A cracked sidewalk and stretches of unkempt grass along North Marginal Road have given way to smooth asphalt and lighted pathway, and Cleveland's newest piece of active-transit infrastructure is now open for runners, cyclists and scooter riders. The Mandel Lakefront Trail, a project two years in the making, is described as the city's first isolated walkway linking Downtown with East Side parks.
The roughly $11 million, nearly three-mile trail broke ground in August 2024 and is now open and rideable, according to Cleveland Scene. Cleveland Metroparks is handling long-term maintenance of the pathway and the greenery around it, a division of labor that traces back to how the project was structured from the start: the Cuyahoga County Department of Public Works oversaw construction, while Metroparks took over operation and upkeep once the trail was finished, according to Cleveland Metroparks.
The project traces its funding back to July 2023, when the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation awarded a $5 million grant to Cleveland Metroparks specifically to build the trail along North Marginal Road. That gift was one piece of a larger $13 million philanthropic package the foundation gave Metroparks for East Side lakefront access. Federal dollars filled out the rest of the budget: $5.6 million came through the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency via the Federal Highway Administration's Carbon Reduction Program, paired with local matching funds from Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland.
Filling a Long-Missing Gap Along the Shoreline
The 2.7-mile off-road paved path completes a stretch of the Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway that had been missing for years, creating a continuous lighted route from Voinovich Bicentennial Park at East 9th Street in Downtown Cleveland to the East 55th Street Marina and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Gordon Park. That segment fills a gap along North Marginal Road east of Burke Lakefront Airport that had gone unbuilt for a long time, per Cuyahoga County planning documents.
Beyond closing that gap, the trail was designed to serve as more than a recreational amenity. Project plans released by Cuyahoga County show it fulfills a goal of the regional Cuyahoga Greenways Plan by directly connecting Downtown Cleveland and University Circle, the region's two largest employment centers, via the Harrison Dillard Bikeway. Cleveland Scene's reporting notes the trail was spearheaded by Mayor Justin Bibb, and its opening advances his citywide Cleveland Moves initiative, a five-year plan announced in April 2025 that aims to build 50 miles of high-comfort protected bike paths by 2028 on the way to an eventual 250-mile network.
Other Bike Projects Underway Across the City
The Mandel trail isn't happening in isolation. Cleveland has also opened protected bike lanes downtown on Huron and Prospect, is building a lane for the Memorial Bridges Loop, and is constructing a protected bike lane on Payne Avenue, according to the Cleveland Scene report. City officials are also considering a similar protected path along West Boulevard. Hoodline's own coverage of the Memorial Bridges Loop detailed how that downtown segment connects into the same citywide network.
A formal ribbon-cutting for the Mandel trail hasn't happened yet. Cuyahoga County plans an official ceremony in late September 2026, which a county spokesperson confirmed to Cleveland Scene even though the path itself has already been open to the public.
New Sailing Center and Housing Follow the Trail
The trail corridor is already drawing other investment. In June 2026, Cleveland Metroparks opened the Patrick S. Parker Community Sailing Center and the nearly 4,000-square-foot Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Boathouse at 5555 North Marginal Road, adding a major recreational facility directly along the new path, according to Cleveland Magazine. The sailing center is described as the first community sailing facility on Ohio's Lake Erie coast.
Private development has followed close behind. In February 2026, the Cleveland City Planning Commission approved plans for the Union at Cleveland Harbor, a 209-unit apartment complex at 5475 North Marginal Road, with the Mandel Community Trail and shoreline resilience plans cited as key context for the new housing, as Hoodline previously reported. It's among the first new waterfront multifamily developments to reach the East Side lakefront in years.
Part of a Bigger Push to Reclaim the East Side Shoreline
The Mandel trail sits inside a much larger philanthropic effort. The $23.7 million commitment the Mandel Foundation announced in July 2023 also sent $10 million to the Western Reserve Land Conservancy for shoreline park expansion and $725,000 to LAND Studio for community design engagement on the East Side, with grants specifically targeting the St. Clair-Superior and Collinwood neighborhoods, according to Lifestyles Magazine. That broader push has also touched North Collinwood, where Hoodline previously covered plans for an Euclid Beach makeover aimed at reconnecting the neighborhood to the lakefront.
To help get more riders onto the region's growing network of protected paths, the City of Cleveland launched an e-bike rebate program with Bike Cleveland in August 2026, offering low- and moderate-income residents up to $1,500 toward an e-bike purchase. The point-of-sale rebate is meant to lower the financial barrier to adopting non-car transit as new trails like Mandel's come online.
