NASA Architect's $2 Billion Aeronautical Disneyland on Lake Erie Sinks

Fresh off planning America's lunar missions, the Apollo mastermind pitched an enormous offshore terminal capable of handling supersonic passenger jets. Here's how the dream ultimately failed.

Mar. 13, 2026 at 2:48pm

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In the late 1960s, NASA architect Abe Silverstein proposed building a massive $2 billion jetport on an artificial island in the middle of Lake Erie off the coast of Cleveland. Silverstein's 'Aeronautical Disneyland' plan called for a terminal 10 times the size of the Pentagon to accommodate the largest jets and supersonic transports. Despite initial widespread support from local and state officials, the project ultimately failed due to lack of federal funding and changing airline industry dynamics in the late 1970s.

Why it matters

The jetport proposal represented Cleveland's ambitious efforts to reinvent itself as an aviation hub and reverse the city's economic decline in the post-war era. While the plan was technologically feasible, it ultimately fell victim to shifting political and economic realities, highlighting the challenges cities face in executing grand, transformative infrastructure projects.

The details

Silverstein's jetport plan called for an artificial island a mile offshore from downtown Cleveland, connected to the mainland by a 13-lane causeway. The terminal itself would have been a massive, multi-level complex 10 times the size of the Pentagon. Over $4.2 million was spent studying the project's feasibility, with the FAA and private foundations providing funding. However, the project's $2 billion price tag proved too steep, and the FAA ultimately declined to provide federal funding in 1976. With the election of Mayor Dennis Kucinich, who opposed the jetport, and the deregulation of the airline industry in 1978, the project was effectively killed.

  • In 1969, Abe Silverstein announced the jetport proposal shortly before his retirement from NASA.
  • In 1976, the FAA said there was no federal money to pay for the $2 billion project.
  • In 1977, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Hopkins Airport would be sufficient for Cleveland's needs until at least 2000.
  • In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act, paving the way for the dissolution of the Civil Aeronautics Board.
  • In December 1978, Cleveland defaulted on $14 million in loans, the first city to do so since the Great Depression.

The players

Abe Silverstein

A NASA architect who was heralded as the architect of America's space program and led the planning and naming of America's manned space flights in the 1960s.

Dennis Kucinich

A young firebrand on Cleveland's city council who opposed the jetport plan.

Norman Krumholz

Cleveland's planning director from 1969 to 1979 who believed the jetport was a 'lost opportunity' that could have prevented the city's population and jobs decline.

James Rhodes

The Governor of Ohio who was willing to work on the jetport project's behalf.

Ralph Nader

The consumer advocate whose 'Nader's Raiders' opposed the jetport plan.

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What they’re saying

“Physically, we could have done it.”

— Norman Krumholz, Cleveland Planning Director (Popular Mechanics)

“The consensus was to at least look into it. There were many interested factions.”

— Norman Krumholz, Cleveland Planning Director (Popular Mechanics)

“In airport construction, there's a lot of the idea of, 'If you build it, they will come.' But saying 50 million people would use it when regulation was still the rule of the day is willful disregarding of the way things worked at the time.”

— Janet Bednarek, University of Dayton History Professor (Popular Mechanics)

What’s next

The project was effectively killed in 1978 when the FAA told the Lake Erie Regional Transit Authority it would not receive any more funding for the jetport.

The takeaway

The jetport proposal highlighted Cleveland's ambitious efforts to reinvent itself as an aviation hub, but the project ultimately fell victim to shifting political and economic realities, including a lack of federal funding and the deregulation of the airline industry. The failed project serves as a cautionary tale about the challenges cities face in executing grand, transformative infrastructure projects.