New Bike Lanes on Spring Grove and More Good News

We all worked hard for the past two years to get the City of Cincinnati's new Bicycle Transportation Plan enacted. Now we are pleased to say that the City's Department of Transportation and Engineering (DOTE) is moving quickly to translate the plan into action.

Below is the text of DOTE's press release announcing new lanes and sharrows on Spring Grove, Central Parkway, and Linn Street. I had the opportunity to ride the Spring Grove lanes this past Monday, and think they will make a real difference in encouraging more people to ride their bicycles on the street.

There was good news for trail riders this week, too. I was riding in the lanes on Spring Grove to a press conference at Salway Park, where Ohio Department of Natural ResourcesDirector Sean Logan presented a $405,000 Clean Ohio Trail Fund grant to the Mill Creek Restoration Project for the purpose of constructing the third phase of the City's Mill Creek Greenway Trail in 2011.

So far, with the help of everyone in the community, it has been a pretty good year for making Cincinnati a better place for cyclists.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2010
Contact: Mel McVay
513-352-5269
melissa.mcvay@cincinnati-oh.gov

Cincinnati Rolls out New Bicycle Lanes Central Parkway, Spring Grove Avenue, and Linn Street Receive Bike Lanes, Sharrows

This week the City of Cincinnati began installing bike lanes and sharrows on Spring Grove Avenue, the first of three streets that will receive the new markings this summer. Cincinnati recently adopted a comprehensive Bicycle Transportation Plan, calling for 445 miles of on- and off-street facilities to be installed over the next 15 years.

Curtis Hines, Spring Grove Avenue Project Manager said, “We know that Spring Grove Avenue is already a major bicycling corridor, and we hope that the addition of bicycle lanes will encourage even more people to try using a bicycle for casual trips.”

At least three street segments are scheduled to have bike lanes and sharrows installed in August and September:

Spring Grove Avenue (Bike lanes: Crawford Ave to Winton Rd; Sharrows: Winton Rd to Mitchell Ave)
Central Parkway (Bike lanes: Brighton Pl to Western Hills Viaduct; Sharrows: Western Hills Viaduct to Hopple St – southbound only)
Linn Street (Bike lanes: W 6th St to Gest St)

According to Hines, “These streets were already scheduled for routine maintenance, so the timing was perfect for adding the bike lanes. We’re committed to building streets with all users in mind, so we plan to continue incorporating bike lanes in as many street improvement projects as possible.”

The bicycle lane pavement symbols (a bicycle and an arrow) have already been installed on Spring Grove Avenue, and the stripe that separates the bicycle lanes from traffic will be installed later this week.

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