Ontario Street – Position Statement and Presentation

Recently Cuyahoga County repaved Ontario Street and the City of Cleveland requested that Ontario Street be striped with a series of bike treatments ranging from Sharrows from Eagle Ave to Public Square, bus bike lanes through Public Square, and bike lanes north of Public Square to Lakeside. While this treatment honors the Complete Streets law in Cleveland, we believe it does not fit the spirit of creating streets that accommodate users of all ages and abilities.

Through our involvement in the City of Cleveland’s Complete and Green Streets Taskforce Bike Cleveland had asked the city to add bike lanes on Ontario Street. Instead, the city added sharrows from Eagle to Public Square, Bus/Bike lanes through Public Square and a mix of sharrows/bike lanes north to Lakeside. While this may honor the letter of our new complete streets law, we do not think it fits the spirit.

To meet the spirit of a Complete Street Bike Cleveland worked with Green City Blue Lake and the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative to develop an alternative that can be implemented immediately to connect people on bikes safely from the Lorain Carnegie Bridge north to the Cleveland Bike Rack. We plan to present this alternative to the city in the coming weeks.

Here is a copy of our most recent position statement that was adopted by our Board of Directors on August 1st.

Click here to view the presentation put together by in partnership with the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative and Green City Blue Lake.