What will make Cleveland more of a Bicycle Friendly Community? The city may have earned an honorable mention as a ‘BFC’ from the League of American Bicyclists this past May (during Cleveland Bike Week), but the national group says the city still has a long way to go. The League recently supplied the city with a four-page list of priority improvements that would move it up the ranks to BFC-Bronze or higher.

“Set an ambitious, attainable target to increase the percentage of trips made by bike in the community,” the League urges. Currently, less than ½ of 1 percent of trips to work are done by bike in Cleveland. “This number should be increased significantly in order to demonstrate bicycle friendliness.”

Beyond recognition, Cleveland is interested in adopting the ‘bike friendliness’ list as its agenda for making cycling a real transportation option, says Martin Cader at Cleveland City Planning.

Miles of new bike lanes are one measures of bike friendliness, but just as important is how safe people feel cycling on city streets. Cleveland (and Cuyahoga County) can boost safety by traditional means—re-educating adults how to ride a bike safely on the street and offering special BikeEd training during driver’s education courses and to bus and truck drivers. Cleveland can also adopt innovative programs like Chicago’s Bike Buddies. There, 240 ambassadors make house calls—bike commuting along with people from their home and teaching basic bike maintenance.

Agenda items are categorized under the ‘Five E’s’—Engineering, Education, Encouragement and Enforcement. (Read more).

Location(s)

Monthly meeting of the NOACA Governing Board.

Location(s)

Monthly meeting of the NOACA Governing Board.

Location(s)

Monthly meeting of the NOACA Governing Board.

Location(s)

Monthly meeting of the NOACA Governing Board.

"We want better transit service."

That was the dominant message from three hours of public comment at last night's meeting of the Ohio 21st Century Transportation Priorities Task Force in Cleveland. Dozens of riders of Greater Cleveland RTA, Laketran, and other local transit systems called for the state to provide greater support to transit — to give people an affordable alternative to driving cars, reduce traffic congestion, and improve the environment. Transit systems need help more than ever, as they are handling increasing numbers of riders at a time of skyrocketing fuel costs.

Citizens also called on the Ohio Department of Transportation to support cycling as a real form of transportation, not just a recreational amenity. And they advocated for high-speed passenger rail service to connect cities in the Midwest. A greater emphasis on multi-modal transportation solutions was even supported by the local representative of the American Automobile Association (AAA).

Go here to learn more about the state's Transportation Priorities Task Force and to leave your comments online. The next public meeting of the task force is June 23 in Akron.

Go here to join our online forum about transportation priorities in Northeast Ohio.

During Cleveland Bicycle Week in May, organizers gathered information from area cyclists, learning what works, what doesn't and what people like about cycling in Northeast Ohio.

Here are some of their thoughts:

Fix the Roads!!: Cyclists care about good roads. No surprise there. Cyclists have historically cared about transportation, starting the "good roads" movement before there were cars. As we proceed through the 21st century, remember that in the 19th century, cyclists initiated the call for quality roads to serve the economy and population of a growing nation. So let's fix the potholes, clear the debris and glass that plague motorists and cyclists alike.

Who Rides?: Cyclists have a variety of goals, but the most frequent riders are commuters and those riding for recreation, health and fitness. The next largest groups were those on social visits and errands. People ride for their individual goals, but also, ride as a social activity. Cycling helps individuals and families have fun and enjoy the area's beautiful parks.

We Don't Fret About Motorists: Yes, many motorists don't seem to be aware of traffic laws that establish a cyclist right to use the roads, but it's a diversion to cite barriers between cyclists and motorists, at least from the cyclists point of view. Cyclists report they would ride more with safer bike lanes (82%), areas free from glass, debris and car doors, about 45% more than those who criticized motorists. Weather and poor road quality were cited by more than half of respondents, far more than those citing unsafe motorists.

You may have noticed that each of the 11 practice areas of sustainability in the menu to the left has a "Regional agenda" page. These pages are intended to be places to define what it means for our region to be sustainable in each area. Where are we going with energy, food, land use, water, and so on? Right now these pages have some introductory content, but they are not well developed. Over time, we want to fill out each page with a robust regional agenda.

We're starting this month with the regional agenda for transportation. We need your ideas about how the region can develop a more sustainable transportation system — one that gives us access to what we need at the least possible economic and environmental cost. To collect your input and facilitate discussion, we have launched a new forum section. You can go here to see some initial ideas for the transportation regional agenda, and then go here to leave a comment (assuming you are logged into the site as a registered user ).

After we've developed the transportation agenda, we'll move to the other practice areas. We're doing transportation first because GCBL Institute director David Beach is a member of ODOT's 21st Century Transportation Priorities Task Force, which will be recommending state transportation policy reforms in the coming months. So we need your input now!

This topic is our current focus. Comments posted here (click on the Add new comment link above) will help build the Transportation Regional Agenda page, which has introductory content here. What are the features of a sustainable transportation system? How can we reduce carbon emissions from the transportation sector? What is the strategy to change transportation? Who is responsible? When?

Location(s)

Ohio 21st Century Transportation Priorities Task Force was convened by Gov. Strickland to address promoting a multi-modal system, maximizing public investment, and generating economic development. Share your thoughts about how to promote bikes as transportation, more walkable communities and new public transit service.

The first hour includes presentation by local transportation partners, then an "open house" style format, when the public can share opinions and gather information in a less formal setting followed by a more formal public comment period at 6:30 p.m.

More information.