The Lake to Lakes Trail

Renewed interest in cycling and a rising chorus of people who want to ride from home to their favorite destinations has led to a number of new trail building projects.

One of the more exciting trails built in recent years in Cleveland is the Lake-to-Lakes Trail. The 3-mile trail that runs from the shores of Lake Erie through Rockefeller Park along MLK Drive to Shaker Lakes and other points south and east goes a long way toward better connecting the eastern suburbs with University Circle.

The trail weaves together a number of planning initiatives, starting with the elimination of the ‘suicide’ traffic circle at E. 105th Street and MLK. Construction is underway (March, 2013) to create a proper intersection that should vastly improve the ability of cyclists, pedestrians and cars to safely share the road. University Circle, Inc. is also planning improvements to the Harrison-Dillard Bikeway on the other side of MLK (behind the art museum) and new transit waiting environments.

The Lake-to-Lakes Trail will benefit from a number of other improvements where it connects to the street grid. For example, improved intersections at Euclid Avenue, and at Carnegie and Cedar (by the Rapid station) will make it a straight, clear shot to pick up the trail on Stokes (which runs through the grassy median in front of the Children’s Museum and the Cleveland School of the Arts).

But, the biggest improvement is a new trail system heading up the hill. A trail was built along MLK (under the rail bridge) that will connect with an improved trail through Ambler Park and with a new section of bike trail along the north side of Fairhill (across from the Baldwin Water Treatment plant) to the top of the hill by the old Kaiser site. There, a new intersection at MLK and Fairhill Road improves safety, and an off-road trail offers a link to Shaker Heights and to Cleveland's Shaker Square. A trail heading east will continue along Fairhill to the border of Shaker, and a new trail spur will be built along MLK (at the eastern edge of the Baldwin property) heading south to Shaker Boulevard and the new St. Luke’s Point LEED-ND development.

The city of Shaker Heights has indicated it will build a trail extension along Fairhill Road—from North Moreland to Coventry Road and North Park Boulevard, the entrance to the Lower Shaker Lakes Trail.

“The city has $488,000 in our capital budget to start the project,” says Cleveland bike/pedestrian planner Marty Cader. “We’re still waiting to get estimates on what it will cost to build the trail.”

See the Lake-to-Lakes Trail presentation.

Update

The city secured $1.3 million to pay the firm Wade Trim to complete design and engineering of the Lake to Lakes trail by July, 2010, Cleveland city planner Marty Cader said in April, 2010. Construction is targeted for 2011, with the biggest challenge the section of trail that navigates through the Cedar/Carnegie/Fairhill/Stearns spaghetti bowl.

The city cut the ribbon on the Lake to Lakes Trail in 2012 (see the image gallery on this page, taken in March 2013).

Shaker and Cleveland Heights announced in late 2013 that they will extend the Lake to Lakes Trail east -- on the north side of Fairhill Road as it wraps around Coventry Road to the lower Shaker Lake.

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