Circle-Heights public meeting
comments and suggestions

In the Spring of 2002, EcoCity Cleveland held two public brainstorming sessions to develop the Circle-Heights Bike System. These sessions opened a dialog with dozens of participants drawing on maps and sharing thoughts (with each other and elected officials) about how to redefine the Circle-Heights District as a unique, bike-friendly area.

The following is the sum total of the comments from these sessions. Please stay tuned for a more detailed list of recommendations and a map that will be made available to the public and elected officials.

Crossing hazards to address [An inventory of "problem" places]:

University Circle:

• Euclid/Ford/Mayfield roads
• MLK/Euclid/Chester/Stearns "pretzel" intersection
• Cedar/MLK/Carnegie (these last two are places where existing bike paths just dump you hopelessly into the intersection)
  
• Mayfield/Murray Hill
• MLK/East Blvd—dysfunctional traffic circle

Shaker:

• Van Aken onto Shaker (north/westbound crossing the tracks)
  
• Kemper/Fairhill
  
• MLK/Fairhill (where the bike path up the hill just ends near
• Kaiser—how to cross MLK?—the traffic never stops
• Lee/Van Aken
• Lee/Chagrin
• Warrensville/Van Aken/Chagrin Blvd.
  

Cleveland Hts:

• Lee/Fairmount
• Cedar/Lee
• Mayfield/Monticello/Superior/Lee area (need good connectors from Rec. center to Cumberland pool, etc.)
• Cedar/Fairmount
• Cedar/Euclid Hts/down Cedar Hill to MLK (Via new bike path? Perhaps best route is just to go down Edgehill)
• Coventry/Mayfield
• Noble/Monticello

South Euclid:

• Cedar Center area
• Warrensville/Mayfield
• Mayfield/Green
• Crossing Euclid Creek bridge on Monticello (bridge over Euclid Creek parkway)
• Crossing Mayfield at Cleve Hts Blvd and in front of JCC (crossing signal is very short, therefore, cars coming up on the curb lanes can’t see you if you are in the middle, crossing).

Traffic light hazards to address:

Traffic light on Taylor southbound at Scarborough turns green before northbound. Someone turning east on Scarborough from southbound Taylor doesn’t know this, hesitates waiting for northbound Taylor traffic to go. Waits a few seconds, then tries to turn just as the northbound light turns green, and they’re caught. Solution: make northbound and southbound lights change at the same time.

New traffic signals don’t detect bicycles (e.g., Cedar/Stillman intersection, Cleveland Hts Blvd@ Mayfield, Taylor@ Severance)

Pavement hazards to address:

• Meadowbrook in CH—much bad pavement
• Edgehill Road—the hill between Murray Hill Road and Overlook—broken & bumpy
• Edgehill Road—short, terrible stretch between Euclid Hts Blvd. and E. Overlook
• Regular road maintenance to fix potholes, sweep glass (especially under bridges)—create a form (printed and online) for the public to request minor pavement maintenance and sweeping
• Coventry Road between Fairmount and Fairhill—broken and bumpy
• Overlook Road at Euclid Hts Blvd.—broken pavement at intersection. Pave the connector coming off of Crest to Severance.

Sewer grate hazards to address:

• A "blanket request" to eliminate sewer grates that have the slots parallel to the curb.
• Grates on Cottage Grove north of Meadowbrook.
• Dangerous grate at Taylor Rd. entrance to Severance.

Suggested Bike Lanes:

• Striped area on level with streets. Signs alone are of little use, streets should be marked, i.e., Cedar needs a painted lane to let drivers know bike transportation is legitimate.
• Where is the best street across the Portage Escarpment for a dedicated bike lane? Euclid Avenue? Uphill side of Mayfield hill above Little Italy?
• Coventry between Mayfield and Edgehill—intimidating to bike, would ride bike to shops and restaurants if lane were available
• Coventry between Fairmount S. to Shaker Blvd.
• Lee Road between Mayfield Rd. and Van Aken Blvd.
• Taylor between Mayfield Rd. and Euclid Hts Blvd
• [Note: the desire for dedicated bike lanes on the relatively few north-south streets—RM]
• Bike-friendly ring road around Severance, and into the shopping areas. Connect to Forest Hill Park via a bike lane on Forest Hill Blvd.
• In favor of dedicated bike lanes w/ curbs to separate from cars, like I’ve seen in progressive, transit/bike-friendly cities such as Montreal.
• Suggested Bike Paths (separated by curb, above street and often away from street):
• Connect paths along N. Park, MLK, Fairhill to allow off-street, uninterrupted ride from Shaker Lakes area to University Circle and the lakefront (through Ambler Park)
• Seriously upgrade the sidewalk down the MLK hill so it can work as a 2-way bike path connecting from the end of North Park down to Abington Road and MLK/Cedar/Carnegie. [This might be the more practical route for going up and down the hill, rather than trying to upgrade the path that ascends Fairhill, because at the top end of the Fairhill path you somehow have to get across a lot of lanes of traffic that never stops. Whereas, if you can safely get across to the path at the bottom of MLK, then you only need to worry about people turning into and out of Abington and then get across North Park. This is fairly easy if you do it one lane at a time, using the island that's there].
• Along southern end of Shaker CC on Parkland
• Through Little Italy shops and restaurants
• Short connector path (now semi-paved) between Crest Rd and the back of the post office. Improve and link to a bike route.
• Rebuild the former bridge over the gorge opposite Kemper linking to new bike paths along North Park near Roxboro School. These paths could link to existing paths further east on North Park and connect down to the Kaiser Permanente area. This would provide convenient access between Shaker Square and Cedar/Fairmount area and would open up a fairly direct commuting option that avoids some busy roads.
• In CH, the community center and Cumberland Pool and Cain Park are all very close together, but there are a lot of barriers to safe bike transportation among them. Extend the Cain Park path more directly over to Cumberland Park and maybe put an on-demand crossing either at the Cumberland/Mayfield/Monticello intersection or further west at Superior/Mayfield, and continue the bikeway in rational manner past the community center and into Forest Hill Park.
• S. Park bike lane comes to abrupt end—need way of crossing to Nature Center side safely. Extend path on N. side then crosswalk to paths on west side of South Park
• Utilize old streetcar tracks ROW on eastbound side of Cedar Hill for path.
• Bike paths on center median streets/old streetcar lanes [Note: these can be safety hazards, due to left-turning traffic not looking for cyclists in median—RM]

Landscape bikeways:

Create one round-trip bike route completely separate from traffic that would be comfortable for bicycling with children (perhaps widening existing paths around Shaker Lakes)

Suggested Bike Parking/Storage:

• Secure sheltered storage at destinations. A lot of the decision about whether to ride a bike somewhere or not has to do with whether you know there's a good place to lock your bike up when you get there. A "good place" would be convenient, secure, and reasonably protected from the weather.
• Develop a standard design for sheltered bike storage at destinations that considers all types of bikes (recumbents, tandems, trikes, etc.)
• Short and long-term parking throughout inner-ring 'burbs
  
• More bike parking at destinations (like Toronto’s)
  
• Partner with hotels for bike lockers
  
• Current upgrade of Lee Road business district could add bike racks throughout
  
• Move bike racks at Shaker Square to more obvious spot
  
• Bike racks should be lighted
  
• Adequate bike parking at RTA facilities
• Here's our collective "pie-in-the-sky" parking & signage idea: commission local artists and/or industrial designers from the Cleveland Institute of Art to come up with a Circle-Heights bike storage unit design that would provide the following benefits:
• Secure and sheltered storage for 8-12 bikes
• Attractive incorporation into the streetscape
• Creative flair appropriate to the spirit of the community
• Economical construction
• Consistent graphic presentation that would provide orienting information (i.e. a map with other storage units indicated on it and suggested connecting routes).
• Accompanying these readily identifiable streetscape elements would be a signage program with strong graphics that somehow relate to the form of the shelters themselves. The signs should be small and simple but very cool and distinctive. This signage program could be used both to mark protected bikeways and to direct cyclists toward the storage units. The combination of the signage program, marked protected bikeways in certain areas, and the presence of the shelter/storage units would strongly reinforce the idea that this is a cycling community.

Suggested signs/written materials:

Wayfinding signs with direction and distance to destinations [e.g. exists in Vienna, Austria. Note: Participants were CH residents from Austria—a young couple with child]

Create materials that tell where one can go using bikes on transit—what destination do bus routes and rapids access across town?

Safety considerations:

Safe routes to school programs

Suggested added destinations:

• New development at Cedar/Warrensville. [Peter Rubin is working with City Architecture to redevelop the shopping/retail properties]
• Notre Dame College
• John Carroll University and stores at Fairmount Circle
• Elementary & middle schools—Canterbury, Fairfax, Noble, Monticello, Willey, Roxboro, Beaumont school (Lee/Fairmount)
• All libraries and rapid stations
• Cleveland Clinic
  
• Nature Center at Shaker lakes
• Lower and upper lakes, Green Lake (Duck Pond)
• Purvis Park
• University Square
• Neighborhoods just north of Severance (across Mayfield)— provide safe access to Severance from the Mayfield Rd side, and safe way to cross Mayfield, and a safe way to bike to post office
• JCC on Mayfield
• Cedar Center
• Cumberland Park/ Pool
• Heights Parent Center
• Bialys bagels, all shopping at Warrensville/Cedar
• Business districts at Fairmount/ Taylor
• Mid-Lee—between Cedar and Superior
• Euclid/ E. 120 (CIA, Mi Pueblo)
• Larchmere shopping
• Buckeye shopping
• Greater Randolph
• Map needs to include Monticello and areas north of Mayfield— Euclid Creek park could be a destination

Suggested map notations

• Use skiing notation—green circle is easiest, blue square is intermediate, black diamond is most difficult.
• Or use existing NOACA notation
• Use Michelin map chevrons (pointing in direction of uphill) to show grades. One chevron = small hill, two = medium, three= steep.
• Mark one-way streets with arrows
• Show bike paths in Forest Hills Park
• Designate 5-10-15 mile recreation/fitness loops
• Make off-street routes more distinct (own color?)
• Suggested route additions/modifications:
  
• Fairmount should be shown as a fast route
• Add Euclid Hts Blvd—Coventry to Cedar Hill—fast route
  
• Try to open Lakeview Cemetery to bikes
• Inbound to Severance: Staunton to West on Severn to N on Taylor to E on Euclid Hts
• Outbound from Severance: Severance to E on Mayfield to S on Crest to Wood
• Bendemeer to S on Staunton (both above reduce number of left turns)
• Belvoir and S. Belvoir are good
• Meadowbrook and Silsby—slow routes
• Miramar, Wrenford are good slow routes
• Stillman to Lamberton to Fairfax for north-south slow route
• Larchmere should be slow route
• Shelbourne west of Warrensville should be slow route
• Heights to Univ Circle: North Park to Ambleside, cross Cedar, toward Edgehill to Adelbert should be more bike-friendly
• Rydalmount, Compton—slow routes
• Monmouth & E. Monmouth—slow route to avoid Fairmount
• Add small street just below Murray Hill to connect to Mayfield from Cornell
• St. James to Tudor to Nottinghill lane to Demington. Cross Cedar and go on Overlook Lane, left on Mornington Lane, right on Berkshire. Cross Coventry to Washington. To go to high school, etc. go right on Washington. To go to Cumberland Park/Pool, cross Washington and proceed up the various possible streets to corner of Euclid Hts and Superior. Take Silsby to Fenwick to get to Cedar Center. [Note: This is a winding, liesurely route].
• Forest Hill-Cumberland-Cain Park through path (dangerous intersection at Monticello Mayfield)

Suggested map expansions:

• Connections to Metropark south along Warrensville and via Brainard
• Better routes to go northeast—Richmond Hts, Willoughby
• Access to Euclid Creek park (Anderson and Green)—from Severance: Cleve Hts Blvd to Woodridge, jog on Noble to Bluestone, straight over Green Road into the park.
• Chagrin through Kinsman to Union. Union could take you to Broadway neighborhood and onto the towpath
• Extend east on Cedar to I-271 and Beachwood Place

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