A new stretch of shared-use path along Huron Road and Ontario Street is set to complete the Memorial Bridges Loop, a three-mile walking and cycling route that links two of downtown Cleveland's most iconic river crossings. Pedestrians and cyclists will use the finished infrastructure once construction wraps, according to a Facebook update from Ohio Department of Transportation District 12 Cleveland shared this week.
The shared-use path is located on Huron and Ontario in downtown Cleveland, and its completion will close the final gap in a loop connecting the Detroit-Superior Bridge, also known as the Veterans Memorial Bridge, with the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge, known as the Hope Memorial Bridge. That geographic detail comes from Ohio Department of Transportation District 12 Cleveland, whose Facebook post laid out the project's role in tying the two bridges together with a continuous route around the Cuyahoga River Valley, as Cleveland Scene also reported.
The idea traces back eight years, to a March 2018 feasibility study from Leadership Cleveland's LC2 Fellows that proposed repurposing excess roadway capacity across the river for a three-mile walking and cycling loop, according to Bike Cleveland. Long before any dirt was moved, local running groups and cyclists were already informally using the two-bridge loop, even with sidewalk gaps along Huron Road, per the City of Cleveland.
A Dangerous Stretch of Road Gets a Makeover
The push to fix Huron Road and Ontario Street is rooted in safety data, not just convenience. City of Cleveland traffic figures show more than 83 percent of drivers exceed the 25 mph speed limit on Huron Road, and 132 crashes occurred along Huron and Ontario Street between 2021 and 2025, resulting in two fatalities and two serious injuries. Those numbers help explain why the corridor became a priority under Cleveland's Vision Zero mandate to eliminate severe crashes.
Design plans for the segment call for a road diet that trims Ontario Street by as much as 50 feet of roadway width, paired with high-flashing pedestrian crossing signals, refuge islands, and green-hued bike pavement markings, Cleveland Scene reported. The corridor sees especially dense foot traffic on event days, since it serves as a primary walking route to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and Progressive Field, according to the same outlet.
Funding Pieced Together From Three Levels of Government
The $1.5 million project was assembled from a mix of city bond funds, regional commitments from NOACA secured in January 2024, and $432,000 in federal Community Project Funding that U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown secured in July 2022, per Bike Cleveland. Active construction on the Huron-Ontario shared-use path began on June 22, 2026, and has triggered downtown lane reductions, including restricting eastbound Huron Road to a single lane through mid-November 2026, as reported by WKYC.
Once finished, the Huron and Ontario segment is expected to resolve a critical missing link in the citywide active transportation network outlined under the city's Cleveland Moves bikeway plan, according to municipal planning documents. Shared-use path construction will complete the Memorial Bridges Loop, ODOT District 12 Cleveland confirmed in its post, and the finished loop will become downtown Cleveland's second fully protected bike and running path, Cleveland Scene noted.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Cleveland
The Huron-Ontario work follows a string of related moves across the region. Hoodline previously reported on Cleveland's decision to add barriers on West 65th Street bike lanes after 112 crashes there, part of a citywide pattern of retrofitting dangerous corridors with physical protection for cyclists and pedestrians. The state has also been funneling money toward similar projects, having handed out $21 million for bike and pedestrian work across 16 counties.
The Memorial Bridges Loop also connects to another piece of downtown infrastructure already familiar to Clevelanders: the lower deck of the Detroit-Superior Bridge, which reopened to the public for free summer walks earlier this year. With the Huron-Ontario segment now under construction and lane restrictions expected to persist through mid-November, downtown drivers face months of disruption before the city gains a continuous three-mile loop for walking and cycling around the Cuyahoga River Valley.
