TOLEDO, Ohio — If you drive on the Anthony Wayne Trail, you've probably noticed more construction happening lately.
Part of that is because a new bike path being is being constructed parallel to the highway. .
The first part of the project, which involves eliminating one lane of traffic on each side of the trail near Glendale Avenue, is underway. Leaders with the city of Toledo said the long term plan involves connecting cyclists to downtown.
"Being able to connect all the way from basically Maumee into downtown, we think there's a lot of desire to do that among the biking community," said Doug
Stephens, director of the Department of Transportation for the city of Toledo.
The bike path will run along the east side of the trail, connecting from the Chessie Circle Trail into Glendale.
"This route was identified in the city of Toledo bike plan," Stephens said. "So one of the things you're going to see is that we are going to go from three lanes each direction to two lanes each direction."
Stephens added that traffic flow counts have decreased along the trail over the past few years.
But riding straight on the Anthony Wayne Trail, which is a state route, is not something all cyclists feel comfortable with.
"I would much rather ride down the trail on River Road and have the street paved there, because it's bumpy," said biker Brad Rubini.
Rubini is one of many that feel biking along the trail is not the safest option. Rather he feels money could be put into improving other existing trails.
"If they don't put up a big crash wall, there's no way in heck I would drive on that," he said.
As of right now it's unclear what type of barrier will exist between traffic and bikers along the new trail.
On top of fast-moving traffic, concerns about the bike path being too close to the Toledo Country Club golf course are also looming.
Ultimately this is only the first part of this project. The city will eventually have to do another project further up the trail, which will take the bike path north to South Ave closer to downtown, but that's a few years down the road.
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