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Cleveland reviews bike, pedestrial proposal

By: Randall Higgins
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Tom Rowland

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Consultants rolled out a draft version of a bicycle and pedestrian plan for Cleveland at a public hearing Thursday.

“We are going to make Cleveland bike friendly. We are going to make it very comfortable to enjoy your bike,” Mayor Tom Rowland said.

The plan looks at bike paths and lanes along existing streets and outlines where they could be located. The draft plan includes 427 miles of potential bike paths and trails and pedestrian areas. The estimated final cost could be $75.8 million, according to the consultants’ report.

“Don’t let those numbers blow you away because they are so large,” said Robert Murphy, president of Brentwood, Tenn.-based RPM Transportation Consultants. “The key is taking incremental steps.”

The same funding used for the Mouse Creek greenway is available for much of the bike/pedestrian plan, he said. Money also may come from programs such as the federal Safe Routes to School program that funded sidewalks around Blythe-Bower Elementary School, he said. And delineating bike paths can be incorporated over time into routine street widening and striping, he said.

RPM will work public concerns from Thursday’s hearing into a final version that will go to the city’s Metropolitan Planning Organization for approval.

Mr. Rowland said putting a bike and pedestrian plan in the city’s MPO means future state Department of Transportation projects can include plans for bicycles and walkers, too. The state could do that as part of its plans for state Highway 60, or Georgetown Road, he said.

Good health and fuel costs are two reasons for bike and pedestrian plans, Mr. Rowland said. He said Whirlpool has installed bike parking areas for its employees.

The first bike and pedestrian hearing in January drew more than 40 people, said Community Development Director Greg Thomas. Since then RPM has surveyed miles of sidewalks and streets and incorporated that information into the meeting results.

RPM presenters Mr. Murphy and Preston Elliott brought maps Thursday showing a concentration of routes downtown and around key locations such as college campuses, malls and the hospital, with branches extending in all directions.

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