Mayor Coleman and Councilmember O’Shaughnessy Unveil details of Bicentennial Bikeways Plan during Bike-to-Work-Week

For Immediate Release
May 12, 2008
For more information:  Mike Brown, Mayor’s Office, 614-645-6428
Ruth Milligan, Consider Biking, 614-348-0760

(Columbus)  Dozens of bike riding commuters came together at the Ohio Statehouse this morning with Consider Biking, Mayor Michael B. Coleman and City Councilmember Maryellen O’Shaughnessy to hear details on the City’s 20-year Bicentennial Bikeways Plan.

“The soaring price of gas is helping jump start a transportation revolution in Columbus, and we are proud to promote biking as an alternative to the automobile for commuters as well as recreation,” said Mayor Coleman, who biked from his Berwick home to join today’s rally.  “We’ve committed $20 million by 2012, and are looking to making biking a safer, easier way to get around Columbus’ neighborhoods and to jobs and activities downtown.”

The Mayor and Councilmember outlined many of the elements of the Bikeways plan, which will be available on-line later today at:  www.altaprojects.net/columbus.  The City engaged Alta Planning and Design, the company that guided Portland, Oregon’s bike planning, last summer to guide local planning efforts, in partnership with MORPC, MetroParks and the Departments of Public Service and Recreation and Parks.

"The first policy recommendation in the new bike master plan is to adopt a ‘Complete Streets’ policy for the city, to assure that roadways are built to accommodate not only cars, but pedestrians, transit and bikes," Council member Maryellen O'Shaughnessy said. "I hope to gain the support of my Council colleagues in support of a ‘Complete Streets’ resolution."

Today the City has some 87 miles of routes and trails, and by the 2012 Bicentennial, the City will add 31 miles of off-street trails, 58 miles of on-street bike lanes and route, with signs and striping to make biking safer, as well as installing hundreds of new bike racks and other amenities.  Regional partners will add another 49 miles of trails and routes.  The 20 year plan will get the community to a total of nearly 728 miles of marked routes and new paths by 2028.  The funding for Columbus’ investment will come from the Capital Budget and the Bicentennial Bond Package going before voters in November.

Consider Biking is sponsoring Columbus’s first Bike-to-Work-Week, May 12-17, as an initiative to educate, advocate and encourage biking. The full week of activities is open to the public and includes the kick-off event, a corporate challenge effort, and a Friday afternoon Pit Stop in the OSU campus area.

“World class cities have world class accommodations for moving people by means other than a car.  This week of activities and the Bicentennial Bikeways Plan are helping to promote and encourage our community to move in that direction,” said Jeff Stephens, Executive Director of Consider Biking.

Details of the events are available at www.considerbiking.org.

Some Columbus bikeway projects planned for construction between now and the end of 2012 from the Department of Public Service:

• Turning Milton Avenue in Clintonville into a Bike Boulevard, providing connection to two sections of the Olentangy Trail;
• Connecting the Olentangy Trail to the Alum Creek Trail, with 14 miles of bike lanes and paths;
• Constructing 1 mile of bike lanes on Kimberly Parkway, from Hamilton to Courtwright roads;
• Transforming Sullivant Avenue in to a 12.6 mile bike corridor, from the Main Street Bridge to Georgesville Road;
• Building 5 miles of bikeways in 8 Downtown alleys;
• Adding 1.8 miles of bike lanes on State Route 161, between Sawmill and Linworth roads;
• Building 1 mile of bike lanes on Lockbourne Road, from Livingston to Frebis avenues;
• Designing a share-the-road campaign for an 8-mile stretch of High Street, from Downtown out to Morse Road.

The Department of Recreation and Parks will add new neighborhood connections on bike paths and improve 7 major bridges to make room for cyclists and pedestrians.  Some of the major projects include:

• Building a 3-miles of the new Big Run Trail;
• Completing a 4-miles of the Alum Creek Trail from Ohio Dominican to Innis Park;
• Adding 1.5 miles to the Scioto Trail from Berliner Park south towards Grove City;
• Adding 2 miles to the Big Walnut Trail.

The City also is planning to create a downtown “Bike Station” where cyclists who commute to Downtown jobs will be able to change clothes and store bikes.