Cleveland Metroparks Closes Roads To Motor Vehicles: Open For Bike and Ped
On Wednesday, the Cleveland Metroparks closed several roads to motor vehicle traffic in order to create more space for park users who are biking and walking. These measures are due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and it’s a simple, effective way to encourage social distancing and it’s positive effect on flattening the curve. Closing roads to cars in order to make room for people to safely get outdoors to bike and walk during the pandemic has already been utilized in Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, and others. Seeing the crowds flock to Ohio parks during good weather recently sparked concern, and some states have closed parks altogether in response. However, working together, we can help keep our parks open as a place of refuge, relaxation, and recreation.
According to a park press release, park CEO Brian M. Zimmerman said “We want to keep our parks open and be of service to the community during this difficult time but we need everyone to follow proper social distancing. These additional steps will effectively turn some of our roads into 20-foot-wide trails to encourage people to spread out and provide proper distance between other park users.” The Cleveland Metroparks will keep a webpage updated with updates and information related to the closures.
As of Thursday, April 2nd, these are the closures that total over 5 linear miles of “new” recreational space:
