Bikes and the mayor's capital budget

Submitted by Kevin Cronin  |  Last edited July 24, 2007 - 1:29pm
Posted in | »

While there has been a lot of imprecision and vagueness to the discussion of cycling and neighborhoods, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's capital budget includes a wealth of specifics on bike projects in Cleveland and its neighborhoods. 

Here is the list of bicycle lanes and paths that were included in the Mayor's plan, prepared by the Planning Department staff. The note includes work schedule for 2008-2010, as well as the location and cost estimates. It’s too early for design plans and there are lots of steps before implementation, as the City will need to take care to ensure that the specific plans enhance cycling opportunities and are consistent with best safety practices. Even so, it’s an encouraging development.

Cleveland Master Bikeway Plan - Capital Priorities 2008 – 2010 Year 2008 – “A Projects”

  • Downtown Bike Station 12,000 sq. ft.-  $240,000 (Ward 13)

  • Dike 14 Trail (Multi-Purpose Trail) .38 mi. $205,100 (Ward 8)
  • Forest Hills Parkway Trail (Multi-Purpose Trail) 1.70 mi. $1,080,840 (Ward 9)
  • Scranton Rd. (Train Ave. to Carter Rd.) (Multi-Purpose Trail) .75 mi. $476,400 (Wards 13 &14)
  • W. 65th St. (Storer Ave. to Lakefront) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) 1.87 mi. $20,000 (Ward 17)
  • Rocky River Dr. (Lakewood to Brookpark Rd.) (Bike Lanes) 3.90 mi. $42,000 (Wards 20 & 21)
  • Larchmere Blvd. (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) .67 mi. $7200 (Wards 4 & 6)
  • Puritas Ave. (Rocky River Dr. to Grayton Rd.) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) .82 mi. $10,000 (Ward 21)
  • Lorain Ave. (Triskett Ave. to City Limit) (Bike Rt.) 1.03 mi. $13,000 (Ward 21)
  • Broadway Ave. (Jones Rd. to Webb) (Bike Rt. Or Bike Lanes) .63 mi. $9,000 (Ward 2)

Year 2009 – “B Projects”

  • Euclid Creek Greenway and Trail (Multi-Purpose Trail) 1.9 mi. $2,280,000 (Ward 11)

  • Stokes Blvd. (Cedar Ave. to MLK Blvd.) (Multi-Purpose Trail) .77 mi. $488,640 (Wards 6 & 9)
  • Big Creek Greenway and Trail (Multi-Purpose Trail) 1.1 mi. $900,000 (Ward 15)
  • E. 55th St. (Euclid Ave. to Lakefront) (Bike Lanes) 2.0 mi. $25,000 (Wards 5, 7, 8 & 13)
  • E. 152nd St. (St. Clair to Lake Shore Blvd.) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) 1.40 mi. $10,000 (Wards 10 &11)
  • Lakeshore Blvd. (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) 2.23 mi. $24,000 (Wards 10 & 11)
  • West Blvd. (City Limit to Edgewater) (Bike Rt., Bike Lanes or Multi-Purpose Trail) 2.80 mi. $35,000 - $1,777,800 (Wards 18 & 19)
  • Crawford Rd. (Chester to Ansel) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) 1 mi. $11,000 (Ward 7)
  • Chester Ave. (E. 79th to Crawford Rd.) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) .17 mi. $5,000 (Wards 5 & 7)
  • Clark Ave. (Train Ave. to W. 65th) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) .23 mi. $6,000 (Ward 17)
  • East 79th St. (Woodland Ave. to Chester Ave.) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) 1.23 mi. $15,000 (Wards 5, 6)

Year 2010 – “C projects”

  • Towpath Trail (Old Harvard to Steelyard Commons) 1.02 mi. Costs TBD (Wards 15 &13)
  • Train Ave. Greenway and Trail (Multi-Purpose Trail) 2.51 mi. $1,591,800 (Wards 13, 14 & 17)
  • Humphrey Playfield / Rec. Center Trail (Multi-Purpose Trail) 1.04 mi. $665,160 (Ward 11)
  • Kerruish Park Trail (Multi-Purpose Trail) 2.36 mi. $1,497,800 (Ward 1)
  • MLK Blvd. (Miles to Stokes) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes or Multi- Purpose Trail) 4.17 mi. $48,000 - $2,640,840 (Wards 2, 3, 4 & 6) 
  • Fleet Ave. (Bike Lanes) 1.01 mi. $11,000 (Ward 12)
  • St. Clair Ave. (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) 1.14 mi. $14,000 (Wards 7, 8 & 13)
  • Aetna Rd. (Morgana Run Trail to MLK) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) 1.25 mi. $16,000 (Wards 2 & 3)
  • Fulton Rd. (Denison to Sackett Ave.) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) .80 mi. $9,000 (Wards 14 & 15)
  • Sackett / W. 32nd / Meyer / Scranton / Holmden / Buhrer / W. 14th (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) 1.35 mi. $17,000 (Wards 14 & 13)
  • Community College Ave. (E. 22nd to E. 40th) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) .89 mi. $10,000 (Ward 5)
  • Triskett Rd. (Lorain to W. 117th) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) 2.29 mi. $27,000 (Wards 19, 20 & 21)
  • Triskett Rd. / W.116th / Bosworth / Parkhurst Ave. (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) .73 mi. $10,000 (Ward 19)
  • E. 79th / E. 82nd (St. Clair to MLK / Rockefeller Park (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) .56 mi. $8,000 (Ward 8)
  • E. 22nd St. (Community College to Euclid Ave.) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) .43 mi. $6,500 (Ward 5 & 7)
  • Harvard Ave. (MLK Blvd. to City Limit) (Bike Rt. or Bike Lanes) 2.65 mi. $30,000 (Wards 1, 2 & 3)

 

 

 


February 9, 2007 - 1:40pm

Cleveland Master Bikeway Plan and Mayor Jackson's Capital Budget

John Gideon Says:

I was elated to read the story about the almost $13 million in Mayor Jackson's capital budget for bike projects over the next 3 years.

The list of projects is impressive, including the plan to build a bike station downtown. But when one looks at it closely it appears that most, although not all, of the projects are off-road multiuse trails.

Which makes me wonder whether the list of projects was developed as the result of the creation of a comprehensive, city-wide, public-involvement-process action plan to make Cleveland friendly for bicycling. (I've been using this mantra to try to get Columbus to create such a plan; we seem to be getting closer to that reality with yesterday's action at MORPC to amend the Downtown Columbus Circulation Study contract to accept money -- $255,000 -- from Columbus City Council to do a comprehensive, city-wide, public-involvement-process action plan. Hopefully Columbus City Council will grant our request from last October to adopt a Complete Streets policy before the bike planning process gets underway.)

Then I noticed the link to the "Cleveland Master Bikeway Plan." Which took me to a map of Cleveland's existing and proposed bikeways.

A couple years ago I was told that Cleveland had developed a bike plan. I was directed then to the "Cleveland Master Bikeway Plan" which consisted, as far as I could tell, of this map.

It appears that the entire bikeway plan -- at least all that is available online -- is this map. I haven't seen a comprehensive plan that talks about the 4-Es of engineering, education, encouragement, and enforcement.

I was wondering if there is more to Cleveland's bike plan than this bikeways map. And was there a public-involvement-process to create public buy-in?

Of course, as everyone is always fond of telling me, a plan doesn't guarantee implementation. But without a public-involvement process to creat public buy-in and a sort of covenant between the government and the public that the plan will be implemented I don't have a lot of confidence that enough of the right kind of progress is going to be made. For instance, all of the planned bikeways are nice, but what about the need for bike parking everywhere? A downtown bike station is not going to do it. Where/what is the plan for bike parking?

So, the bottom line is, can you tell me how the list of capital projects was developed? Is there anything more to the plan than the bikeways map? A bike plan doesn't guarantee that anything will be done; but I don't know of any truly bike-friendly communities that have gotten that way without a plan.

Let me say that whatever the impetus for Mayor Jackson's list of bikeway projects you can bet that I'm going to use this list to shame the City of Columbus into doing a lot more.

Thanks.

                                                              John Gideon


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