UA set to build multiuse path connections to Quarry Trails Metro Park
By the end of 2024, Upper Arlington should have two pedestrian and biking paths that connect local neighborhoods to Quarry Trails Metro Park in Columbus.
Following three years of study and public discussions, Upper Arlington City Council voted 5-1 Nov. 7 to approve the construction of two shared-use paths to provide access from the city to Quarry Trails Metro Park, a 226-acre Columbus and Franklin County Metro Park being developed in phases northeast of Trabue and Dublin roads and west of the Scioto River and Upper Arlington.
The first of the two concrete paths is expected to be built in 2023 along Lane Avenue.
It is to be a 10-foot-wide shared-use path constructed from Lane's intersection with Asbury Drive to Riverside Drive. The Lane-Asbury intersection would be realigned to eliminate a continuous right-turn lane, and a decorative timber guardrail would be installed between the road and the path.
According to the city's engineering division, the total cost of the Lane Avenue shared-use path project is estimated at $520,000. However, the city already has received a $338,000 State Capital Grant to offset more than half of the estimated costs for the project.
"We're going to do a full safety study of the intersection (where Lane goes into Riverside) in partnership with (the city of Columbus) because it's city of Columbus' jurisdiction," said Jackie Thiel, Upper Arlington's assistant city manager. "They've agreed we can do the improvements as part of that.
"What those are exactly, are probably eliminating the continuous right-through (turn lane) and bringing the crosswalk width closer together. By eliminating that, we can bring the intersection a little bit tighter and then putting up advanced-warning signals about a pedestrian crossing."
The second path would be built along Riverside Drive from its intersection with Lane to Trabue Road. The path would continue on Trabue, connecting to the Trabue Road bridge, a project that's being constructed by the Franklin County Engineer's Office.
The total cost of the Riverside shared-use path is estimated at $1.5 million. The city has applied for a federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grant that, if awarded, would provide funding for 80% of the cost to build the Riverside project, Thiel has said.
During an Oct. 10 discussion of the proposed shared-use paths, Jim Dippel, a senior project engineer for Burgess & Niple, also noted Franklin County would be conducting the project on Trabue Road in conjunction with Upper Arlington's two pathways.
"The Lane Avenue piece, from Asbury to Riverside, is about one-third of a mile long," Dipple said. "On Riverside Drive, it's about a half of a mile from Lane down to Trabue. Then, that project would take the corner around, just go down a whole 100 more feet to the entrance at Scioto Pointe Drive."
As opposed to Oct. 10, when council members and the Burgess & Niple team discussed the project for more than an hour, council held a vote on a resolution to proceed with the two projects after less than five minutes of talks Nov. 7.
Council member Kathy Adams said she's ready for the project to move forward.
"I'm excited about this," Adams said. "I think it's great and I really like the Metro Park."
Council member Michaela Burriss was absent from the Nov. 7 meeting, and council member John Kulewicz cast the lone dissenting vote.
Kulewicz's "No" vote came after he made a motion to amend the plans to limit the Lane Avenue path to Leeds Road to Riverside Drive.
"The bicycle lane through Upper Arlington is inherently an improvised one," Kulewicz said. "A significant portion of it will share the road with vehicles in parts of central Arlington and on Onandaga's (Drive) first block.
"It seems to me that when it comes to what happens after the first block of Onandaga, I'd say it's sort of six of one and a half dozen of the other, which to me means the portion of the walkway from Asbury to Leeds is an avoidable use of public right of way."
Kulewicz's proposal did not go forward after no other council members seconded the motion.
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: UA set to build multiuse path connections to Quarry Trails Metro Park
