Two Steps Forward, One Step Back for Cleveland Cycle Track Plans

Advocates are thrilled that the city of Cleveland is seeking federal funding for a pair of ambitious cycle track plans—but one of the plans has been significantly watered down.

1 minute read

June 28, 2021, 7:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Steven Litt reports that the city of Cleveland is seeking $32.5 million in federal funding for the Superior Avenue Midway in downtown, along with a similar cycle track project planned for Lorain Avenue on the West Side of the city.

The Cleveland Planning Commission approved the Lorain Avenue concept in 2015, but the project has changed in the ensuing years. Advocates expressed dismay, reports Litt, "that the city appears to be backpedaling on building the 2-mile Lorain Avenue project as a sidewalk-level, two-way cycle track from West 20th to West 65th Street," as approved in 2015.

Tom McNair, executive director of the nonprofit Ohio City Inc. community development corporation, "said the 2015 concept offered a chance to create a local equivalent of the highly-acclaimed Cultural Trail in downtown Indianapolis. That eight-mile, sidewalk-level cycle track separates cyclists from traffic and pedestrians along its entire length."

The Superior Avenue Midway is planned "as a two-mile, sidewalk-level cycle track in a 30-foot-wide central median that would extend from Public Square east to East 55th Street."

Wednesday, June 23, 2021 in Cleveland.com

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