The two-mile sector of the bikeway that Ohio University owns was in poor condition 10 years ago. I recall skaters commenting 15 years ago that the cracks made it difficult to skate. About six or seven years ago, I did a rough count of the lateral cracks on this section. There were almost 300 lateral cracks, about 150 of which I called severe. Many of these cracks are a couple inches wide and large enough to catch a wheel. For those on foot, these are not that significant, but for those on wheels, they cause significant problems. They are quite jolting and frequently knock bottles, pumps, etc., and even hands off bikes. Each crack is a “thump” for each wheel. It is particularly bad for those on bikes with narrow wheels, tandems, tag-along bikes for kids, trailers with kids, tricycles and wheelchairs. I haven’t seen a wheelchair on this stretch for many years. Indeed, this stretch is more or less useless for many. Repair work done 20-some years ago have made the cracks even worse. Besides cracks, the pavement is crumbling and the width is way too narrow for amount of use here. And there was never an adequate base laid. I’ve frequently seen some cyclists do not-so-wise maneuvers and/or ride on the grass to avoid cracks. The cracks are beyond simple repair. This sector of the bikeway needs to be dug up and repaved with a solid base.
Many locals have stopped using this sector or rarely do anymore (myself included). Informal observations of parking areas indicate a decline in out-of-town visitors (particularly from the Marietta-Parkersburg area). Ask any local bike shop employees about what their customers talk about… it is the freakin’ cracks.
The two-mile university sector of the bikeway stretches from Stimson Avenue to O’Bleness Hospital, and the worst area is (and always has been) between Stimson and Richland avenues. This provides an important transportation and recreation facility for the university and the Athens community. The bikeway links the university to the shopping area as well to all the roads and bridges that lead to and from Athens.
Yes, the university did repair work on 4/10 of a mile west of Richland in 2012 and 2013. But it took two years to do a mere 4/10 of a mile. And that is only 1/5 of the university sector. Worse yet, there are no plans by the university to deal with the horrible condition between Stimson and Richland avenues, that part was always much worse than the part they repaired! Is it going to take 20 years to repair this?
Yes, the university has been aware of this for many years. It has had representatives on the county bikeway committee and other entities have voiced their concerns over many years. But the university seems to put its head in the sand. Responses vary from “I walk it and see no problems” (see above) to “we have no money.” “No money” has always been its cry. Believing that is a bit like believing the boy who cried wolf.
The university has a recreation budget, and this two-mile sector gets more use than a number of university recreational facilities. This sector gets more use in “person hours” than the OU golf course: Who knows how much is spent on watering, chemicals and labor on the golf course or what was spent on the golf course bridge and course refiguration a few years back (at a time the bikeway was already falling apart)?
The university has a transportation budget (which has increased revenues since it started charging for parking). The university has a whopping construction budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and repairing this is round-off money. The university touts “sustainability” in much of its PR but seems to do little in the very important sustainability area of transportation. Pedestrian/cycling and alternative transportation issues seem to be treated as an afterthought (e.g., build a complex and five years later think about pedestrian traffic to and fro; the mud-path that existed for five years east of Baker Center).
Some of this is downright poor planning. Indeed, why not plan such repair into the South Green Drive extension? One way I look at the South Green Drive extension is that now I will be able to use the new road to completely avoid the OU bikeway sector between Richland and Stimson!
Please will Ohio University, with all its resources, quickly repair this soon and show it has a little bit of sincerity in its PR campaign on sustainability.
Tom Wolf is a mathematics professor at Ohio University.
