Advocacy & Safety - AccessOhio

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has recently issued a statewide transportation plan known as Access Ohio. Among other things, this plan encompasses the State’s existing and future plans for bicycle facilities in the State of Ohio, including bikeways, bicycle lanes, rail trials, shared-use paths, signed bicycle routes, and shared roadways. The plan seems to focus primarily on bikeways, bike paths, and other means of segregating bicyclists from the roadway. As proponents of bicycles as vehicles, we are concerned that Access Ohio fails miserably to promote and accommodate safe bicycling on public roadways, and instead, focuses on relegating bicycles to off-road paths and multi-use trials. We encourage you to review the plan for yourself. See, Access Ohio, Chapter 8, at http://www.dot.state.oh.us/planning.

The Ohio Bicycle Federation http://www.ohiobike.org urges you to contact ODOT by August 20, 2004, and convey your opinions and comments regarding Access Ohio. You can respond by many means available via the dot.state.oh.us website. Please send your correspondence to:

Office of Urban and Corridor Planning
ACCESS OHIO – Comments
Ohio Department of Transportation - 2nd Floor
1980 West Broad Street
Columbus, Ohio 43223

As proponents of bicycles as vehicles, we are concerned that Access Ohio fails miserably to promote and accommodate safe bicycling on public roadways, and instead, focuses on relegating bicycles to off-road paths and multi-use trials. We encourage you to review the plan for yourself. See, Access Ohio, Chapter 8, at http://www.dot.state.oh.us/planning.


I agree that the plan needs to focus more on making roadways safer, not on building paths and bike lanes (cursed be their name), but your post doesn't give any guidance as to how ODOT should do that. What concrete suggestions to you propose they include? I can think of a few:
Pavement sensors: One thing that annoys me in Columbus is the number or sensor-driven lights that can't detect bicycles. I'd love to see a state policy that all sensors must be able to detect a bike.
Street cleaning and maintenance: the city can't expect cyclists to stay to the right side of the road if it is covered with potholes and road debris
Roads wide enough to accomodate cyclists and cars.
Pavement cracks, on a couple nice new roads that are marked bicycle routes (not bike lanes), the pavement seem is right where I'd want to ride, so I have to go another foot or two into traffic.
Don't make things worse, i.e., don't add bike lanes.
Eliminate numeric speed limits on bike paths. If the purpose is to get us from point "A" to point "B," 15 mph is too slow. But at least for the moment, speed limits are not enforceable on "multi-use" paths. By state and city law, traffic laws only apply to bikes on streets and paths set aside "exclusively" for bicycles.

What should be added or subtracted from this list?