Bexley is an excellent place to live, with the highest ranking high school in Ohio, the university’s thriving student population, the connected seminary (and law school), a vibrant Main Street arts and culinary presence and a close proximity to Columbus.
The Bexley community has continually reevaluated what the most effective ways are to ensure people are engaged in the community, which includes looking at transportation and activity in the area.
In an effort to prioritize making Bexley better for bicycle riders in the neighborhood, the 2021 Bike Friendly Bexley Plan was developed and has been in the works.
Key recommendations of the plan that are in progress are as follows: creating bike routes with signage, creating a pedestrian and bike bridge south of Main Street, underpasses at Main Street and Livingston Avenue, bike trail maintenance, sharrows and signage on Main Street, opening greets trail events and programs, consider bike lanes for certain streets and encouraging bicycle encouragement and educational programming for safety.
Highlights from the plan to make the community more accessible and safe in correlation to the immediate area around campus include Sheridan Avenue, Mound Street, Main Street, Drexel Avenue and Pleasant Ridge Avenue.
- Sheridan Avenue/Mound Street
In the plan made by Catherine Girves from Toole Design, she said that wayfinding signs at College Avenue, Pleasant Ridge and numerous other streets along Sheridan Avenue would benefit people on bikes on this route to Main Street.
- Main Street
Main Street connects Bexley, Whitehall, Reynoldsburg and Columbus, making it a highly traveled route. The original plan contained a tentative suggestion for bike lanes on Main Street, but there were concerns expressed by local business owners that it would decrease parking. They said this could cause a dip in customers.
Other more realistic suggestions for Main Street included bike parking along with sharrows and “Bike May Use Full Lane” signs, which “recommend proper lane position for riders” and reduce sidewalk riding. This in turn encourages visible and predictable bike riding.
- Drexel Avenue
Medians have been installed throughout the stretch of road along South Drexel from Main Street to Broad Street, which has been a work in progress. There are also construction teams working on creating curb bump-outs at numerous intersections.
Grass seeding will be occurring in the bump-outs in order to keep these curbs cohesive with the sidewalks and to increase the greenery.
The process of putting plants in the medians will be completed now that the medians are successfully installed. Plants in the medians will include ornamental Cherry trees (Prunus x Okame) along with “wintercreeper” ground cover (euonymus fortune). Maintenance of the medians will be ongoing and done by the city.
These medians and bump-outs will ideally make the city a safer place for pedestrians, bike riders and families.
- Pleasant Ridge Avenue
There is a CoGo Bike Share bike station at the intersection of Pleasant Ridge Avenue and Mount Street, one of three within a mile of campus. The other two are located by City Hall at the intersection of College Avenue and Main Street and another at the intersection of Grandon Avenue and Main Street by Johnson’s Real Ice Cream.
CoGo is a part of Lyft Ridesharing. As for bike accessibility, prospective riders can look online or on the app to see if there are bikes available at a specific location. Rates to use the bikes vary depending on the duration of use and the classic versus e-bike pricing.
The city is also working to make College Avenue safer for pedestrians and cyclists alike, with flashing signs at various crosswalks on the street.
To learn more about Bexley updates, visit the city’s website.
