Aired January 22, 2007

The Ohio Department of Transportation's latest proposal to build a new westbound I-90 inner belt bridge still doesn't include the bike and pedestrian lanes requested by the city and its citizens. The Cleveland Planning Commission says ODOT has to stop ignoring this request. ideastream's Lisa Ann Pinkerton reports.

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Proponents of bicycle and pedestrians lanes for the $300 million Inner Belt Bridge say the ability to provide safe bike/ped lanes on high speed bridges has been proven by the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Cooper River Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina. Among those advocates are Cleveland City Council, the Cleveland Planning Commission and ODOT's own advisory board. But ODOT says without planned lanes leading onto and off the bridge, it doesn't feel bike/ped lanes are warranted. But Planning Commission member Lillian Kuri says that's no excuse for ignoring the requests of the city.

Lillian Kuri: I'm not willing to budge on this. To be honest, it's almost silly the we have to continue to debate this issue. Multiple, multiple groups have said this is the way they want this city to be built.

Kuri says even Federal Highway policy requires ODOT to accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists on its bridges, advocating for up to 20% of a projects total budget to be spent on the feature. For the inner belt bridge, that could mean up to an additional $60 million. Lisa Ann Pinkerton, 90.3.