CLEVELAND — Northeast Ohio has become more bike-friendly over the last decade, but there are still some areas where four wheels are much safer than two.
New bikeways and other projects like the Red Line Greenway trail and towpath connector are just a few examples of Cleveland becoming more bikeable. Bike Cleveland wants to take that a step further by ensuring cyclists have the proper safety measures in place for their daily commute.
Recently, the non-profit took a tour of the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood to evaluate potentially dangerous intersections and high-speed corridors for cyclists.
“Some of the things that were concerning were pedestrian crossings, speeding traffic, protected bike lanes, and feeling safe when you're riding your bike on these kinds of roads,” said Jenna Thomas, Bike Cleveland’s Advocacy and Policy Manager.
At the top of their list was the intersection of Detroit Road and West Boulevard. The heavily traveled corridor contains multiple lanes of travel along Detroit Road and also features an RTA Rapid Transit station as well as the Cuddell Recreation Center. The area is a hub of activity for both pedestrians and commuters.
“This is the wildest section of Detroit,” Thomas said. “We should really be designing this road so that people are traveling the speed limit, which is 25 miles per hour. But when it's built to look like a highway, people speed, people don't obey pedestrian crossings.”
The intersection is a perfect example of one that can be drastically improved with a few small changes. An island would give pedestrians a safe refuge place while crossing the four-plus lanes of traffic and cycle tracks or protected bike lanes would keep cyclists separated from traffic.
“We need to create infrastructure so that people do feel safe biking,” Thomas said. “These people exist. We're not just building for a future group of people that will be on bikes, but also people that exist right now.”
Record-setting gas prices have sent people scrambling for alternative modes of transportation, including public transit and biking. With a surge of new cyclists entering the market, Thomas said now is the time to begin implementing these changes.
“A big thing are the e-bikes. Those are really taking off and it's opening up biking to people who might not have considered themselves fit or able to do the bike commuting thing,” Thomas said.
With a new administration in place, Bike Cleveland is hopeful the wheels of change may begin to move. The organization plans on taking more neighborhood rides to evaluate other trouble spots around the city.
Bike Cleveland is also supportive of the city’s pilot program to install traffic calming measures like speed tables at multiple locations throughout the city.
“It's a new day in Cleveland and under this new administration, I think we're seeing them definitely be more receptive to these ideas,” Thomas said.
