Underground vaults complicate project

CLEVELAND (AP) -- It will cost the city about $9 million this year to fill in or repair 58 vaults built beneath the sidewalks of a downtown street 75 years ago to store heating oil, coal or electrical equipment.
Work on the vaults represents an initial phase of the $168 million Euclid Avenue transportation project, which will add bus lanes, a repaved roadway and landscaping.
Before new roads and sidewalks can be built over them, the vaults must be reinforced or filled with concrete. Work starts in the fall.
"There were all sorts of uses for them," said Walter Leedy, who teaches architectural history at Cleveland State University. "They were pop-up entrances so people could bring freight into the building. They were places to keep coal."
Most were built off basements. Many have brick or concrete walls and ceilings between 6 feet and 10 feet tall. They vary in size, resembling narrow hallways and large basements.
Though the dozens of underground storage compartments might sound like an explorer's dream, city crews haven't found anything unusual inside, said Mark Ricchiuto, public service director.
"These are underground concrete pits," he said. "There's no romance in the vaults."