ClevelandDesignCity

Ohio Department of Transportation bureaucrats have a ready answer whenever some pesky citizens suggest changes in ODOT plans for the Inner Belt — or pretty much any other project:

Nope. Can’t do it.

So it’s no surprise that ODOT appears to have given little consideration to calls to add a secure lane for bikes and pedestrians to its plans for a new $450 million Interstate 90 bridge across the Cuyahoga River. Thankfully, that has not stopped local bicycle enthusiasts, neighborhood activists and environmentalists from trying to keep the idea alive — or Rep. Dennis Kucinich from asking Gov. Ted Strickland to make the unresponsive department listen. Even before Kucinich spoke up, the loosely knit coalition had persuaded Kent State University’s Urban Design Collaborative to sketch out how a bike lane on the bridge might look. That will help inform a conversation about what will be a signature artery in this community for decades to come… (go to article)