A plan to make the city one of the most bike-friendly communities in Ohio got its stamp of approval by Lakewood City Council on Tuesday.

The idea for the plan started rolling along more than a year ago and has included discussion, community meetings and a comprehensive bike study.

The proposal started to gain some traction in November when city officials announced the goal of becoming a bicycle mecca.

Then, last month, at the city’s planning commission meeting, city officials unveiled the comprehensive plan that paves the way bicycling in Lakewood.

“We’re proud of the plan we’ve put together,” said Dru Siley, the city’s director of planning and development. “We have a proposal that’s lean, actionable and we feel it’s something we can start working on implementing as early as next year.”

Siley said the city will immediately focus on adding sharrows to the streets and increasing bike racks, as part of the its 37-page master bike plan introduced last month.

City officials want to make it clear: Biking isn’t just for recreation anymore. In fact, in Lakewood, it’s how many residents get around, according to the study.

“We want to build on the fact that Lakewood is a great bicycle community and we want to make it better,” Siley said last month.

A traffic count at the intersection of Detroit and Andrews avenues saw an “astronomical” number of pedestrians and cyclists.

During one six-hour period, there were — count ‘em — 1,100 pedestrians and about 300 bikes at that intersection.

Not really much of a surprise for a city that ranked No. 1 in the state for bikeability, according to the American Community Survey.

The proposal called for the city to entirely use “shared use” lanes, meaning that cars and bikes equally share the road.

The plan recommends signage for bike racks, but also some to “remind residents that the roads are for everybody.”

A few of the other highlights include:

• Creating “sharrows” that will allow painted signs on the streets, indicating the road is to be shared with cyclists. The first place to start, city officials said, is on Madison Avenue where a multi-million-dollar repaving plan is in the works.
• Encouraging bike safety.
• Asking residents to register their bikes with the police department.
• Promoting awareness, including erecting billboards and providing handheld maps to cyclists.

Click here to check out the complete proposal.