Credit: Satinder Puri
As many have noted this year, and as we covered in a recent feature article on the topic, Cleveland’s decision to install bike lanes with the buffer between the rider and the curb and not the rider and the cars has been roundly criticized by Cleveland’s biking community and any number of experts around the country. Cleveland road engineer Andy Cross, who has basically unilaterally and with no evidence decided that it’s the right thing to do, has been steadfast in his proclamation that having the buffer between the rider and cars would lead to cars turning right into bikers. Anyway, that’s the short version of events.

PeopleForBikes.org wondered what people with Andy Cross’s job in other cities thought about what Cleveland was doing, so they sent out a bunch of emails and awaited the responses from experts in Seattle and Indianapolis and elsewhere. The reactions came back and it seems everyone roundly agrees that Cleveland is in fact doing it ass-backwards. 

Mark Zwoyer, PE, assistant administrator of the department of public works in Indianapolis:

We probably would not use this in Indianapolis. We use cross hatch buffers to separate the bikes and the motor traffic, but not to offset bikes from the curb.

Dongho Chang, PE, chief road engineer in Seattle:

Buffer seems to be in the wrong place. We’d want to buffer the bikes from travelled vehicle lane.

Jonathan Lewis, AICP, assistant director of planning in Atlanta’s transportation department:

I feel like I’m missing something? Why is the buffer next to the curb? I don’t see an upside. In Atlanta, during torrential rains, the curbside bike lanes flood. I guess that’s an upside to this design, but it doesn’t seem worth the trade-off. It is not a configuration we would consider in Atlanta.

Nathan Wilkes, PE, of the transportation department of Austin, Texas:

I think the photo shows well where the rider wants to be. In Austin, TX we always put our buffer to traffic where there is the most value in creating separation between fast moving traffic and the person on the bicycle to create a bicycle facility that a larger portion of the population is comfortable in. The only use I have seen as shown in the photo is if there were parked cars to the right of the bicycle lane where there was more concern about the door zone than the moving traffic. … In short it looks to be a waste of buffer material applied incorrectly.

Rachael Bronson, associate city planner for the Denver Department of Public Works:

Without parallel parking, I’d prefer this to be on the car side. Or maybe buffer on both sides if there are a lot of access points where bikes may need a buffer on the curb side.

She cc’d Michael Koslow, PE, a senior engineer at Denver DPW, who added:

I agree that car-side buffering would be better; however if there’s additional room it’d be good to keep bicycles toward the middle of a wider lane for conspicuity by drivers.

Matthew Dyrdahl, AICP, bicycle and pedestrian coordinator in Minneapolis:

We typically buffer the other side, meaning put the buffer between the travel lane and the bicycle lane.

He cc’d Simon Blenski, bicycle plannner in the Minneapolis Public Works Department, who added:

We typically install a buffer on the travel lane side. We have installed buffers on both sides of the bike lane where there is excess space and where parking is adjacent to the bike lane.

I can only think of one example where we only have a buffer on the curb side and not the travel lane side. It is an exceptional case on Hennepin Ave S between 12th St and 13th St, where there is a wide parking bay next to the bike lane. The buffer was placed in the excess parking bay width.

We have never done a buffer directly adjacent to a curb with no parking present.


¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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This article appears in Nov 11-17, 2015.

Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.

11 replies on “Cities Around America Respond to Cleveland’s “Backwards” Bike Lanes, And Everyone Agrees We’re Doing It Wrong”

  1. I’ve said this many times for many years, our ‘so called’ leaders are backwards, this is just more proof!

  3. I have been traveling down West Blvd from West 105th to Madison to go to work since 1979. They finally re-paved which is great except they screwed it up with the new bike paths. It is used by many commuters to get downtown and to get to 71 South. Now with the bike paths it’s like a friggin obstacle course for the cars. It funnels the cars to one lane causing traffic to jam up instead of going smooth like before! And you know what in 36 years i have never seen anyone riding a bike on West Blvd. So to accomodate maybe one bike for every 100,000 cars that uses this route to go to work these urban planners decide to screw up the roads for the majority.

  4. It’s been said before by many of our own residents: there are stupid people in charge of controlling these roads! Get them out!
    Another thing: why is the bikers area painted with such a large do-not-cross line? For that matter, why is a painted buffer there at all?
    Have you seen the car lanes for MLK? Same problem: lines to force traffic are all over the road but the paved area is extra-wide and capable of accomodating everyone. Places that could have parking, biking and a large width for driving have become a squeezed mess.

  5. Welcome to Cleveland Ohio

    WHERE NOTHING MAKES ANY SENSE EVER. Where nothing is made correctly, where shits falling apart and money is being tossed into a non-existent downtown night life.

    Cant wait to get outta here.

  6. The buffer is clearly wrong. That should be fixed immediately. But, to those of you who drive and find bikes and bike lanes a nuisance, you’re a bunch of idiots. If anything, we need fewer and narrower roads to accommodate more pedestrian and bike traffic first and public transportation second. Stop. Driving.

  7. Bury your city planners in the ground with their butts in the air, and I will have a place to park my bike. Problem solved.

  8. It doesn’t matter where the bike lane is, many cyclists will prefer to ride in the cross-hatched area , or “zebra stripes” as we call them… It can be a median or a traffic-island… If the stripes are yellow, then they are called “tiger stripes” …. Cyclists love them, on account that legally, you are NOT supposed to drive your *car* there… So if there’s any conflict, you weren’t supposed to be driving there, right?
    Wear a helmet, but do get LED lights and a rear view mirror for your bike… The rear-view mirror is the most important, because you want to see the cars coming without riding against traffic…Also, if you check your rear-view mirror, if there’s no car behind you, then you know it’s safe to stop at a STOP sign and you won’t get hit from behind.

  9. To be charitable, I guess the stripes are to keep riders out of the “schmutz” lane, that is, where all the dirt and garbage collects.

  10. The incompetence begins and ends with Mayor Frank Jackson — and he’s too busy getting ready to pat himself on the back during and after the Republican National Convention to worry about the streets being safe for bicyclists.

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