Cleveland Announces Wave of Bicycle Infrastructure Improvements

The city of Cleveland is advancing as a bike- and pedestrian-friendly town, even making the list of cities that grew its share of bike commuters most between 1990 and 2012.

With the growing popularity of biking in mind, the city announced an updated bikeway plan that will almost double its current 47.5-mile bicycle infrastructure network by the end of 2017. The plan would add 45 miles of bikeways over the next two years, and 25.6 in the two years following, adding a total of 70 miles in the process.

Alison Grant reports that the “overall goal is to connect every Cleveland neighborhood to a bikeway network.” Grant quotes Jenita McGowan, the city's chief of sustainability in describing the city’s current unconnected patchwork: "It's a lot of bicycling to nowhere.”

Moreover: “Aside from the changes that are part of upcoming Cleveland street projects, the city has identified another 82.5 miles of roads that could be eligible for cycling-related improvements such as restriping and signage. Cleveland has about $1 million earmarked for the work.”

“If it all pans out, the city could have a 200-mile bike network by the end of of 2018.”