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The city of Cleveland has announced plans to add 70 miles of bikeways to its existing 47.5-mile network. Christopher Bongorno (center), planning and sustainability manager for University Circle Inc., bikes to work with other commuters along Detroit Avenue in this 2010 file photo.

(Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio-- The city of Cleveland plans to more than double the amount of bike-friendly routes in town, adding 70 miles of dedicated lanes, trails and pavement markings by the end of 2017.

An update of Cleveland's bikeway plan, introduced Sunday at the annual meeting of the advocacy group Bike Cleveland, showed almost 45 miles of bikeways added over the next two years, and another 25.6 miles in the following two years.

The overall goal is to connect every Cleveland neighborhood to a bikeway network, said Jenita McGowan, the city's chief of sustainability.

The bikeway improvements are woven into the city's capital improvements plan, with some of the changes made as part of street resurfacing projects, with others coming as roadways are rebuilt. Streets where resurfacing and reconstruction work has already occurred will be striped and posted with signs for bicyclists to complete the network.

The city of Cleveland currently has 47.5 miles of bikeways -- a mixture of sharrows, and bike lanes and trails. It plans to add another 70 miles of bike-friendly routes by the end of 2017.

Cleveland today has 47.5 miles of bikeways -- 3.7 miles of streets with sharrows, or pavement markings alerting drivers that bikes are sharing a lane; 10.3 miles of bike lanes, where part of the road is marked off and restricted to bicylists; and 34.6 miles of trails -- paths, often shared with pedestrians, that are physically separate from motorized traffic.

McGowan said it is largely an unconnected patchwork.

"It's a lot of bicycling to nowwhere," she told a gathering of about 150 people who turned out for Bike Cleveland's meeting at the Beachland Ballroom.

But by the end of 2017, McGowan said, cyclists will be able to ride across town on numerous routes without ever leaving a bikeway. For instance, a bicyclist could start out on Detroit Avenue as it leaves Lakewood for Cleveland, head east through downtown and follow Superior Avenue to the city limits.

Jacob VanSickle, executive director of Bike Cleveland, praised Cleveland's plans and said they are more sure-fire than other ideas that have come and gone because they are part of roadway projects that are funded.

Some of the redesigns coming in 2014 -- along Triskett and Puritas Roads, Denison Avenue, 41st Street and 44th Street -- specify establishing lanes for bikes only, rather than the combined auto-bike traffic that comes with sharrows.

The nature of the rest of the added bikeways is not yet pinned down.

"If we can get people at public meetings saying sharrows don't make them feel safe, then we may get more bike lanes," VanSickle said.

Aside from the changes that are part of upcoming Cleveland street projects, the city has identified another 82.5 miles of roads that could be eligible for cycling-related improvements such as restriping and signage. Cleveland has about $1 million earmarked for the work.

Besides 70 added miles of bikeway planned over the next four years, the city of Cleveland says another 82.5 miles of roadway, as shown in this map, could be restriped and identified as bike routes.

If it all pans out, the city could have a 200-mile bike network by the end of of 2018.

Maps taped to the walls of the Beachland Ballroom showed existing and proposed bike routes. Viewers used bright sticky notes to attach comments.

"Please don't forget Fairmount and Shaker going into University Circle," one said. "Monitor broken glass!!" said another.

Marie Kittredge, executive director of Slavic Village Development, called the extension of biking facilities "huge" for a low-income neighborhood like hers, where 30 percent of residents don't have cars.

Angie Schmitt, a Bike Cleveland board member, said the street changes are not just for already-committed bikers, but also for "people who would like to bike but who are still afraid.

"Cleveland will be a lot more bike-friendly," she said.