U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, frustrated that the Ohio Department of Transportation has dug in its heels and won't consider a multipurpose lane on the new Inner Belt Bridge, wrote the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration on Friday, asking him to ensure the lane is included in bids for the span.

In his letter to Victor Mendez, Kucinich wrote that he heard Ohio "cannot veer from its path toward the current plans to exclude bikes and pedestrians. . . . The issue of bike and pedestrian access to this signature bridge must not be swept under the rug due to a bureaucratic snafu."

Kucinich, a Democrat from Cleveland, sent the letter in response to comments made earlier in the day by Craig Hebebrand, the bridge's project manager, to Cleveland Planning Commission members. Hebebrand said the three design/build teams that will bid this year on the $450 million bridge project can't include an alternate bid to add a multipurpose lane.

That's because ODOT didn't include such a lane in the Environmental Impact Statement approved by the highway administration, which includes all bridge specifications for bids, Hebebrand said. The project must be authorized by the federal agency by March 1 to receive $85 million in federal stimulus funds.

"There is no way to physically change all the documents and allow the FHWA [Federal Highway Administration] to review and approve them by March 1," he said.

Commission member Lillian Kuri was perplexed.

"Under no scenario do I see adding a multipurpose lane as a negative environmental impact," she said. "Since the bridge really isn't designed, there is certainly no harm to allow the three firms you pick to come in with two sets of bids -- one without the cost of the lane and the other with . . . I don't understand why you are shutting the door right now."

Neither did about a dozen bicyclists who attended the commission meeting.

"You could do a better job at not a huge amount of cost," said Jim Sheehan, director of the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op. "No one is interested in delaying it or making it more expensive."

Hebebrand said it would cost an additional $20 million to add a multipurpose lane to the five-lane bridge. In addition, ODOT has said cheaper and safer alternatives are feasible and that it will make improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians along other routes over the Cuyahoga Valley between downtown and the West Side.

Kucinich, along with bicyclists and city officials, has advocated for the multipurpose lane since December. He has met with ODOT officials and wrote Gov. Ted Strickland. He said Friday it is the first time he has heard the highway administration rules and March 1 deadline could derail the lane.

"I am going to intervene and we are not going to let this get lost in a bureaucratic maze," he said. "I feel very strongly that the community's wishes should be regarded. It is easy for them [ODOT] to shove it off on a bureaucracy, but they've had time since December."

He said the project is in no danger of losing the $85 million.

"The last thing the Obama administration will do is let some federal agency take away $85 million from Cleveland and Cuyahoga County," he said.

Bridge construction will begin in 2011. When the new span opens in 2014, it will carry eastbound and westbound traffic until 2017, the year the current deteriorating Inner Belt Bridge will be replaced. At that point, the bridge built first will carry only westbound traffic and the other will carry eastbound traffic.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: kfarkas@plaind.com, 216-999-5079