Skip to Content
Streetsblog California home
Streetsblog California home
Log In
Streetsblog USA

Cleveland Traffic Engineer Puts Buffer on the Wrong Side of the Bike Lane

This Cleveland cyclist hasn't gotten the memo about how biking in traffic is
At the behest of a not-very-forward-thinking traffic engineer, Cleveland has been installing buffered bike lanes backwards.
false

Cleveland is finally installing buffered bike lanes along some major streets, but with the buffer between the bike lane and the curb, not between the bike lane and traffic.

At first, many people thought this design was a mistake. But it has now been painted on two streets at the behest of Cleveland's traffic engineer, Andy Cross. Local blog GreenCityBlueLake reports that Cross told advocacy group Bike Cleveland (disclosure: my husband sits on the board and I did for several years as well) the design was a "best practice" to prevent right hook collisions, in which a turning driver strikes a cyclist proceeding straight.

In an email to Bike Cleveland, Cross haughtily slammed the National Association of City Transportation Officials' designs for buffered and protected bike lanes -- which are endorsed by the Federal Highway Administration.

"The terms ‘best practices’ and ‘protected’ are often used with what is shown in the NACTO guide," Cross wrote. "A design that encourages or requires hook turns across the path of through cyclists is neither a ‘best practice’ nor ‘protected.'"

The decision to put the buffer next to the curb is so unconventional that advocates think it was lifted not from a design manual but from Iamtraffic.org, a website that espouses vehicular cycling.

While Cleveland is accelerating its rate of bike lane installation, Cross's penchant for ineffective design threatens to sabotage the usefulness of the new infrastructure.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog California

First OC Streetcar Arrives

The $649 million 4.1-mile OC Streetcar light rail line is 92 percent complete, and now anticipated to open in spring 2026

May 8, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines

California and Trump continue to spar and more news from up and down the state.

May 8, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: ‘Normal’ is Not Correct, Someone Died Here

After a crash, the debris is quickly cleaned up and everyone moves on (usually too quickly). But these two experts are asking us to all slow down.

May 8, 2025
See all posts