Straight Talk on the Nagel-Detroit Roundabout Plan

Avon City Councilperson Tammy Holtzmeier reports that a roundabout will be coming to the Detroit-Nagel Road intersection.

In a recent edition of the Villager, the headline states the roundabout is planned for the Lear-Detroit intersection.

It is actually the Nagel-Detroit intersection.

Clearly, it’s time for some straight talk on the Lear Road, Nagel Road, and Lear-Nagle Road history of names.

“It is confusing because the same road is Lear Road in Avon Lake, and it becomes Nagel Road in Avon and then in North Ridgeville is it actually Lear Nagle (where Nagle is spelled differently than Avon spells it,” reports the office of Avon Mayor Bryan Jensen.

To make things even more confusing, there is a small stretch of road off Bradley in Bay Village that is named Naigle Road. So, what gives?

The complicated story is rooted in local history. The road starts in Avon Lake at Lake Erie, named as Lear Road after one or the community’s founding families.

It becomes Nagel Road when it crosses the city limits at the Avon line, named after one of Avon’s founding families.

When Nagel Road reaches the North Ridgeville line, it becomes Lear-Nagle Road (there is no accounting for the spelling change from Nagel to Nagle at that point).

Adding to the confusion, Lear Road in Avon Lake intersects with Krebs Road just north of the railroad tracks. Inexplicably, Krebs Road turns into Naigle Road when it reaches Bay Village.

Got that? Quiz tomorrow lol.

Over the years, there has been discussion on unifying the road to one name. But that adds even more confusion, calling for address changes, map changes and all sorts of complicated detail work. So round and round we go. And here comes the roundabout!