City seeks opinions on resurfacing Zollinger, Redding roads in Upper Arlington

As they plan to resurface portions of Redding and Zollinger roads, city officials are seeking input from residents about how to make those roads safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Actual construction is a few years away, but Upper Arlington officials want to collect input for Redding Road from Fishinger Road to Zollinger Road and for Zollinger from Riverside Drive to North Star Road.

The feedback period kicked off with two virtual meetings July 13.

Officials have asked that residents with questions or opinions about the future of both stretches of road email them to Mandi DiSanto, a management assistant for the city, at mdisanto@uaoh.net.

The city plans to resurface Redding from Fishinger to Zollinger and to complete spot curb and gutter replacements along that stretch in 2025.

The same work is planned for Zollinger from Riverside to North Star in 2026.

While resurfacing and curb work is all that's been budgeted for thus far, city officials are interested in finding out if reconfiguring the roads or adding bike markings or bike lanes could make the project eligible for grants from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission.

"Since we have this project in our budget, we want to look at, 'Are there other things we should consider?'" Public Services Director Gary Wilfong said. "One thing that is on the table for discussion and consideration is bikeway facilities.

"This stretch of roadway (Zollinger from Riverside to North Star) has been identified by MORPC as an important east-west connector for bikes. We also think this would be a good project to apply for receiving funding through MORPC, which would obviously help out our budget."

According to the city's website, the preliminary cost estimate for the Zollinger project is $700,000.

However, the website says that estimate " will likely increase, pending the outcome of additional improvements being considered and current inflation affecting construction."

The website says the same considerations affect the Redding project, which has a preliminary cost estimate of $500,000 for resurfacing and gutter work.

"We are very early in the planning process, and we won’t have a detailed cost estimate until final applications are submitted," Community Affairs Manager Brian Hedge said. "These are due Sept. 28."

Wilfong said a 2020 study by students from Ohio State University's Knowlton School of City Planning found that residents were most concerned about speeding and pedestrian safety along Redding.

In both cases, officials want to find out if residents would support changes ranging from pavement markings or "sharrows," warning motorists to stay alert for bikes, to pedestrian crossings and curb bump-outs, or extensions that would jut out into lanes of traffic near designated intersections to serve as traffic-calming devices.

"When you're crossing a four-lane, undivided road (like Zollinger), that's a long way for a pedestrian to cross when vehicles aren't stopping," Wilfong said. "

City officials also want to explore how favorable people would be to creating designated on-street bike lanes or parking restrictions in some areas of the roads.

However, Wilfong said neither the Zollinger nor Redding projects are candidates for multiuse biking and walking paths because there isn't enough right-of-way space on either side of the roads to build the paths.

Likewise, he said parking wouldn't completely be removed on Redding because a number of residents park on the street.

"We have no intent of looking at an option that completely removes parking out there," Wilfong said.

But because the OSU study showed 71% of on-street parking along Redding in the project area is on the west side of the roadway, one option could be to eliminate parking along the eastbound lane so bike lanes could be created there.

Because the July 13 meetings were held virtually, city officials primarily accepted questions and comments from residents via an electronic "chat box."

Wilfong said adding curbside extensions along Redding wouldn't guarantee that vehicles would not be pushed onto sidewalks during accidents, but said they should slow traffic. Therefore, "the likelihood of them (vehicles) leaving the pavement should be going down," he said.

During the Zollinger discussion, Wilfong said an option that's likely not on the table is a pedestrian bridge or tunnel to help people cross Riverside Drive because it's expected to be costly and land there is in the jurisdictions of the Ohio Department of Transportation and city of Columbus.

He said city officials don't anticipate removing trees to facilitate the Zollinger project and it is not tied to the possibly building a connector to Quarry Trails Metro Park to the west.

City Engineer Carla Odebralski said resident feedback will help determine if parking will be affected along Zollinger or if more accommodations should be made for pedestrians and bicyclists.

She added that the work could include components to address stormwater drainage if the road is substantially changed.

"As far as stormwater drainage is concerned, when we have the designer on board, typically they look at the catch basin locations to see if they have the proper spread," Odebralski said. "If we change the roadway in any way, that would impact that.

"We would consider making changes, but at this point in time, we do not have stormwater improvements planned for Zollinger."

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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: City seeks opinions on resurfacing Zollinger, Redding roads in Upper Arlington