Payne Avenue Will Be First Downtown Cleveland Corridor With Protected Bike Lanes

The 43 blocks between East 13th and East 55th will be the first bike corridor connecting Downtown with Midtown.

Street markings have already been laid down, Scene confirmed, following months of construction work planned to resurface Payne Avenue and and re-stripe it with protected bike lanes in both directions.

The project is part of Cleveland’s lofty Cleveland Moves plan, which aims for 50 miles of high-comfort, low-stress bike lanes by 2028. A notch in that plan came last summer when new wraparound lanes opened up on Prospect and Huron.

But Payne will be the first major corridor.

“It’s good to see things finally getting on the ground,” Jacob VanSickle, the head of Bike Cleveland, told Scene in a phone call. “So many cities have protected lanes. It’s about time Cleveland has some.”

VanSickle was a part of a coalition of cyclists that advocated back in 2021 and 2022 for Payne to get protected lanes. Bike Cleveland worked alongside People’s Streets, an offshoot of MidTown Cleveland, Inc., to repaint certain crosswalks in favor of pedestrians. The groups also etched out a bike lane on the bridge over I-90.

But Payne, one of the city center’s widest streets, has been relatively untouched up until the city began its repaving project in 2024.

The protected bike lanes on Payne will work with a new parking lane to protect cyclists from passing cars. Credit: Mark Oprea

Delineators will work with parking lanes to protect cyclists on Payne from passing cars. Green paint will be used at high-risk sections, VanSickle said, like near crosswalks and in turning lanes.

Payne’s makeover comes as the city prepares to break ground in the next year on its Superior Midway project, a centerlane, two-way cycletrack connecting Public Square with East 55th.

The Memorial Bridges Loop, protected lanes linking Downtown with West 25th, broke ground last Monday. And the Marginal Road Greenway, currently being constructed along the lakefront from East 9th to East 55th is expected to wrap up later this year.

All good omens for VanSickle, who just counted his 14th year of advocating for fellow cyclists.

And for Cleveland to show that it cares about those who choose to get around on two wheels instead of four. Which, he said, the Payne project certainly proves.

“I’ll be happy when it’s done,” VanSickle said. “but there’s always more bike lanes and trails to protect.”