Explanation
Background: This resolution supports the Director of the Recreation and Parks Department to enter a grant application to the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) which will be used to build a trail bridge at Souder Avenue. The project will build a separated 12’ wide trail bridge adjacent to the Souder Avenue bridge. A 10’ trail will be constructed from both ends of the bridge to connect to the Scioto Trail on the north and south banks, and also extend south to Broad Street across from Mt. Carmel Hospital. New ADA ramps will be constructed along Souder Avenue, and a COTA bus stop on Souder will be improved. The grant requires a 20% match.
The Souder Avenue bridge is a heavily used bike/pedestrian route, with regional trails on both banks of the Scioto River. The two lane bridge is recognized widely as one of the city’s most unsafe, narrow crossings. Manual trail counts were conducted in July 2016 and found that the average daily use of the Souder Ave bridge by pedestrians and cyclists was approximately 250 uses per day. This equates to roughly 90,000 uses annually. These numbers place the Souder Ave bridge connection near the top 5 busiest counted sections in the Columbus trail system. For several years the Franklinton community and the city have been engaged in connectivity planning for the regional trail network and on-street improvements. This project builds the first phase of the Franklinton Loop, a series of trail and on-street improvements throughout East and West Franklinton. The project also provides a final linkage of a 3 mile downtown trail loop, from Scioto Greenways to the Westbank/COSI riverfront.
Plans consulted during preparation of this project include:
East Franklinton Creative Community District Plan (Goody/Clancy)
West Franklinton Plan (Columbus Planning)
Principal Parties:
Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission
111 East Liberty Street, Columbus, OH 43215
William Murdoch 614-228-2663
31-1009675
Emergency Justifica...
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