September 20, 201410 yr Sharon Woods Metro Park has an excellent trail that is 3.8 miles. There are a few rolling hills. Check it out!
September 20, 201410 yr The League of American Bicyclists put together some information (9/17/14) from the US Census showing that Columbus ranks 29 in % of bike commuters at 1%. Nice growth in the last few years too. You can find the pdf here: http://bikeleague.org/sites/default/files/ACS_report_70largest_final.pdf
September 20, 201410 yr For those who did not see this on Yahoo the other day: Cyclist held up at gunpoint, videotapes incident. - Interesting story down in Argentina. Some good tips too. Watch how quickly this happens. What would you have done? http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/outposts/post/cyclist-held-gunpoint-videotapes-incident/
September 20, 201410 yr I've had that happen several times by people on foot. Unfortunately because he was on that crappy rental bike and the guy was on a motorcycle he couldn't easily just get away from the guy. So to answer the question, I never would be caught dead on some crappy rental bike where you can't deal with the kind of stuff that happens out there in the world. So if you're on a real bike you have a good chance at getting away, especially if you know the area, and if you're in a hilly area you can use the hills to your advantage.
September 26, 201410 yr For those who have not been on Schrock to Maxtown in Westerville. Starting at Schrock, we pass the Bike Depot, the new mural, and the new bridge over County Line Road.
September 30, 201410 yr One of the best places to ride on a very hot day is Genoa Trail because of all the trees. Make sure you also stop at the water station at the Genoa Township Fire Department!
September 30, 201410 yr For those who have not seen the mural on Franklinton Cycle Works which is at Broad St. and Martin Ave.
November 13, 201410 yr Updates on the construction of the Goodale Street to Olentangy Trail connector from http://www.columbusunderground.com/construction-roundup-october-2014-part-3. Previously updated HERE and HERE in this thread: View of the widened sidewalk next to Goodale Street looking toward the 600 Goodale apartments: View of the connector ramp leading down to the Olentangy Trail from Goodale Street:
November 23, 201410 yr More about the Goodale Street to Olentangy Trail bike ramp from CU: http://www.columbusunderground.com/goodale-bike-ramp-set-to-open-soon-bw1
November 23, 201410 yr Couple of new items about Columbus funding the Camp Chase Trail - a 2.9-mile stretch of bike trail on the westside. The Camp Chase Trail will connect with the rest of the Ohio to Erie Trail within Columbus. It will also connect with the rest of the 90+ mile Columbus trail system and a planned 45-acre park on the west side to be called Wilson Road Park: http://www.columbusunderground.com/city-council-approves-funding-for-camp-chase-trail-bw1 http://www.columbusunderground.com/new-park-and-trailhead-designed-to-be-west-side-destination-bw1
December 8, 201410 yr CoGo expansion may take bikes toward OSU, Franklinton and Bexley CoGo Bike Share could see its first expansion since launching in the city last year. Columbus City Council will consider a proposal Monday evening to add eight new docking stations and 80 more bicycles to grow the bike-sharing system mostly northward toward Ohio State University. More below: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2014/12/cogo-expansion-may-take-bikes-toward-osu.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
December 26, 201410 yr ‘Engineer Rides’ Part of Bike Lane Collaboration with Yay Bikes By Brent Warren, Columbus Underground December 16, 2014 - 7:45 am Although tough choices about new street designs and bike lanes mean that cycling advocates and traffic engineers are often pitted against each other, a new collaboration between the City of Columbus and Yay Bikes has the two groups working – and riding – together. When Columbus Public Service Director Tracie Davies reached out to Yay Bikes late last summer, she was hoping the group could help to gather feedback from the cycling community, specifically about new bike lanes proposed for Third and Fourth Streets Downtown. Catherine Girves, Executive Director of Yay Bikes, was thrilled to hear from the director and to offer her group’s expertise. She just had one request – that instead of sitting around a map and talking about the proposal, the engineers join them on their bikes and ride the streets in question. Davies agreed, and arrangements were made for a group of project managers and engineers to accompany the Yay Bikes team, who had studied the proposed lanes on Third and Fourth and identified several potential problem areas. MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/engineer-rides-part-of-bike-lane-collaboration-with-yay-bikes-bw1
March 16, 201510 yr University District to get first protected bike lane in Columbus By Rick Rouan, The Columbus Dispatch Friday January 30, 2015 - 6:05 AM Columbus is getting its first protected bike lane as part of a plan to resurface Summit/3rd and 4th streets and add bike lanes along the heavily traveled corridors. Bike lanes will be installed along those routes between Fulton and Hudson streets, with a 1.4-mile section of Summit developed into a two-way, protected bike lane. That section will be between 11th Avenue and Hudson Street in the University District, and shielded by on-street parking. Adding the bike lanes will require removing a vehicle lane, leaving two lanes for car and truck traffic on the routes north of Downtown, and three lanes through the heart of Downtown, said James Young, administrator in the city’s Department of Infrastructure Management. It’s part of a $6 million project that the Ohio Department of Transportation and the city have planned to repave Summit/3rd and 4th starting this summer. The project, paid for mostly by state and federal funds, is scheduled to wrap up by October. ( . . . ) The protected lane will run along the west side of Summit, allowing two-way bicycle traffic to ride more than a lane’s width away from vehicle traffic between the curb and on-street parking. ... Original plans called for a conventional bike lane, but the city reconsidered its position after engineers rode with representatives from Yay Bikes, a local advocacy and education group. ... Adding protected bike lanes near Ohio State University, an area heavily populated with bicyclists, also can act as a model for the rest of the city, said Catherine Girves, the organization’s executive director. “As a test site, this is the ideal place,” she said. The city also plans to install 16 “queue boxes,” pavement markings that allow a bicyclist who wants to make a left turn to drive into the intersection while the light is green and wait in a space marked on the pavement. Bicyclists wait in these queues until the light in the opposite direction turns green, then they merge with traffic behind them. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/01/29/University-District-to-get-protected-bike-lane.html
March 18, 201510 yr More information, including a project schedule and details on upcoming public meetings, is available at www.columbus.gov/connectcolumbus. New Thoroughfare Plan Will Tackle Street Layout, Bike Lanes, Light Rail and More By Brent Warren, Columbus Underground March 14, 2015 - 10:50 am The City of Columbus is moving forward with their Multimodal Thoroughfare Plan, and they are hoping that you have some opinions to share about how you get around (or would like to get around) the city. The first of three “Vision and Goals” meetings is scheduled for the end of March and a website has been set up to start gathering input, but that’s just the beginning – a “Plan Van” will be making stops at festivals and neighborhoods all over the city starting this summer, and future meetings will look to the public to generate new ideas for transportation projects, and for help in evaluating those projects. The plan – which was originally referred to as a Complete Streets plan and is now being marketed under the name Connect Columbus – will classify all of the larger streets in the city, providing recommendations for how different types of streets should be laid out. The overall focus of the plan, though, will be on balancing the needs of drivers with those of cyclists, pedestrians, and transit users. Topics like the bus network, future light rail corridors or streetcar routes, and protected bike lanes are all on the table. “We’re at a crossroads,” said Rick Tilton, Assistant Director of the Department of Public Service. “Because of the changing culture in Columbus, and in light of how the city’s population is changing, we need to be smart about how we spend money ... we don’t want to be just a car city.” The timing of the process will line up with two other initiatives; COTA’s Next Generation campaign will be looking at the future of transit in the region, and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission’s Metropolitan Transit Plan will be setting goals and priorities for the whole regional transportation network. The city will be working in conjunction with COTA and MORPC to ensure that the three plans complement each other. The Connect Columbus process is expected to last at least 18 months. MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/new-thoroughfare-plan-will-tackle-street-layout-bike-lanes-light-rail-and-more-bw1
March 23, 201510 yr OSU Announces Zagster as Bike-Share Partner By Walker Evans, Columbus Underground March 19, 2015 - 1:38 pm The Ohio State University announced today that it has officially selected Zagster to service the campus with a new bike-share system. Zagster, which also launched a bike-share program at Easton Town Center last summer, will deploy 115 bicycles to 15 stations across the campus this year. ... The 15 station locations have not been fully finalized, but the University made a suggestion for placements in their RFP based on feedback from students, faculty and staff. ( . . . ) The program is scheduled to soft-launch this summer with a full rollout expected by the time fall semester begins. In addition to standard commuter bicycles, the system will also feature tandem bikes, cargo bikes, heavy duty bikes, hand cycles and electric-assisted bikes. MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/osu-announces-zagster-as-bike-share-partner (Larger version of this suggested OSU stations map available at the above CU article link)
March 23, 201510 yr More about OSU's bike-share decision from Business First: Ohio State passes up CoGo, chooses Zagster to run bike-share program: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/03/19/ohio-state-passes-up-cogo-chooses-zagster-to-run.html
March 24, 201510 yr University District to get first protected bike lane in Columbus By Rick Rouan, The Columbus Dispatch Friday January 30, 2015 - 6:05 AM Columbus is getting its first protected bike lane as part of a plan to resurface Summit/3rd and 4th streets and add bike lanes along the heavily traveled corridors. Bike lanes will be installed along those routes between Fulton and Hudson streets, with a 1.4-mile section of Summit developed into a two-way, protected bike lane. That section will be between 11th Avenue and Hudson Street in the University District, and shielded by on-street parking. Adding the bike lanes will require removing a vehicle lane, leaving two lanes for car and truck traffic on the routes north of Downtown, and three lanes through the heart of Downtown, said James Young, administrator in the city’s Department of Infrastructure Management. It’s part of a $6 million project that the Ohio Department of Transportation and the city have planned to repave Summit/3rd and 4th starting this summer. The project, paid for mostly by state and federal funds, is scheduled to wrap up by October. ( . . . ) The protected lane will run along the west side of Summit, allowing two-way bicycle traffic to ride more than a lane’s width away from vehicle traffic between the curb and on-street parking. ... Original plans called for a conventional bike lane, but the city reconsidered its position after engineers rode with representatives from Yay Bikes, a local advocacy and education group. ... Adding protected bike lanes near Ohio State University, an area heavily populated with bicyclists, also can act as a model for the rest of the city, said Catherine Girves, the organization’s executive director. “As a test site, this is the ideal place,” she said. The city also plans to install 16 “queue boxes,” pavement markings that allow a bicyclist who wants to make a left turn to drive into the intersection while the light is green and wait in a space marked on the pavement. Bicyclists wait in these queues until the light in the opposite direction turns green, then they merge with traffic behind them. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/01/29/University-District-to-get-protected-bike-lane.html This won't be the first protected bike lane ever in town. There was one on High St. through campus in the '80s.
March 31, 201510 yr More about proposed new CoGo station locations from CU: http://www.columbusunderground.com/cogo-expanding-to-east-franklinton-south-campus-and-beyond
April 26, 201510 yr For those who want to see what cycling along Hamilton Road by the airport is like on a Sunday morning.
April 27, 201510 yr For those who have not cycled over the new County Line Road Bridge in Westerville
April 27, 201510 yr Glacier Knoll area of Pickerington Ponds - Columbus Ohio - A great place to cycle and have a picnic!
April 28, 201510 yr Stabilization Update – Suspension Bridge between Wolfe and Academy Park along the Alum Creek Trail.
April 29, 201510 yr Update on Construction of Alum Creek Trail near ODU and bridge near Brittney Hills Parking.
April 30, 201510 yr Latest on the Alum Creek Trail Construction just south of the Easton Soccer Fields.
May 6, 201510 yr Starting at Nelson, we follow the Oak Connector past Franklin Park and into Downtown Columbus. Easy ride and light traffic till we get to 4th St. which is near the State Capital Building.
May 13, 201510 yr A 'Bike View' - I 670 Trail - Alum Creek Trail to Cleveland Ave - Columbus Ohio (narration) Starting at the Alum Creek Trail we ride along the I-670 Trail till we find Cleveland Avenue in Columbus Ohio. This video includes narration. Soon to be part of the Ohio to Erie trail - trash and all!
May 20, 201510 yr More about OSU's bike-share decision from Business First: Ohio State passes up CoGo, chooses Zagster to run bike-share program: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/03/19/ohio-state-passes-up-cogo-chooses-zagster-to-run.html Looks like a deal was worked out between CoGo and OSU to fund two stations on campus after all. The Zagster system will still be more prominent with locations throughout campus, but these additional stations for CoGo nevertheless should open up a lot of ridership opportunities for Ohio State students/employees and make the whole network more useful throughout the city. OSU and CoGo Bike Share Partner to Expand System onto Campus Columbus City Council will consider legislation tonight releasing funds for the addition of three new stations to the city-owned CoGo Bike Share program, including two on OSU's campus. The stations would be funded in part by Ohio State University, bringing CoGo onto campus just two months after selecting a rival company's bid to run the university's own bike share system. At the time, there was criticism of the decision because the on-campus system run by Zagster would not be compatible with the city's larger, existing CoGo network. http://columbusight.com/2015/05/18/cogo-bike-share-expanding-to-osu-campus-after-all/
July 12, 20159 yr Map of the new CoGo bike share stations and the previously existing stations from http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/06/12/COGO_announces_new_stations.html
August 3, 20159 yr Latest Update on the Suspension Bridge on the Alum Creek Trail. Some updates to the Alum Creek Trail Suspension Bridge: The suspension cable on one side of the 140-foot-long bridge snapped overnight April 15-16, 2015. This was after the city spent $486,000 to replace the bridge deck and timber cross braces, repair the concrete piers, install new support railing, paint, and do other work on the bridge in 2013. The renovated bridge reopened March 2014. No work was done to the suspension cable that snapped. These suspension cables are original to the 1922 bridge and were inspected by engineers at the time of the other work done and thought to be fine. The city has since stabilized the bridge structure (see the photo above) and city council approved an engineering contract in July to design a new suspension cable and anchoring system for the bridge. They are estimating that work on the new cables will begin in November 2015 and be completed by March 2016. More about it at: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/04/23/old-closed-bridge-will-be-repaired-soon-city-says.html http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/07/15/pedestrian-bridge-over-alum-creek.html
August 4, 20159 yr Bike Lanes Update: Long and Spring, Fourth and Summit, and New Lanes on Near East Side By Brent Warren, Columbus Underground August 3, 2015 - 8:00 am This fall should see the completion of a trio of bike infrastructure projects - new lanes are planned for the Near East Side; enhancements are on tap for the bike lanes installed last year on Long and Spring streets downtown; and work will be beginning soon on the much-anticipated Fourth and Third/Summit street bike lanes, which will extend north to Hudson street and include a 1.4-mile long protected lane. On Long and Spring, work is scheduled to begin soon on re-striping the lanes, adding in a two-foot buffer zone between bikes and the “door zone” of parked cars, and painting five “queue boxes” designed to make it easier for cyclists to turn left off of Spring Street. The lanes will run from one side of downtown to the other; on Long Street from Neil Avenue to Hamilton Avenue, and on Spring Street from Marconi Boulevard to Hamilton Avenue. The queue boxes will be at Third Street, Grant Avenue, Cleveland Avenue, Lester Drive and Elijah Pierce Avenue. MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/bike-lanes-update-long-and-spring-fourth-and-summit-and-new-lanes-on-near-east-side-bw1
August 5, 20159 yr MORPC, Yay Bikes! launch Ride Buddy to get more people to bike to work By Nick Ramsey, Staff Columbus Business First - June 22, 2015, 5:25pm EDT The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission has teamed up with a local nonprofit to boost the number of people who ride their bikes for transportation. Yay Bikes!, which promotes bike ridership, is working with MORPC on a program called Ride Buddy. It’s free and open to anyone who works or lives downtown. The program offers a variety of services including intensive one-on-one coaching and shadowing with a Yay Bikes! ride buddy. Ride buddies will ride with employees on their first commute to work, familiarize employees with the CoGo Bike Share system, escort employees to their favorite lunch or frequent meeting destinations and give informational presentations about urban street riding. MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/06/22/morpc-yay-bikes-launch-ride-buddy-to-get-more.html
September 15, 20159 yr One of the neat things about the Olentangy Trail is how it winds among the busy Rt. 315 highway just a few feet above. That is unless a truck hits the 315 barrier wall and rains chunks of concrete onto the trail below! That is what happened at around midnight Friday. This photo shows the result: The Olentangy Trail has been temporarily closed between W. 3rd Avenue and Goodale Street until repair work to the 315 bridge is finished. Below are two reports about this. The NBC4 video is from yesterday. The Dispatch article is updated to today: NBC4 VIDEO: http://nbc4i.com/2015/09/13/crumbling-concrete-shuts-down-part-of-the-olentangy-trail/ Section of Olentangy Trail still closed, Rt. 315 bridge safe: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/09/14/Olentangy-trail-closed.html
November 9, 20159 yr Video of Mayor Coleman speaking at the trail dedication ceremony and riding the trail at the link below: Last link in Alum Creek Greenways Trail opens By Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch Friday, October 2, 2015 - 1:49 AM The last link of the Alum Creek Greenways Trail opened today, completing a 22-mile trail connecting Westerville and Easton to Three Creeks Park near Groveport. The trail — the longest in central Ohio — has been 16 years in the making and cost the city of Columbus $20 million. Of that, $7 million came from grants, most of them federal. The last section of the trail, with a bridge over Alum Creek, cost $4.8 million. A ceremony marking the opening of the last segment of the trail, which winds through a scenic urban corridor, took place today near Ohio Dominican University. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/10/01/Last-leg-of-trail-opens.html
November 30, 20159 yr Recent article from the Dispatch about protected bike lanes in Columbus. The city will be installing a protected bike lane along part of a street repaving project for Third/Summit and Fourth Streets next year. Earlier this month, the city installed a temporary protected bike lane along Livingston Avenue in front of Children's Hospital: Columbus experiments with protected bike lanes By Mary Beth Lane, The Columbus Dispatch Friday, November 6, 2015 - 5:50 AM The protected bike lane that appeared along E. Livingston Avenue on Thursday was only temporary, but city officials hope to add more of them permanently on major thoroughfares around Columbus. Officials installed the protected lane along the westbound curb lane of E. Livingston Avenue between 18th and Ann streets as a demonstration, and asked bicyclists to test it out and provide feedback. Expect to see more protected bike lanes in the future, said Patricia Austin, administrator of the city’s Division of Traffic Management. ... The city is adding marked bike lanes as part of a $6 million project to repave the heavily traveled Summit/3rd and 4th streets. It also includes adding a protected bike lane along a 1.4-mile stretch of the west side of Summit Street between 11th Avenue and Hudson Street in the University District. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/11/05/Columbus-bike-lanes.html
December 9, 20159 yr The protected bike lane on Summit Street is now up. Below is a "How to Use It" graphic about it:
December 9, 20159 yr And if you think that "How to Use It" graphic is overkill on the city's part. Watching this report from NBC4 will make you feel differently: http://nbc4i.com/2015/12/07/city-opens-first-protected-bike-lanes-on-summit-street/ The NBC4 video shows a car that tried to drive down the protected bike lane (which was mentioned in the city graphic). But it also showed a young lady standing in the middle of the bike lane - while texting on her phone(!) - which was not mentioned in the city graphic because it was presumably obvious!
December 9, 20159 yr It is definitely not overkill. It took drivers a surprisingly long time to get used to the Central Parkway cycle track in Cincinnati. And occasionally, we still have school buses visiting Music Hall or FedEd/USP drivers parking in the bike lane.
January 6, 20169 yr Before and after view of Summit Street protected bike lanes from http://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/12/22/vote-for-the-best-urban-street-transformation-of-2015/:
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