Rush Hour Parking is Now Allowed on Lake Avenue!

[Bill Call]

In Cleveland.

The new lanes reduce the street to two lanes of traffic with a center lane for turning. Parking is now allowed during rush hour on the South side of the street. This should help reduce the high vacancy rate in Lake Avenue apartments. The change shouldn't affect the movement of traffic because when the parking ban was enforced traffic was reduced to a standstill while cars were towed.

Perhaps the City of Lakewood can fund a study to examine the possibility of funding a study to discuss the implementation on such a change in Lakewood.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Perhaps the City of Lakewood can fund a study to examine the possibility of funding a study to discuss the implementation on such a change in Lakewood.

Bill

Instead of funding a study, maybe they could walk down and check it out.

It would only make sense to make Lake Road the same, or a bottle neck will form at Highland Ave. and back up with accidents, horn honking, and general mayhem.

FWIW


.

[Bill Call]

Instead of funding a study, maybe they could walk down and check it out.

I had a business teacher who said he preferred MBWA (Management By Walking Around) to MBA (Management By Ass...).

[Joe Whisman]

They should make Lake Ave. one lane with a wide bike lane. It would be a good step forward. I would imagine the study would be too costly. It would also be a long walk. On second though, status quo would be easier.

[Robert Bobik]

Speed lmit needs to be looked at also. Thirty-five mph works when the road is clear of parked cars, with parked cars it is a death trap. People exiting drives have no line-of-sight, and vehicles on Lake have no time to react. Came home today from work to a crying wife, a child had been hit by a car in front of our house. Yes, this can happen anywhere, but a more reasonable speed limit might have changed this outcome. Robert

[john crino]

Speed lmit needs to be looked at also. Thirty-five mph works when the road is clear of parked cars, with parked cars it is a death trap. People exiting drives have no line-of-sight, and vehicles on Lake have no time to react. Came home today from work to a crying wife, a child had been hit by a car in front of our house. Yes, this can happen anywhere, but a more reasonable speed limit might have changed this outcome. Robert

I received no response when I suggested last summer that Lake avenue was dangerous and that it should be two lanes with a bike path and 25 mph.
Now how do we actually propose these changes?

[Paul Schrimpf]

Wow, that worked great. Coming home from the east side from work was a lot less stressful, as cars have to behave and stay in line and people aren't cutting each other off in two squeezed lanes. It would make a lot of sense to do it in Lakewood as well. Parkers wouldn't have to do the "Six AM Shuffle" every morning.

[John LePlae]

I'm all for 25 mph on Lake Ave with a bike lane. I've lived on Lake Ave for 2 1/2 years now and have witnessed a number of accidents and near misses. We have a lot of pedestrian and bike traffic in the summer months, coupled with a few people who seem to need to drive 45 mph. One lane in each direction would surely slow these knuckleheads down. I believe changes to Clifton Ave are in the planning stages, so I imagine any change to Lake Ave would be secondary to that.

[Ryan Salo]

I say we just put barrels up making entry a single lane into Lakewood on Clifton and Lake from both ends. After 2 weeks of taking 30 minutes to make it through the city many of these River, Bay and Avon drivers will just take I-90. We should also have cops enforcing the speed limit in random places everyday along the route. Too bad we can't do any of that.

[Ed FitzGerald]

Bill-

I hope I wasn't the only one who got your joke about funding a study on this.

A couple things that might be relevant to this discussion: I inquired about reducing the speed limit on Lake Road a few years back, but was informed that Lake Avenue does not meet the state criteria for that speed limit. I made the same request for Franklin, where speeding is just as bad, and where there have been fatalities in the last few years, and I received the same answer. It may be time to revisit this possibility.

About four years ago, a Lake Avenue resident requested that white lines be painted between the traffic lanes. I learned that under state code, Lake Avenue is actually too narrow to justify officially separating the lanes by a white lane. In fact, Lake Avenue is technically only one lane in each direction, and a vehicle closest to the center line is actually in the "official" lane.

I have to admit that I was worried when I saw the new traffic configuration on the Cleveland portion of Lake Avenue, because that does happen to be my commuter route. True, cars are sometimes being towed from the curbside area on some mornings, but generally there were two flowing lanes of traffic.

But, since the new Cleveland configuration is a fait accompli, I do think we should examine this (and I don't mean by paying for another study). I'm tentatively planning on a public hearing on this issue on June 14th at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall to help spur a decision on this issue. In particular I'm interested in commuting issues, traffic pattern questions, and whether this would have any effect on property values around Lake Avenue.

I would appreciate any feedback.

[Bill Call]

Bill-

I hope I wasn't the only one who got your joke about funding a study on this.

Me too.

Thank you for your interest in this matter. Implementing the lane changes in Cleveland took one day. Six men erased the old lane lines and replaced them with the new configuration in about 8 hours. For the price of flower baskets the City enhanced the liveablity of one of its finest neighborhoods.

I take that route to work every day. I have noticed an increase in for rent signs in an area that once had waiting lists. In today's housing market the City to needs to offer a friendly environment.

I appreciate the difficulty in dealing with the State bureaucracy and am grateful that you have decided to give it another try.

[Paul Schrimpf]

I think we should cut and paste the solution used in the Cleveland section of Lake Avenue right onto Lakewood's portion. Cars are going slower, there's much less of the weaving in and out of cars you get with two narrow lanes. Folks that absolutely must go faster will be forced up to Clifton, or better yet for ex-urbies, back on to 90. I saw two obnoxious drivers get the shutdown yesterday coming off the shoreway when the two lanes merged into one, and was most pleased. I never went over 30 the whole way, which is how it should be.

[Robert Bobik]

Saw a policeman almost get hit this morning on Lake. He was ticketing a car on the eastbound side. As he was walking in the roadway inspecting the car before the tow truck arrived, traffic was jostling for position and didn't see the officer. My wife heard the screeching of tires from our kitchen. After witnessing a child being struck the other day, hearing that screech of tires shook her up. I don't think it was as close as it sounded, but there has to be a better way. If Lake is officially a one-lane road, I guess I'm wondering why it is not treated as such.
Robert

[Joe Ott]

Bill-
I learned that under state code, Lake Avenue is actually too narrow to justify officially separating the lanes by a white lane. In fact, Lake Avenue is technically only one lane in each direction, and a vehicle closest to the center line is actually in the "official" lane.

Ed.
Have you found out any more about this? Since Lake is technically a single lane, who is responsible for proper and legal lane markings. City or State? Can it be done? Why is parking even allowed if it's really only one lane?

[Tim Liston]

In this thread the topic of bike lanes has been raised. I wanted to make a few quick comments on that.

I personally believe that traditional “bike lanesâ€Â