Cleveland Approves Speed Reduction on Lake Avenue to 30 MPH

Lake Avenue will soon be a bit safer for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

On Monday, Cleveland City Council passed legislation lowering Lake Avenue’s speed limit by five, from 35 mph to 30 mph. It followed the recommendations of the city’s 2024 traffic study showing that drivers already drove, on average, five mph slower than what Lake’s signs showed.

The new law, passed a year after Council introduced it in May 2024, mirrors what Lakewood okayed for its stretch of Lake Ave. last June following its own two-year traffic study.

Changing street speeds aren’t as easy as swapping one sign for another. Cities have to convince the Ohio Department of Transportation that the new, slower speed designations would help curb crashes and/or match what drivers already drive.

Cleveland’s 2024 survey of Lake Ave. showed just that.

“Every five mph increase in speed can be deadly. Even just that five mph reduction in speed can have a significant outcome,” Ward 15 Councilwoman Jenny Spencer told Scene in a phone call.”

“I’m not saying this is a dream—I would’ve loved to bring it down to 25,” she said. “But, as you know, ODOT regulates the process.”

After years of careful planning and Council backing, the city unveiled Cleveland Moves—a plan to construct a 250-mile bike lane network with its first protected bike lanes being installed on Huron and Prospect in July.

Similar quick-build, protected lanes are also set to rise on St. Clair Ave., Payne Ave. and Berea Road in the near future.

To actually fund these builds, which run into the millions for just a few miles of restriping, the city has often framed their benefits as both climate-friendly and life-saving revamps for public streets. Earlier this month, Cleveland announced it was poised to secure $4 million in grants from NOACA for some 50 more miles of bike lanes.

All of which will undoubtedly save lives.

“I think there’s an insatiable demand for traffic calming; everyone’s worried about crashes and high speeds,” Spencer said.

There’s “a lot of alignment between the Bibb administration and us on this,” she said. “This is a clarion call to make everyone safer.”

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