Wednesday, September 01, 1999
Bicycle lanes to open in township
BY MICHAEL D. CLARK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
UNION TOWNSHIP — A community that pedals together stays together. That's the hope of leaders in this Butler County community who want to create a greater sense of community among residents with the township's first bike lane.
A Sept. 11 ribbon-cutting and community bike parade will mark the opening of a 1.5-mile stretch of bike lanes along each side of Cox Road between Barrett Road and McGinnis Park.
Union Township residents have been invited to join the bike parade as community leaders hope to build support for a plan to create 35 miles of bike lanes throughout the township.
Eventually they hope to connect with the Loveland Bike Trail that runs north from Hamilton County into Warren and Greene counties.
“Overall, this is a positive for our community,” said Township Trustee Tom Hayden. “We're too isolated as a community and rely too much on automobiles to get around. This will add to our quality of life.”
The bike lanes first were envisioned in the early 1990s when township officials adopted a community plan, said Judith Carter, director of planning and zoning for Union Township.
Officials “wanted a community with many amenities to increase the quality of life, and this was one of them,” Ms. Carter said of the new bike lanes.
She said the next section of planned bike lanes — running from Barrett Road to U.S. 42 — depends on a state grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), which is expected to decide on funding in March.
Connection with the popular Loveland bike path, which begins in Milford in Clermont County and follows a route north along what was once the Little Miami Railroad line up to Yellow Springs in Greene County, also would help to boost Union Township's tourism and economy, she said.
The bike lanes along each side of Cox Road are about 5 feet of additional pavement on the shoulder of the road. The lanes are designated with signs as open to only nonmotorized vehicles.
Scott Bressler, Union Township project manager, said the new bike lanes serve multiple purposes.
Specifically, Mr. Bressler said an extended system of bike lanes, paths and routes, which follow residential streets and are marked by signs only, will help lessen growing traffic problems that periodically occur in some parts of the township.
“It gives us another way to travel, and it facilitates a way to get to the parks planned for the Voice of America (VOA) site,” he said. That 308-acre site is just east of Cox Road. Mr. Bressler said bike lanes around the VOA parks, and bike paths inside the recreational site, are planned as an essential component of the parks.
Longtime Union Township resident David Tacosik is glad to see the bike lanes and is pleased about plans to expand them to 35 miles throughout the township.
“Today, people don't know their neighbors. If you can recreate together, we can get to know each other,” said Mr. Tacosik.
He said too many of the township's newer housing developments lack sidewalks, and consequently residents are more inclined to use their cars rather than bike, walk or jog in their communities.
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