The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is proposing a State and U.S. Bike Route Designation Program. This program will take existing roadways within District 3, which includes Ashland, Crawford, Erie, Huron, Lorain, Richland and Wayne counties.
There are 17 proposed state bike routes and four proposed U.S. bike routes in Ohio. The program is focused on advancing bicycle and pedestrian transport throughout Ohio.
The proposed bike route through Crawford County travels along the Lincoln Highway and goes through Bucyrus, North Robinson and Crestline.
ODOT officials say they need input from people who are in the area on the proposed state and national bike routes in District 3 to ride the routes to determine whether they are safe or not.
“We want to find the safest route possible in Crawford County.” ODOT Transportation Engineer Bike Ped Coordinator District 3 Adam Mellen said. “We want people to ride the routes, to let us know whether they are safe or not. If they are not we will propose changes or find a different route to go down.”
Mullen said the route goes from Ft. Wayne, Indiana to Mansfield to Canton to Youngstown all the way East to New York City on this route.
The deadline for people to propose changes to the route is Nov. 16.
“I know this is a very quick deadline,” Mullen said. “This is so I have time to go through them all. Once this process is over, we will be working on the resolution process from December to May. I will send out resolutions when they are finalized.”
The program is funding the signage of all these routes, not the construction of new bike paths.
The website bike.ohio.gov includes information of every proposed bike route in the state of Ohio.
