On Friday, the Cleveland City Planning Commission will hear a proposal to build a pedestrian and bicycle trail that would connect downtown, the lakefront and near east side neighborhoods.
The Lakefront Greenway & Downtown Connector Study, creates a bike/pedestrian trail alongside North and South Marginal Roads. It’ll run more than four miles starting near First Energy Stadium passing Burke Lakefront Airport and circling around greenspace near MLK drive.
This design is the result of a year of input from neighborhoods, the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Port Authority and others says Michelle Johnson with Environmental Design Group, one of the engineering firms who created the plan.
They are also working with Burke airport to move a fence three-feet to allow more room for the trail.
Johnson says once the planning commission approves the project, that’s when they’ll begin raising the nearly $13 million needed for construction.
“There are a lot things we have to do between now and then including raising local match,” said Johnson. “That is a big piece of it anytime we use federal funding we have to do a 20% match and some of the state funding requires 25% local match so that fundraising is critical.”
Johnson says there is no timetable to begin construction.