Cleveland Set for $4 Million Grant for 15 "Quick-Build" Bike Lanes Across City

Cleveland Moves is, well, about to move forward.

The city’s optimistic plan to install more bike lanes across the city, from West Park to Glenville, is slated to get a little over $4 million to support the effort as City Council approved an ordinance to apply for a NOACA grant.

Fifteen streets identified by planners (and survey takers) as high-priority are set to see “quick-build” infrastructure installed—most likely those plastic posts used to separate car from bike rider seen lately on Prospect and Huron downtown — with the award.

The “high-comfort bicycle and pedestrian improvements” would be paid for by a $3.4 million grant from the Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency, which scored the money from the Feds through a program designed to tackle poor air quality and car congestion.

A city spokesperson said that the money—$4.3 million total including the city’s own match—signaled that Cleveland Moves was moving right along as planned.

“This action reflects Mayor Justin M. Bibb’s continued commitment to building a greener, more connected Cleveland,” the spokesperson told Scene, “where all residents have access to safe, affordable, and sustainable mobility options.”

Cleveland Moves was approved in April as a kind of once-and-for-all initiative to give Clevelanders the option of biking safely anywhere in the city without the ongoing threat of being sidelined by a vehicle zipping by.

The city’s plans to put bike lanes on 15 street segments, as shown in red and purple. Credit: Cleveland Moves

Survey data collected earlier this year gave the Cleveland Moves team, led by Planning Director Calley Mersmann, a method of pairing together crash data—details on where bikers were getting hit a bunch—and where Clevelanders actually wanted protection on city roads.

They focused on 50 miles of streets, including lanes connecting Public Square and Lakeside, which pair with the city’s plans to remake the lakefront as a pedestrian-friendly area, along with a North Marginal Bike Trail set to link Downtown with University Circle.

Those 50 miles also include: