The city of Columbus changed a plan that originally called for the removal of all parking lots on one side of Indianapolis Avenue in Clintonville to create bike lanes after receiving opposition from business owners.
Now the plan is still to remove much of the parking lot on the east side of Indianapolis between East Arcadia and Oakland Park boulevards to make way for bike lanes on both sides of the street.
But after objections from Indian business owners who feared the abolition of parking would hurt the end result, the city recently decided to keep parking on both sides of Indianol along three blocks of the road, where most of the companies that would be affected by the changes are located.
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The two-way left lane between the Weber and Midgard roads will be removed, leaving 48 parking spaces on both sides of the main thoroughfare, which runs parallel to I-71. The city also plans to designate parking spaces available to the ADA, cargo area spaces and bicycle parking in this corridor.
The original plan would reduce the number of parking spaces on Indianol between Weber and Midgard from 60 to 30, all of which would be on the west side of the street.
“The loss of 12 seats is feasible,” said David Lewis, who owns Records Elizabeth near Indianol. “I think we will lose it in some areas and get it back in others. I’m glad they found a compromise.
“We certainly want the neighborhood to be comfortable for bicycles. We pass a lot of bicycle traffic here, “he added. “So we support the safety aspect. We were just worried it would take away our entire parking lot.”
Justin Goodwin, a transport planning manager in Columbus, said Indian business owners had asked for the plan to be revised to keep parking on both sides of Indianapolis.
“Finally, the Clintonville area committee held several hearings about this, heard from people in the neighborhood who were also interested in keeping bike lanes connected in the area,” Goodwin said. “The district commission has asked the Ministry of Public Services to consider alternative configurations in this section to see if we can find a compromise.”
Eric Brembeck, owner of Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse, was one of two Indian business owners who worked to collect and leave in Columbus City Hall signatures from those who opposed the city’s original plan to remove all car parks. the eastern side of Indianola. Brembek, who could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, told The Dispatch earlier that more than 2,270 signatures had been collected.
Proponents of cycling also wrote a letter to the city earlier this year, expressing support for uninterrupted bike lanes along Indianola from East Hudson Street to East North Broadway.
Under the revised plan, eliminating parking on the east side of Indianapolis between Hudson and East North Broadway to make way for bike lanes will reduce the number of parking spaces from 299 to 126. The previous plan set that number at 108.
In addition to adding bike lanes along the one-mile stretch, the city said it plans to add high-visibility walkways to Cliffside Drive, Crestview Road, Milford Avenue, Walhalla Road and all signalized intersections between Hudson and Auckland Park.
The changes will take place in 2024 and are part of the Vision Zero effort, an initiative led by Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginter started in March 2020, which aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries to vehicles and pedestrians to zero by 2035.
According to Goodwin, the installation of bike lanes on both sides of Indianapolis will create seven continuous miles of cycling infrastructure from downtown to Morse Road.
A planned bike lane north between Hudson and Arcadia will connect to an existing bike lane. Hudson and an existing bike lane in Arcadia will connect Indiananola lanes to the Summit Street bike path, Goodwin said. The planned bike lanes will continue north along Arcadia to Auckland Park.
Monroe Trombly reflects current and up-to-date news.
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