MANSFIELD – Two Richland County efforts to improve active transportation were recently recognized on the state-level.
Richland Moves’ Slow Roll bike rides and the City of Mansfield’s multi-use trail were listed jointly as number eight on Groundwork’s “2017 Top 17 Active Transportation Moves in Ohio.”
“I just saw it this morning,” said Richland Moves chairperson Nelson Shogren shortly after getting the news earlier this week. “That’s pretty good that we’re making strides.”
Richland Moves introduced its “slow rolls” last year and plans to continue and expand the event in 2018.
“We wanted to have an evening ride where anyone could take their bikes and explore a different part of the city,” Shogren said. “It was born out of the Slow Roll Detroit concept, where they would ride in a different community every Monday evening.”
“They have like 3,000 cyclists that do that now. It’s a party on two wheels, and we wanted to bring that concept to Mansfield.”
Nearly 50 people of all ages participated in several of the Monday evening rides, each with different themes. One left from the Mansfield Art Center and continued through the Woodland neighborhood. Another left from Dairy Land and rolled through the North End.
“We try to pick areas that are relatively flat, so nobody really has to worry about hills, and we try to keep it under four miles, so anybody can do it. It’s not an endurance ride,” Shogren said.
These types of rides will pick up again in 2018 with some changes. For instance, the weekly slow roll might be moved to another weekday. Shogren mentioned that many places were closed on Mondays, and he’d like to be able to take advantage of ice cream shops and places like the Phoenix Brewery that aren’t always open on Mondays.
In addition to the weekly rides, he wants to have random rides, too.
“Nelson and I would pre-ride a lot of the routes, and people would want to go, too, so impromptu rides we’ll offer more,” said Mike Solon, a Richland Moves advocate.
Mansfield resident Lori Waters, who has been to slow rolls in Akron, Canton, Cleveland and Detroit, attended each of Richland Moves scheduled bike rides last summer. She was impressed with the experience, mentioning a few of the historic rides that she especially enjoyed.
Richland Public Health’s Ellen Claiborne participates in the slow rolls largely out of her own interest, but in her position as a health educator, she recognizes substantial benefits to events like these.
“We’re always glad to see more of this stuff occurring in the community, and to see the great turnouts we had for it was just amazing,” she said.
Claiborne also supports Richland Move’s Just Walk program.
“It’s a similar thing except with two feet instead of two wheels,” she said. “It’s different walks around the community for social, physical and emotional health. It’s just about getting people together to walk and see Richland County.”
Just Walk started in April 2016. Popular walks have brought more than 40 participants.
New in 2018, Richland Moves intends to hold a “Spirit Walk” along Indian and buffalo trails in Lucas.
The city’s mile-and-a-half multi-use trail was also recognized as a “top transportation move.” The path opened in October.
A path was initially being constructed for cyclists and pedestrians as part of the Trimble Road improvement project along the east side of Trimble Road. But city engineer Bob Bianchi took the project a step further by advocating for a second connecting trail along Cook Road from Trimble Road to Woodland Road.
“We wanted to incorporate the multi-use trail into the project in an effort to recognize other modes of transportation,” Bianchi said.
He hopes to continue the trend with a multi-use trail along Woodland Road to the Overlook Road intersection when funds are available, and the long-term goal is to connect it to the county-wide B&O multi-use rail-trail and other parts of the city.
“The goal is to give pedestrians a refuge to walk on the trail instead of the narrow streets,” Bianchi said.
Other active transportation efforts recognized by Ground Works were Columbus’s age friendly initiative and Cleveland’s Safe Routes to School program.
