What we're working on in Solon

Repeal Solon's single-file law

Solon ordinance 474.04(b) forces cyclists to ride single file on many streets. But Ohio law already settles this: ORC 4511.55(B) expressly permits riding two abreast in a single lane. A local rule can't ban what state law allows.

Two abreast is also safer: a side-by-side pair is a shorter, more visible unit that drivers can pass more easily than a long single-file line. Backed by Bike Cleveland and attorney Ken Knabe, we've pressed for repeal since 2022, and we're still pressing.

Make the SOM Center trail crossing safe

Families park at the Bainbridge Road lot and cross to reach the trail. Two separate children have been struck by vehicles turning into that lot. Same location, same failure: a driver didn't see a child on the sidewalk. We took it to City Council on June 15, 2026, asking for interim fixes while the Bicentennial Park connector is built.

Keep e-bike rules fair and evidence-based

Neighboring Twinsburg now requires registering every bike and e-bike with police. The real concern (high-powered throttle machines on shared-use paths) is valid, but registration doesn't fix it. Those vehicles are already illegal on paths under ORC 4511.522, no new ordinance required.

Registration programs have been tried and dropped from San Jose to Seattle to Madison because they cost more than they help. The right answer is education, trail signage, and enforcing the law we have. We're watching Solon's agenda and ready to speak if a similar proposal appears.

Start a Bike Solon bike bus

A bike bus is a group of families riding to school together on a set route and schedule, picking up more kids at every corner, with an adult leading from the front and another sweeping from the back. Sam "Coach" Balto turned one Portland elementary school route into a national movement, and Solon has the streets and the families to do the same.

We want to launch a Bike Solon bike bus: a real, recurring ride to one of our elementary or middle schools, organized by parents, for kids. Route, school, and start date are still open questions, and that is exactly where we need help.

Get Solon's bike boulevards on the ground

The city's own 2021 Solon Connects plan already identified where these should go: three bike boulevard corridors on low-speed, low-volume residential streets, laid out as an inexpensive alternative to riding on busy arterials like SOM Center Road. The plan names them the Parkway Connector, Campus Connector, and Community Connector.

The routes are already picked. What's missing is the signage and paint that would actually make them legible as a route: wayfinding signs, sharrows, and the occasional traffic-calming touch the plan recommends. This is a low-cost win the city could deliver without a major capital project, if we can get it on the calendar.

Reverse Solon Schools' throttle e-bike ban

The superintendent has confirmed the ban stays in place across all district properties for the 2026-27 school year. Our position hasn't changed since we first said this a year ago.

In August 2025, Solon City Schools banned all throttle-equipped e-bikes from campus after a student was involved in a crash. We share the district's concern for student safety, but a blanket ban is the wrong fix. Bike Cleveland and the League of American Bicyclists both recognize e-bikes as legitimate active transportation, and Bike Solon issued a formal statement urging the district to reconsider.

The unsafe behaviors driving the ban (cutting through traffic lanes, riding on sidewalks, ignoring signals) aren't unique to e-bikes, and banning access doesn't fix them. It also pushes more families into car drop-off lines on SOM Center Road, an already construction-choked corridor. Fewer kids riding to school means more cars at drop-off, not fewer safety problems.

We followed up directly with Superintendent Fred Bolden on August 22 and September 15, 2025, with a specific plan built around campus design and education instead of a ban. Here's what we actually asked for, and how the district responded:

Bolden responded twice, on September 3 and September 20, 2025, rejecting all six proposals. His central argument: a school campus during arrival and dismissal is a different environment than a park or trail, with too much volume to manage anything short of a full restriction. We don't think that holds up, and Solon High School's own student handbook proves it. Student drivers aren't banned from campus: reckless driving and speeding are grounds for losing that privilege, not for banning cars outright (Parking Rules and Regulations, item 7). Parking itself is already zoned by color, red for reserved and staff, yellow for students (item 11). Bus riders operate under a full page of behavior rules, not a ban on riding the bus. The school already manages cars, buses, and thousands of students arriving and leaving at once with rules and zones, not blanket bans. The same approach works for e-bikes.

Make walkability and bike access the default, not an afterthought

Solon already has the policy tools to require this. The city's Mixed-Use Planning District (MPD-A), created when voters approved Issue 65 in November 2019 with 63 percent support, explicitly calls for "high-quality, walkable development" on the Aurora Road, Station Street, Melbury Avenue, and Solon Road corridor. The 2016 Master Plan goes further, directing decision makers to make sidewalks and bicycle routes a design priority on new development. The question is whether that language actually gets applied, project by project.

The redevelopment of the former Liberty Ford site on Aurora Road, now moving forward as a large mixed-use project, is the clearest current test case. It sits inside the MPD-A district and borders Melbury Avenue, a street the 2021 Solon Connects plan flags for a protected bike connection. Solon Connects also found that 30 percent of the city's streets have no sidewalk at all, and only 23 percent of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park. Every project like this one, and every public works project after it, is a chance to move those numbers, or not.