New Mandel Lakefront Trail on East Side Now Open

Runners, cyclists and scooter riders now have a safer and more convenient way to travel along Lake Erie.

As of Wednesday, the Mandel Lakefront Trail was open and very much rideable. After two years of construction, and some $11 million, the path that runs parallel to North Marginal Road is the city’s first isolated walkway that links Downtown with parks on the city’s east side.

The county will have an official ribbon cutting late September, a county spokesperson confirmed. But the trail itself is finished, with smooth asphalt lined by light poles replacing what used to be cracked sidewalk or long stretches of unkempt grass. On Wednesday, tree trimmers were working near Burke Lakefront Airport.

The opening of the lakefront trail is a huge boon to the Cleveland Moves plan of building 50 miles of protected bike paths by 2028. Credit: Mark Oprea

Once a dream of the Michael White administration, the plan came to a head when Mayor Justin Bibb spearheaded the trail’s groundbreaking in August 2024. As detailed then, the Metroparks will be maintaining the path and the greenery around it, akin to the Red Line Greenway on the city’s west side.

But the path itself gives a boost to the Cleveland Moves plan, the Bibb administration’s goal of building 50 miles of bike paths by 2028.

The lakefront trail opening, at a little less than three miles, comes a year after the city opened up protected bike lanes downtown on Huron and Prospect, and as construction workers are building out a lane to compose the Memorial Bridges Loop, and another on Payne Avenue. A similar path is being considered along West Blvd.