Upper Arlington hones in on path connections to Quarry Trails Park
Upper Arlington officials are eyeing two shared-use paths that would provide pedestrian and cycling connections to Quarry Trails Metro Park in Columbus.
Over the past three years, city officials have been exploring strategies for providing access to the 226-acre park being developed in phases northeast of Trabue and Dublin roads and west of the Scioto River and Upper Arlington.
Now it appears they've settled on two projects that would yield 10-foot-wide shared-use paths on Lane Avenue and Riverside Drive.
City Council is expected to sign off on the plans Nov. 7.
The proposals call for a concrete path to be built on the north side of Lane Avenue from its 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.
Advance warning strips would be added on each side of driveways to alert pedestrians and cyclists of driveway locations.
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.
"Basically, it's a three-part project," said Jim Dippel, senior project engineer for Burgess & Niple. "You have Lane Avenue, Riverside Drive and then the county project on Trabue.
"The Lane Avenue piece, from Asbury to Riverside, is about one-third of a mile long. 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 Point Drive."
According to the city's Engineering Division, the total cost of the Lane Avenue shared-use path project is estimated at $520,000. The total cost of the Riverside shared-use path is estimated at $1.5 million.
Upper Arlington has received a $338,000 State Capital Grant for construction of the Lane Avenue project in 2023.
The city also 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.
"If (council approves the proposals) we have the 2023 Lane Avenue shared-use path construction that would be put in the (capital-improvement plan) that has a State Capital Grant tied to it," said Jackie Thiel, Upper Arlington assistant city manager. "Then, in 2024, we would be constructing that Riverside Drive shared-use path that we just applied for federal funding to cover 80% of the construction."
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Upper Arlington hones in on path connections to Quarry Trails Park
