Ohio lawmakers seek to name Cleveland interchange for Norfolk Southern conductor killed in collision

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Ohio lawmakers are moving forward legislation that would name a Cleveland interchange after a Norfolk Southern conductor who died last year after a dump truck collided with his train.

House Bill 381, which cleared the House Transportation Committee earlier this month, would designate Exit 12A of Interstate 480, the offramp for West 150th Street, as the “Louis P. Shuster Memorial Interchange.”

Shuster, a 46-year-old Broadview Heights resident, was on the outside of a train car passing near the interchange around 1 a.m. on March 7, 2023. The truck was driving on the grounds of a Cleveland-Cliffs steel plant when it struck Shuster’s train car, killing him.

Shuster’s death received significant media attention, particularly as it came relatively soon after Norfolk Southern trains derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, and Springfield, Ohio.

 A U.S. Army veteran who had worked as a conductor since 2005, Shuster was active in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen labor union, according to legislative testimony from state Rep. Sean Brennan, a Parma Democrat who introduced HB381. He left behind his parents, a son, and a sister.Brennan told his fellow lawmakers in testimony that by naming the interchange after Shuster, “we will honor and cherish him as a father, a son, a brother, a veteran and laborer. May this serve as an enduring reminder of his life and work.”

 HB381 has 44 additional House co-sponsors, including lawmakers from both parties. The bill now heads to the House floor for a final vote, after which it would go to the state Senate for consideration.