Circle-Heights: Why now?

It's timely to be thinking about the concept of a Circle-Heights Bike Network. It can dovetail nicely with a number of other planning and development efforts now underway:

• University Circle Inc. (UCI) is developing a master plan that, among other things, aims to improve the pedestrian character, bike facilities, and transit connections in the Circle.
• Cleveland Heights has completed a community visioning process that calls for enhancing the pedestrian/bike character of the city while reducing the impact of automobile-oriented design.
• Shaker Heights has done extensive planning to improve the design of the Lee-Chagrin and Warrensville-Van Aken areas. Ideas include narrowing streets and creating walkable retail centers.
• Shaker Square has been redeveloped, and, as the square becomes more popular, it will be important to offer people alternative ways to get there.
• The First Suburbs Consortium, the council of governments of Cleveland's inner-ring suburbs, has completed a retail marketing study of commercial districts in member communities. The study stresses that older commercial districts need to compete by offering walkable environments.
• Euclid Avenue between downtown and University Circle will soon be rebuilt with dedicated bus and bike lanes.
• At the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA, the region's transportation planning agency) there is substantial interest in funding transportation projects that promote multi-modal transportation and the revitalization of older communities.

In all these efforts, planners and citizens are talking about the need to promote multiple forms of transportation and create better places for people.

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