Cleveland to Convert Parts of Huron and Prospect to One-Way Streets Downtown, Add Protected Bike Lanes

A half mile of protected bike lanes are set to show up in Downtown’s Gateway District by the end of June, one of the city’s first major notches in its Cleveland Moves plan. Credit: City of Cleveland

On your typical game day downtown, Huron and Prospect avenues just about shut down to normal street traffic. Road barriers are put up to cater to fans entering and exiting parking garages. Traffic bound for East 9th on Huron shifts to one-way.

“Most of the time it’s empty,” Matt Moss, Senior Strategist for Thriving Communities with Cleveland, told Scene. “Because there aren’t games going on, like, 24-7. So, we’re like, let’s just re-use that” space.”

Beginning sometime mid-June, that wishbone of a street pairing, linking the two densest streets in the Gateway District, will be completely redesigned to ease traffic and cater—permanently—to pedestrians and cyclists.

Along with a half mile’s worth of delineated bike lanes—with those plastic batons—those sections of Huron and Prospect will now operate in a one-way fashion, creating a kind of loop in concert with traffic from Ontario, Moss said.

This is Downtown’s first rung of the Cleveland Moves plan, the city’s years-long goal to re-do 250 miles of Cleveland’s major thoroughfares and streets with contemporary, green-hued bike lanes one might see in Downtown Boston or Ann Arbor, Michigan. And carry out “quick-build” projects in the next three years. (The project’s price tag is $200,000.)

Although some city planners believe that two-lane, one-way streets can be a detriment to retail on those streets (as cars are less likely to slow down), Moss argued that the added space for bikes, foot traffic and even patio space outweighs that slight increase in speeds.

Earlier this month, Bike Cleveland reported that Cleveland last year saw an increase in motor vehicle accidents and crashes, from 550 people hit in 2023 to 603 in 2024. And at least 16 more fatal crashes over that year span.

Moss said planning’s “quick-build” infrastructure—just a week’s worth of construction—could help out with that.

“And the change itself is harmless,” he said. “It’s actually beneficial that we can relocate space from cars to other things — it’s not always the end of the world.

“But it’s actually nicer in the long run,” Moss added. “I think that’s what this is trying to prove.”

June’s modification of Huron and Prospect precedes a couple other notches on Cleveland Moves’ docket. Next year, construction is set to begin on similar bike-lane makeovers of Payne Avenue, on the Superior Midway Cycletrack and on the Memorial Loop, a three-mile bike lane linking Ohio City with Ontario Street.

Anyone interested in more info, and how more quick-builds could be carried out downtown, can tune into City Planning’s “Streets for People Quick-Build Project” webinar on June 2, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

As for more green lanes downtown? Moss suggested Gateway’s streets change could act as a proof-of-concept for others surrounding Public Square, Playhouse Square and even the white whale of all downtown corridors, East 9th.

“Ideally, in the next few years, if not sooner,” he said, “we’ll have a more connected network.”