for public lakefront access projects:

• The Euclid Beach Connector
• The Lakewood Clifton Connector Trail in Rocky River and Lakewood, which is under construction
• The Highland Bluffs Connector Trail along Lakewood’s Gold Coast, which is in the design phase

• The North Marginal Connector Trail from Burke Lakefront Airport to the East 55th Street Marina, which is under construction
• The Eastern Shore project, stretching from the eastern portion of the Euclid Creek Reservation at Wildwood Marina to East 185th Street, which is in the due diligence phase.

“From Euclid to Bay Village, every community including this great city of Cleveland in between, we are committed to residents accessing this great lakefront that is their lakefront,” he told the attendees. “This is one of the greatest treasures we have.”

Ronayne asked attendees to imagine the possibilities the new trail will offer the community.

“Think about it: A connector from the East 9th Street Pier to all the way out to here [in Collinwood], through a various network of trails, and we keep going,” Ronayne continued. “This is ‘Trail City, USA,’ County-wide, Northeast Ohio wide—we take pride in our partnerships.”

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb also spoke on May 4.

“For a long time, we’ve been talking about lakefront access and lakefront development in Cleveland,” Bibb said to the group. “Thirteen years ago, when the Metroparks took over Edgewater, we saw what was possible in our city when we prioritized having lakefront access for all our residents.”

Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne and others at the May 4 groundbreaking of the Euclid Beach Connector.Bibb said it’s time to stop talking and start implementing plans.

“While the press talks a lot about the downtown lakefront, this announcement is about connecting the lakefront to the east side of Cleveland—because for far too long it has been redlined away from lakefront access,” he said.

“Today’s announcement is a testament that from the federal government to the state government to county government to local government, we believe in having a lakefront for all of Cleveland’s people,” Bibb continued. “That’s what this investment is all about.”

Ward 10 Cleveland City Council member Mike Polensek closed out the remarks at the groundbreaking.

“This is really about reshaping the Northeast Side and connecting all of our neighborhoods—whether it’s Collinwood, Glenville, East Cleveland or Euclid,” he said. “This is a partnership.”