Cyclists want Columbus to allow bikes on certain sidewalks and inclusion in road upgrades

The Columbus City Council and the city Department of Public Service came under criticism from bicycling advocates Monday evening who complained the city isn't taking bikers into consideration during all major road improvement projects.

Even as City Council approved a $4.2-million project to add sidewalks to about a mile of busy Sinclair Road north of Morse Road — a commercial stretch where a major apartment complex is nearing completion and pedestrians often walk in the unlit roadway — Ben Keith, a member of the North Linden Area Commission, said the improvement falls short.

Because Columbus prohibits bicycles on sidewalks, bicyclists there are forced to do the "safe but illegal thing" and ride on the sidewalk, risking a ticket, or ride the two-lane roadway, which has vehicle speed limits up to 45 mph.

"Your average bike or scooter cannot go 45 mph," Keith said. "The safest thing for us to do is not ride in the road, but riding in the road is the only legal thing this project allows.

"Or you just give up and don't ride (a bicycle) at all, and contribute to Columbus' growing pollution or traffic problems," Keith said, noting that is inconsistent with the city's stated goals on those issues.

Keith said the city should add a bike path to the project on at least one side of Sinclair Road, and include them on all similar future improvement projects.

He and other bicyclists who came to the council meeting with their bicycle helmets want the city to rescind its ban on riding bikes on sidewalks or revise it to allow bikes on sidewalks adjacent to unsafe roads.

"I do hear you and I would like to talk about how we can do better in the future, but this project is going to have to remain a sidewalk project," said interim Public Service Director Kelly Scocco during the meeting, noting that the project has been in the works for years. "... Looking back, it probably should have been a shared-use path on one side of the road. I'm not going to debate that."

Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Paddilla, who chairs the Public Service and Transportation Committee, said that she would look at the possibility of revising the city code to allow bicycles to operate on certain specific sidewalks where the roads are deemed too dangerous.

The council, she said, needs "to understand in terms of legislation specifically where are the places that we can make changes so that we can allow for safety."

Earlier Monday, Transit Columbus, a group that advocates for better public transit, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure in the city, released a statement critical of the Public Service Department's lack of short-term solutions in the wake of numerous car-bike accidents, including one last week near the intersection of Morse and Stelzer roads that killed a cyclist.

"We grieve for every bicyclist and pedestrian that has been killed on our streets, for the many who have been injured and traumatized, and for the countless more (including ourselves) who experience close calls every day," it said.

The group called on the city to provide leadership "with recommendations for stop-gap solutions while longer term improvements are made," the statement added. "They could draw from many such solutions implemented by other cities," including temporary barriers, clearing parked vehicles near intersections to increase visibility, and changing the timing of traffic to give more lead time for those crossing the street.

Scocco said crashes involving bicyclists and motorists are preventable, and the city is trying to change the built environment and public attitudes to make it more comfortable and safe to walk and ride a bike.

Last month, the council approved a $3.44-million replacement of the West Whittier Street Bridge connecting South Front Street to Scioto Audubon Park in order to create a 10-foot-wide, shared-use path on one side of the bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists so the latter wouldn't have to travel the two-lane roadway over major railroad tracks.

In other business Monday, the council authorized the Department of Development to enter into a contract with the Affordable Housing Trust for Columbus and Franklin County to provide an estimated $2.3 million from the city tax on hotels and short-term rental units to be used to support "the production of affordable housing and enhancing home ownership opportunities."

wbush@gannett.com

@ReporterBush

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus council asked to consider allowing bikes on some sidewalks