In news you may have missed from late last week, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, a planning agency that delves out state and federal funding for regional transportation projects, announced major, multimillion dollar funding for two dedicated, protected bike lanes. It’s yet another recent development giving hope to bike and transit advocates that Cleveland, whose long and storied history of ignoring or otherwise screwing up bike infrastructure has long been derided, might actually be making serious progress.
The details: $8.3 million for the first leg of a dedicated bike lane running down Superior Ave. from Public Square all the way to East 55th St. The “Midway” would eventually constitute a 50-mile series of bike-only pathways down the middle of some of Cleveland’s most spacious streets. Construction is planned to begin in 2020.
$6.1 million for the Lorain Avenue Cycle Track, running along Lorain Ave. between West 20th and West 45th on the north side and then switching to the southern side of the street between West 45th and West 65th. Construction there is expected to begin in 2022.
Bike Cleveland and other groups have long sought dedicated bike lanes in the city, something Cleveland has been admittedly slow in adopting. While the NOACA funds won’t cover the full costs of the projects, it’s a major step that’s been widely celebrated and welcomed, especially in the broader context of where NOACA is allocating funds. In Friday’s announcement of $47 million for 21 projects, the agency has put more focus on equitable planning for non-car households — $33.5 million of that total is earmarked for projects oriented toward transit, bike and pedestrians
“We are just starting to catch up now,” councilman Matt Zone told the Plain Dealer. “I appreciate the urgency that’s starting to happen with thought leaders like [NOACA Director] Grace Gallucci and NOACA. Even Mayor Jackson is beginning to come around.”
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2017.
Awesome news. 2022 is a long way away for the Lorain project, but it’s good to hear progress is being made.
Lois Moss penned this in November 2017:
“Walk+Roll Cleveland was officially the first Ciclovia / Open Streets event in the United States. I had vaguely heard of similar events in Bogata, Columbia from Ryan McKenzie who was another Cleveland visionary. There were a few other US cities who closed some streets occasionally but Walk+Roll Cleveland was the first to add activities and community events during the street closing. Cleveland was at least a year ahead of NYC’s Summer Streets program, 2 years ahead of Portland’s Sunday Parkways program, 3 years ahead of San Francisco’s Sunday Streets program, etc. We did Walk+Roll Cleveland in 4 neighborhoods plus also in Lakewood which was wildly successful but wasn’t given funding by the powers-that-be. After 5 years of trying to get funders and bigwigs in NE Ohio to support the program, I gave up and moved to Portland. “
Lois Moss tried to promote cycling as a lifestyle in Cleveland and was rebuffed and dismissed. This happens here, too much (especially, to women). We have an existing bike infrastructure. It needs to be promoted more. Think of the Cultural Gardens and Ohio and Erie Towpath.
Destination Cleveland has asked Clevelanders to be ambassadors to their own city.
“We’ve created a new destination brand because its time to change the narrative about Cleveland at home and outside the city, ” said Gilbert.
“Right now, Cleveland is enjoying a renaissance along with the benefits of billions of dollars in new development and improvements. Destination Cleveland’s mission is to promote the city to visitors, and while we can organize the efforts behind this movement and amplify the message, we cant tell the story alone.”
We have libraries and businesses like McDonalds that could serve as visitor centers. Bike tourism is a real economy. The Industrial Heartland Trail Coalition (IHTC) has built a Trail Town network in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Cleveland’s participants in this program never even mention the IHTC.
This latest round of NOACA funding will not advance Northeast Ohio as a tourist and weekend destination. In 2015, I covered the Bike Cleveland annual meeting at the Sachsenheim on Denison Ave for REALNEO. I posted an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal article about the appeal of Amsterdam. This could and should describe Cleveland:
“Weekend activities are highly season-dependent. Spring and summer offer weather mild enough to pursue lengthy bike rides, up to 60 miles or so, as well as visits to parks, markets, open-air concerts and fairs. The diminished daylight and lower temperatures in winter are mostly conducive to indoor activities, museum and library visits. An annual admission card costing about 50 (about $58) provides access to the majority of museums and other cultural venues.”
The Midway project and Lorain bike lanes are streetscape projects, not bike network projects. Transportation dollars can be directed to more efficient bike network connections in Northeast Ohio. One that is a no-brainer would be to connect the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo with the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath.
Developer Radhika Reddy of Ariel Ventures has capacity to build a hotel and not, as proposed by City of Cleveland, permanent supportive housing by CHN-Eden on the bluff of the Big Creek Valley overlooking downtown and all points north, south, east and west.
Cleveland hosts two major international events (maybe more) in 2018. The Front International and the USA Triathon. We desperately need to get our act together before then.