LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- With an eye on enhancing the Clifton Park Bridge, Detroit Avenue Bridge and Hilliard Road Bridge for bicycle and pedestrian use, Lakewood is teaming with the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, the Cleveland Metroparks and Rocky River in the application for a Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) planning grant.

"This is something that has kind of been a long time in the making," Lakewood City Planner Katelyn Milius said. "We think those bridges between us and Rocky River are kind of critical points in the system for pedestrians and bicyclists to go between cities, and also access the Metroparks trail system, which now at Detroit and Sloan avenues is mile marker 0 for 33 miles of pathways through the Rocky River Reservation to the Towpath Trail.

"We think better connecting both bicyclists and pedestrians to the Metroparks is going to be a great asset to our city and regionally, as well," she said.

The proposed $60,000 study -- which complements other initiatives in the city, including Community Vision, Bicycling Priorities Report, Active Living Task Force and Bike Lakewood's Westside Greenway Plan -- would examine the bridges and provide a recommended set of alternatives.

"Right now, those bridges are definitely designed for cars," Milius said. "A lot of them have several lanes of traffic, making it uncomfortable to cross. They have smaller sidewalks with steep curbs. It's not safe to bike or walk on them.

"What we would look at is reducing lanes and gaining more area for bicyclists and pedestrians on the bridge."

There is a timing factor for the study, considering that each bridge or nearby area either recently completed an upgrade or has future work planned. The Hilliard Road Bridge is set for a reinvestment in 2022, the Detroit Avenue and Sloan avenue intersection is scheduled for improvement in 2020 or 2021, and the recent Clifton Boulevard extension added bike lanes.

Milius said any cost estimate for the bridge bicycle and pedestrian upgrades would come from the study. NOACA is expected to award the planning grant in March.

"If we get the grant, we'll have public meetings regarding the planning around it," Milius said. "Depending on the recommendations, maybe there's something we could do immediately and something that's a little further out when the bridges are being invested in."