Kent’s bike paths get connected to statewide network
Kent’s city council and engineering division recently designated existing bike ways in the city as official state bike ways, including State Bike Route (SBR)70. Construction of new bike paths will also be underway near the paths by Brady’s Leap next to the Cuyahoga river for the time being.
This motion allows the city to use state grant money from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to install new signs to help coordinate and guide a growing community of bicyclists and commuters.
“State bike route 70 is a system of existing infrastructure, streets and bike trails,” Jim Bowling, Kent’s city engineer, said. “The state’s going to come in and assign routes.” Bowling made it clear that they will not be building anything new for the initial designation.
Kent’s portion of SBR70 will be reusing designated walking paths, such as the path that leads from Middlebury road to Tannery Park, and the one that stretches from Ravenna road to Franklin avenue. Temporarily, SBR70 in Kent also travels along roads such as Stow, Summit and Water street. Although, the city’s ultimate goal is to have the entirety of Kent’s portion of SBR70 off of roadways and on its own designated path.
For now, the existing Portage Hike & Bike path will be repurposed as SBR70, roads and all. The designation includes ODOT putting in new signs, allowing commuters to navigate SBR70 successfully in its entirety. Because Kent’s engineering department is not directly and physically doing this, it is unclear at this time when all the signs will be installed exactly.
Health and Bicycling
Within the past five to ten years, there has been major trends of more people bicycling more often than ever before, according to People for Bikes, an organization which promotes bicycling as a vital way to support ones healthy life habits. Bicycling is a huge industry in the country, and interests people of all ages, whether it be for leisure or sport. Some health benefits of bicycling regularly include:
- healthier lungs, which is supported by studies such as the one done by the Department of Environmental Science at Portland State University, who found that separated bike paths have better air quality than traditional bike lanes.
- weight loss and other positive health benefits, especially for children and teens. An urban university population-based study in Australia, showed that college students who use bicycles as transport perform more daily physical activity than students who use motorized transportation, and are more likely to achieve public health minimal physical activity recommendation of 30 minutes per day.
After SBR70 is designated in Kent by ODOT, the city’s engineering department will begin to make upgrades in order to make the bike paths near Brady’s Leap. The million dollar project, with help from a $750,000 grant from the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS), will create a path which will eventually become a part of SBR70.
“We’re going to upgrade the walk way to a bike path,” Bowling said. “There’s stairs that have been closed for a long time, we’ll remove those and we’ll but in a bike ramp or bike stair.”
This city project is backed by ODOT’s statewide Access Ohio 2040 Transportation plan. This plan which looks to the future of transportation in Ohio, helps to establish framework for multi-modal transportation system investments, one of those mode’s being bike ways and safety features.
In total, there will be more than four thousand miles of official state bike paths throughout the state after completion.
From an economic development stand point, Bowling says this new motion will be a benefit to the city of Kent. “Kent’s a bike-able, walk-able community, and this just helps to emphasize that as it connects this community to others,” Bowling said. “Hopefully it becomes a strong enough bike network that those bikers use it, come stay in Kent, and spend their time and money and have a good time. And then they’ll come back later.”
Ms. Tracy Wallach, city council Ward six of Kent, said that at some points of this route, the roads can get up to four lanes just outside the city, making it rather dangerous. Mr. Bowling agrees, stating that the SBR70 does indeed have parts that run near highways, including many roads in Kent alone.
Mr. Dave Ruller, Kent’s city manager, said that the intention for this is a good one, and the designation is to help the public and community understand the routes thoroughly, “as it is not necessarily a route for an 8 year old child.”
“The state bike route designation doesn’t necessarily mean you can have a six year old ride these roads,” Bowling stated. The city’s and ODOTs focus is on bike commuter/long-range biker industry. Bowling emphasizes that needed changes don’t usually come over night, but recognizes that “in the end, to best serve all the population, not just one segment of the population, is that we just keep working, striving towards making better facilities.”
Kent’s city council and engineering division recently designated existing bike ways in the city as official state bike ways, to be included in the development of State Bike Route 70. Construction of new bike paths will also be underway near the paths by Brady’s Leap. #JMCRPP
— ⟁ (@imjesse_o) April 11, 2018