Monday, April 25, 2016

Public meetings for Veteran's Memorial (Detroit-Superior) Bridge and Lakeshore Boulevard

Join Bike Cleveland and other area transportation advocates this week at public meetings to discuss possible changes to two significant bicycle access corridors!

Riding east across the Veteran's Memorial (Detroit-Superior) Bridge is not always an easy proposition. The bike lanes on Detroit Ave end at West 25th Street and the speed limit jumps from 25mph to 35mph. Worse, because the bridge is a large structure with wide lanes and clear sight lines, people tend to go much faster than the posted speed limit. The end result is an unsafe situation on one of Cleveland’s primary east/west bicycle routes. The good news is that NOACA and the City of Cleveland are addressing this situation. One proposal is to close the southern (eastbound) lane to cars and trucks and create a dedicated bicycle / pedestrian facility in addition to reconfiguring the intersections at both ends of the bridge.

The city is hosting the first of two public meetings to gather information and share opinions.

Where: St. Malachi Church (2459 Washington Ave, Cleveland)                
When: Tuesday, April 26th, 6:30pm

If you can, we encourage you to attend and voice your support for plans that would dramatically improve one of the most critical connections in the city. You can also share your thoughts by filling out NOACA’s survey.

Lakeshore Boulevard is currently configured for traffic volumes that simply do not exist. This excess capacity promotes speeding at the cost of safety, neighborhood connectivity, pedestrian utility, retail performance, and multimodal usage. The City of Cleveland has proposed a "road diet" that will calm traffic and reduce crashes without impeding the flow of cars. Such configurations have been in use for over three decades, and are endorsed by the U.S. DOT as an effective means of improving the safety and livability of our neighborhoods.

Councilman Polensek is skeptical of the proposed new configuration and is hosting a public meeting to discuss the issue.
Where: Collinwood Recreation Center (16300 Lakeshore Blvd, Cleveland)
When: Thursday, April 28th, 6:00pm

Lakeshore is part of the Lakefront Bikeway, 2014 Master Bikeway Implementation Plan, 2007 Master Bikeway Plan, and the new Eastside Greenway plan. If you live in the area around Lakeshore, or travel on it, you should attend and voice your support for calmer traffic and better bike facilities.

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