The Summit Street Improvement Project that I blogged about yesterday will be a big step forward for bike and pedestrian safety — and that reminded me that our City Engineer has been working with the City of Tallmadge to add a little extra “hike and bike” safety measures for Middlebury Road where the Portage Hike and Bike Trail in Kent connects to the Freedom Trail in Tallmadge.
There aren’t any round-abouts planned for this project but better signage and striping with the intention of heightening driver’s awareness that this is a shared section of road for cars, bikes and walkers.
There’s work going on to eventually (maybe within 3-5 years) provide a trail link that won’t require bicyclists to ride in the road but until then, we think we can make some smaller safety improvements that will have a big impact.
With the extended bicycling season thanks to an unseasonably mild winter the trails have been getting a lot of extra use.
That’s great news for public health — as long as we can help everyone stay safe between the trail sections that are now so popular.