THE ACR FLC ON AN MD88 CROSSED THE HOLD LINE OF RWY 23L AT CLE WHILE ANOTHER ACFT WAS ON APCH. THE MD88 STOPPED ABOUT 10-15 FT BEYOND THE LINE; BUT SHORT OF RWY 23L'S SURFACE AND THE APCHING ACFT WAS ABLE TO SAFELY LAND. THE RPTR SAID THAT HE WAS LOOKING FOR THE LINE; BUT DID NOT SEE IT UNTIL HE WAS ALMOST PAST IT.

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AT XA55 ON OCT/XA/97; WE (AN ACR MD88 FLC) PUSHED BACK FROM THE GATE AT CLE. AFTER ENG START THE FO CALLED FOR TAXI. GND CTL CLRED US TO TAXI TO RWY 23R VIA TXWY U; RWY 28; HOLD SHORT OF RWY 23L. THE FO READ BACK THE CLRNC TO GND AND I REPEATED THE CLRNC WITHIN THE COCKPIT TO THE FO. WE WERE ALL CLR AS TO THE CLRNC. I TAXIED FROM TXWY U; L ONTO RWY 28. PROCEEDING DOWN RWY 28; I IDENTED TXWY J FORWARD ON OUR L; TXWY Z FORWARD ON OUR R; RWY 23L AHEAD; AND RWY 23R BEYOND THAT. WE WERE TAXIING SLOWLY AND AS I SLOWED FURTHER TO HOLD SHORT OF RWY 23L THE FO ASKED 'ARE YOU STOPPING FOR THE HOLD SHORT?' TWR THEN RADIOED US AND THE FO ALSO STATED; 'STOP!' I EASED TO A STOP WITH OUR NOSEWHEEL APPROX 10-15 FT BEYOND THE HOLD SHORT LINE. AS WE HELD THERE; THE TWR CLRED A BIZJET; THAT WAS ON FINAL; TO LAND. AFTER THE BIZJET LANDED; THE TWR RADIOED 'TAXI ACROSS RWY 23L; CLRED FOR TKOF ON RWY 23R.' WE REPEATED THE CLRNC AND COMPLIED. COMMENTS: INSTRUCTIONS AND COM FROM TWR AND WITHIN THE COCKPIT WERE CLR. ARPT GND LAYOUT; INCLUDING RWY AND TXWY ORIENTATION; WERE REVIEWED AND DISCUSSED BTWN THE CAPT AND FO PRIOR TO TAXI. WE NOTED THE COMMENT ON THE FLT RELEASE ABOUT THE CONFUSING RWY/TXWY LAYOUT. WE ALSO NOTED; ON THE ARPT DIAGRAM PAGE; THE ALERT COMMENT ABOUT TAXIING FROM TXWY J OR TXWY U TO RWYS 23L/R; AND RWY 28. FURTHER; WE DISCUSSED THE EXPLODED VIEW ON THE ARPT DIAGRAM THAT DEPICTED THE RWY 23L/R; RWY 28 INTXN AREA. THE FO WAS MORE FAMILIAR THAN I WITH CLE ARPT AND MADE PERTINENT COMMENTS REGARDING THE ARPT LAYOUT. APCHING THE HOLD SHORT LINE; I HAD IDENTED THE SURROUNDING TXWYS AND RWYS. I FELT COMFORTABLE AS TO THE ACFT LOCATION AS I SLOWED APCHING RWY 23L; YET THE HOLD SHORT LINE DID NOT BECOME READILY APPARENT TO ME. I WAS ACTUALLY LOOKING BEYOND AND ALSO TO THE R ALONG TXWY Z FOR THE HOLD SHORT LINE. SUGGESTIONS: 1) MAKE A CHANGE TO THE ARPT DIAGRAM PAGE IDENTING THE EXACT POS OF THE HOLD SHORT LINE ON THE EXPLODED VIEW THAT EXISTS. 2) MAKE THE HOLD SHORT LINE WIDER AND BOLDER THAN NORMAL. ALTHOUGH THIS MIGHT BE CONSIDERED NONSTANDARD; THIS SIT WARRANTS A WIDER; MORE VIVID LINE THAN STANDARD. 3) IMBED A LIGHT BAR IN THE RWY SURFACE ALONG THE HOLD SHORT LINE. 4) PAINT A BENT HOLD SHORT LINE ON RWY 28. THE L SIDE OF THE LINE SHOULD BE PERPENDICULAR TO RWY 28 AND THE R SIDE OF THE LINE SHOULD BE PERPENDICULAR TO TXWY Z. 5) RESTRUCTURE THE RWY AND TXWY LAYOUT. TAXIING DOWN ONE RWY TO CROSS A SECOND RWY TO TAKE OFF ON A THIRD RWY; ALL IN CLOSE PROX TO ONE ANOTHER; MAY CAUSE FURTHER PROBS. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE RPTR IS AN MD88 CAPT FOR A MAJOR ACR AND HE SAID THAT HE HAD NOT BEEN TO CLE IN SOME TIME; BUT FO HAD FLOWN THROUGH CLE A NUMBER OF TIMES THE PREVIOUS MONTH. HE AND THE FO DISCUSSED THE TAXI RTE BOTH BEFORE THEY RECEIVED THEIR CLRNC AND AFTER WHILE USING THE ARPT MAP AND THE COMPANY'S BULLETIN AS REFS. HOWEVER; AFTER TURNING ONTO RWY 28 HE STILL MISSED THE HOLD LINE. HE SAID THAT HE NOW THINKS THAT HE WAS LOOKING AT THE RWY AND; APPARENTLY; BEYOND THE RWY HOLD LINE FOR THAT RWY. HE SAID THAT HE HAS BEEN BACK TO CLE SINCE THIS INCIDENT AND THE AREA AROUND THE HOLD LINE HAS BEEN PARTIALLY EXCAVATED AND; IT APPEARED TO THE RPTR; THAT THE WORKERS WERE INSTALLING A LIGHTED HOLD LINE.