CLEVELAND — Advocacy group Bike Cleveland is warning bicyclists to watch out while riding on a new bike lane in Ohio City. They're calling it dangerous, saying the city of Cleveland did a poor design job for the part of it that transitions into the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge.
City of Cleveland spokesman Tyler Sinclair said during a routine resurfacing project on Lorain Avenue from W. 20th St. to W. 25th St. that started a few weeks ago, they "took the extra step to add protected bike lanes – which previously did not exist."
Bike Cleveland Communications and Events Manager Jason Kuhn calls the new bike lane fantastic for the most part, but it's when it hits W. 20th St. going eastbound that he has a serious issue.
"It's counterproductive," he explained. "They've used green paint to lead you up onto the bridge in an area that's not the safest option. You can see this bike lane continues up the bridge and then ends abruptly, and it's going to leave cyclists just on their own on a very busy bridge that's known for speeding."
Kuhn says Bike Cleveland is highly recommending that bicyclists avoid the bike lane because of the potential accidents they could have with vehicles.
3News was with Kuhn Saturday morning at the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge when he pointed out a bicyclist going right into the trouble he's been warning about, the bicyclist turning his head back to look at traffic multiple times once he realized the bike lane was suddenly about to end in front of him and he'd have to merge into the driving lane unexpectedly.
"See, it's bad because now he's going to be left out there on that bridge," Kuhn narrated to us as we watched. "See he's doing exactly what I'm saying."
We watched the bicyclist cross four driving lanes, two of those being oncoming traffic lanes, before hopping back to safety on the sidewalk on the bridge's north side.
Kuhn said what would be more appropriate is that bicyclists be guided to cross over to that sidewalk before the bridge begins.
"I think there's a chance for the city to remove this piece of bike lane, redo this intersection, and send bikes to where they should be going to cross the bridge safely," he said.
3News took Kuhn's complaints to the city of Cleveland.
Sinclair responded with the following statement: "While the project is near completion, we have a few final steps that will be completed in the coming days, which includes adding additional wayfinding signage that directs riders to the north side of the bridge – the preferred and encouraged route for cyclists riding east into Downtown."
