diff --git a/google/resource_container_cluster.go b/google/resource_container_cluster.go
index 765e83ba..01def4ae 100644
--- a/google/resource_container_cluster.go
+++ b/google/resource_container_cluster.go
@@ -730,6 +730,11 @@ func resourceContainerClusterCreate(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) er
 	timeoutInMinutes := int(d.Timeout(schema.TimeoutCreate).Minutes())
 	waitErr := containerOperationWait(config, op, project, location, "creating GKE cluster", timeoutInMinutes)
 	if waitErr != nil {
+		if deleteErr := cleanFailedContainerCluster(d, meta); deleteErr != nil {
+			log.Printf("[WARN] Unable to clean up cluster from failed creation: %s", deleteErr)
+		} else {
+			log.Printf("[WARN] Verified failed creation of cluster %s was cleaned up", d.Id())
+		}
 		// The resource didn't actually create
 		d.SetId("")
 		return waitErr
@@ -1308,16 +1313,9 @@ func resourceContainerClusterDelete(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) er
 		return err
 	}
 
-	var location string
-	locations := []string{}
-	if regionName, isRegionalCluster := d.GetOk("region"); !isRegionalCluster {
-		location, err = getZone(d, config)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-		locations = append(locations, location)
-	} else {
-		location = regionName.(string)
+	location, err := getLocation(d, config)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
 	}
 
 	clusterName := d.Get("name").(string)
@@ -1363,6 +1361,44 @@ func resourceContainerClusterDelete(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) er
 	return nil
 }
 
+// cleanFailedContainerCluster deletes clusters that failed but were
+// created in an error state. Similar to resourceContainerClusterDelete
+// but implemented in separate function as it doesn't try to lock already
+// locked cluster state, does different error handling, and doesn't do retries.
+func cleanFailedContainerCluster(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) error {
+	config := meta.(*Config)
+
+	project, err := getProject(d, config)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	location, err := getLocation(d, config)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	clusterName := d.Get("name").(string)
+	fullName := containerClusterFullName(project, location, clusterName)
+
+	log.Printf("[DEBUG] Cleaning up failed GKE cluster %s", d.Get("name").(string))
+	op, err := config.clientContainerBeta.Projects.Locations.Clusters.Delete(fullName).Do()
+	if err != nil {
+		return handleNotFoundError(err, d, fmt.Sprintf("Container Cluster %q", d.Get("name").(string)))
+	}
+
+	// Wait until it's deleted
+	timeoutInMinutes := int(d.Timeout(schema.TimeoutDelete).Minutes())
+	waitErr := containerOperationWait(config, op, project, location, "deleting GKE cluster", timeoutInMinutes)
+	if waitErr != nil {
+		return waitErr
+	}
+
+	log.Printf("[INFO] GKE cluster %s has been deleted", d.Id())
+	d.SetId("")
+	return nil
+}
+
 // container engine's API currently mistakenly returns the instance group manager's
 // URL instead of the instance group's URL in its responses. This shim detects that
 // error, and corrects it, by fetching the instance group manager URL and retrieving
diff --git a/google/resource_container_cluster_test.go b/google/resource_container_cluster_test.go
index 679f2290..1f996ae3 100644
--- a/google/resource_container_cluster_test.go
+++ b/google/resource_container_cluster_test.go
@@ -1214,6 +1214,60 @@ func TestAccContainerCluster_withResourceLabelsUpdate(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestAccContainerCluster_errorCleanDanglingCluster(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	prefix := acctest.RandString(10)
+	clusterName := fmt.Sprintf("cluster-test-%s", prefix)
+	clusterNameError := fmt.Sprintf("cluster-test-err-%s", prefix)
+
+	initConfig := testAccContainerCluster_withInitialCIDR(clusterName)
+	overlapConfig := testAccContainerCluster_withCIDROverlap(initConfig, clusterNameError)
+
+	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
+		PreCheck:     func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
+		Providers:    testAccProviders,
+		CheckDestroy: testAccCheckContainerClusterDestroy,
+		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
+			{
+				Config: initConfig,
+			},
+			{
+				ResourceName:        "google_container_cluster.cidr_error_preempt",
+				ImportStateIdPrefix: "us-central1-a/",
+				ImportState:         true,
+				ImportStateVerify:   true,
+			},
+			{
+				Config:      overlapConfig,
+				ExpectError: regexp.MustCompile("Error waiting for creating GKE cluster"),
+			},
+			// If dangling cluster wasn't deleted, this plan will return an error
+			{
+				Config:             overlapConfig,
+				PlanOnly:           true,
+				ExpectNonEmptyPlan: true,
+			},
+		},
+	})
+}
+
+func TestAccContainerCluster_errorNoClusterCreated(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
+		PreCheck:     func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
+		Providers:    testAccProviders,
+		CheckDestroy: testAccCheckContainerClusterDestroy,
+		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
+			{
+				Config:      testAccContainerCluster_withInvalidLocation("wonderland"),
+				ExpectError: regexp.MustCompile(`Location "wonderland" does not exist`),
+			},
+		},
+	})
+}
+
 func testAccCheckContainerClusterDestroy(s *terraform.State) error {
 	config := testAccProvider.Meta().(*Config)
 
@@ -2296,3 +2350,47 @@ resource "google_container_cluster" "with_resource_labels" {
 }
 `, clusterName)
 }
+
+func testAccContainerCluster_withInitialCIDR(clusterName string) string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf(`
+resource "google_container_cluster" "cidr_error_preempt" {
+  name = "%s"
+  zone = "us-central1-a"
+
+  initial_node_count = 1
+
+  ip_allocation_policy {
+    cluster_ipv4_cidr_block = "10.3.0.0/19"
+    services_ipv4_cidr_block = "10.4.0.0/19"
+  }
+}
+`, clusterName)
+}
+
+func testAccContainerCluster_withCIDROverlap(initConfig, secondCluster string) string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf(`
+%s
+
+resource "google_container_cluster" "cidr_error_overlap" {
+  name = "%s"
+  zone = "us-central1-a"
+
+  initial_node_count = 1
+
+  ip_allocation_policy {
+    cluster_ipv4_cidr_block = "10.3.0.0/19"
+    services_ipv4_cidr_block = "10.4.0.0/19"
+  }
+}
+`, initConfig, secondCluster)
+}
+
+func testAccContainerCluster_withInvalidLocation(location string) string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf(`
+resource "google_container_cluster" "with_resource_labels" {
+	name = "invalid-gke-cluster"
+	zone = "%s"
+	initial_node_count = 1
+}
+`, location)
+}