NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio -- The City of North Ridgeville is prioritizing connectivity and safety in the coming years, with city officials putting together an Active Transportation Plan.
The goal is to learn what amenities pedestrians and cyclists most want or need to improve their ability to traverse through the city more effectively and efficiently.
That information then would be used to prioritize funding for upgrades and updates and to apply for a variety of available grants that could help make North Ridgeville one of the most walkable cities in the region.
The development of the Active Transportation Plan has been shepherded by North Ridgeville Director of Planning and Development Kim Lieber.
The city first applied for grant funding to put together a plan for enhanced bicycle and pedestrian connectivity four years ago.
However, the COVID response curtailed the creation of that plan until now.
After several public readings and city official scrutiny, the plan is close to being pushed over the finish line, with action steps to follow.
“Connectivity is important to connect people with the places that they want to go,” Lieber said.
“It’s important from a transportation perspective, offering multiple ways for people to get from place to place.
“That’s important from a health and safety perspective where you don’t have trails and sidewalks.
“You still have people needing to get somewhere, and often, you’ll see kids or other folks walking along the sides of roads and in a manner that’s just not safe.”
Lieber also touted the ecological benefit of adding trails and sidewalks.
“There’s an environmental benefit by getting people out of their vehicles and benefit(ting) the environment that way,” she continued.
“And certainly, there’s a recreation aspect, especially when we talk about trails and getting people outside and in nature and moving around.
“There’s just so many different reasons that active transportation can benefit the community.
“Whether one of those things resonates with you, or all of them, there’s just a lot of great information in this plan and a lot of support.”
From public input and outside consultants that specialize in active transportation plans, the North Ridgeville plan identified several priorities and recommendations to area trails, as well as school safety protocols to allow for easier access to walkways and more connectivity throughout the city.
Sites were rated by the public in terms of priorities they would like to see addressed first.
For area trails, Center Ridge Trail West came out on top, followed by Center Ridge Trail East and the Sandy Ridge Connector.
For area sidewalks, Stoney Ridge Road was an overwhelming top priority, followed by a tie for second with Avon Belden and Center Ridge roads.
The plan also looked at local safe routes to school. The Ranger High Tech Academy was rated as a top priority for improvement, followed by Liberty Elementary School, the Early Childhood Learning Center and finally the North Ridgeville Academic Center.
Recommendations for Ranger include improvements to onsite drainage along the existing walkway, installation of a pedestrian-actuated Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) and an upgrade to advanced-warning signage along Lear Nagle Road.
Additional recommendations include the installation of a sidewalk along the west side of Lear Nagle and to create trail connections linking the west entrances to Opal Street and adjacent neighborhoods to the west.
Liberty upgrades would be to install ADA accessible curb ramps at both crossings of the bus driveway to the southern parking lot and to remove the existing crosswalk at Jaycox and relocate it to the north of the existing driveway.
The proposal also would remove the existing walkway that links the Drake Road sidewalk with the school parking lot and install new sidewalk along the west side of the existing southern driveway.
Recommendations for the Early Childhood Learning Center include installation of a permanent curb to segregate bus and parent drop-off/pickup traffic, and installation of an eight-foot-wide sidewalk along the existing driveway from where the existing sidewalk ends to Center Ridge Road.
Additional recommendations include the installation of a trail linking Rose Street and the adjacent neighborhood to the school.
“We’ve certainly identified the need to have a study of this nature in place,” Lieber explained.
“We’re a community that has had a lot of rapid growth in the last several decades. All those new subdivisions that we’ve seen constructed tend to come with sidewalks.
“We have a lot of areas of our community that are more mature, older areas and rural areas without sidewalks or connectivity, where we’re trying to evaluate what’s the best way to connect our assets and connect people to places that they want to go and provide alternate ways of getting there.
“By having this Active Transportation Plan completed, it allows us to use that study to apply for funding through funding partners that might give money for trails or connectivity projects, so that was also important,” Lieber continued.
“If we’re going to be doing these projects in our community, we want to reduce the burden on property owners and our taxpayers and be able to find and tap into that level of funding.
“This really is an important community initiative supported by our residents, and it’s something that we think will make a significant community-wide benefit and impact,” she added.
But Lieber reminds residents that while the recommendations and suggestions are there, it doesn’t necessarily mean the city will be flush with new walkways and paths in the immediate future.
“Plans take years to implement, and certainly things that we identify as priorities might change and shift as new opportunities arise,” she said.
“We’re not going to snap our fingers and have new sidewalks along every road in the city in a couple of years.
“But as a road project comes up and if the plan says there should also be sidewalks here, there’s an opportunity to find some funding to enhance the multimodal aspect of the road beyond just for cars, but for bikes and for pedestrians as well.
“Likewise, if trail funding becomes available through a partner, we’ll at least have the locations where we feel like those trails most properly belong and where they’d have the biggest benefit for the city,” she said.
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“This is meant to be a bit flexible and respond to opportunities as they arise and to give us an opportunity to seek funding and partnerships wherever we can.”
The plan has seen three public meetings and has had five steering committee meetings. There remains one final steering committee meeting, on Oct. 23, after which the steering committee will be presented with the final plan for review and comment.
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