LEXINGTON — Main Street is in for a major facelift in 2024.
The Village of Lexington was recently awarded $500,000 in funding from the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Safety Improvement Grant Program.
The grant will fund various projects focused on the section of Main Street between Plymouth Street and Castor Road.
The proposed overhaul includes a conversion to single-lane traffic in each direction, the addition of a center turn lane and bike lanes, improved access to the B&O bike trail and a new crosswalk with multiple safety features.
“It came out of our comprehensive plan that we want to make downtown more walkable and more accessible,” Mayor Brian White said. “This is one of those steps towards that.”
White said a safety study the village commissioned last spring further illustrated the need for improvements. An analysis by Burgess and Nipple pointed to increased auto, bike and foot traffic along Main Street’s downtown stretch.
“We’re upwards of 18 to 20 thousand cars a day (on Main Street),” White said.
Crash data from the Richland County Regional Planing Committee suggests the intersections of Main Street and Mill, Plymouth and Castor are some of the most dangerous in the village.
Main Street’s intersections with Plymouth/Frederick Street, Castor Road and Mill Street accounted for a combined total of 80 auto accidents between 2017 and 2021, according to an RCRPC report.
White said the number of accidents in the area was the primary factor in motivating officials to pursue the grant.
Village Administrative Director Andrew Smallstey said the project is designed to improve and simplify traffic flow in the area.
Main Street will be converted to a single lane in each direction with a center two-way left turn lane and bike lanes in each direction. An eastbound right-turn-only lane onto Castor Road would be more clearly marked.
Preliminary designs from Burgess and Niple also include converting the north intersection of Main and Mill St. into a right-in, right-out only configuration.
White said the improvements should make downtown safer for pedestrians and cyclists, but also improve traffic flow by reducing the number of lanes a motorist must cross during a left turn.
The project also includes adding a crosswalk in front of 40 E. Main St. The crosswalk will include a raised pedestrian island and pedestrian crossing signage with flashing lights.
A pedestrian island — also known as center island, crossing island or median slow point — is a raised portion in the center of a crosswalk protected from the flow of traffic. Islands allow pedestrians to deal with only one direction of traffic at a time by enabling them to stop part-way across the street and wait for an adequate gap in traffic before crossing the second half of the street.
According to the Department of Transportation, pedestrian islands have been demonstrated to decrease pedestrian crashes and casualties by between 57 and 82 percent.
Another aspect of the project will be reconfiguring access to and from the B&O Bike Trail. White said the design process is ongoing, but the village plans to create a user-friendly connection from the trail to each bike lane so cyclists won’t have to cross the street.
“We’re getting more and more (cyclists),” White said. “Right now their only option is to come up the sidewalk. That sidewalk is pretty narrow.”
The project will also add pedestrian push buttons at the intersection of Main and Plymouth.
Construction will begin no sooner than July 1, 2024.
“That’s when the funding’s available,” White explained. “Would I like it sooner? Sure.”
“The good news is we just heard back from ODOT and we will not have to cost-share anything. They are going to pay for 100 percent.”
The Main Street project isn’t the only effort Lexington is making to improve its downtown flow. The village is also working with the regional planning commission to create an active transportation plan.
David Gentile of the Richland County Regional Planning Commission said an active transportation plan examines current conditions for cyclists and pedestrians.
“It’s a guide on what needs to be done and also gives you an idea of current circumstances so that you can work towards making a more efficient and easy-to-use transportation network for that area,” he said.
Part of creating an active transportation plan is conducting a sidewalk survey. Gentile said the RCRPC has been mapping out the village’s sidewalk network and noting conditions and potential areas for improvement.
The steering committee for the plan, which includes members of the village planning commission and village council’s streets and sidewalks committee, will likely come up with a finalized version soon and bring a proposal to village council in December.
The Lexington Community Improvement Collaborative (CIC) has also been working on improvements at 35 Main Street (or as locals likely know it, the old Decker’s). The CIC, which leases the land from Certified Oil, has installed a new retaining wall and patio and added landscaping.
White said the group, which is not affiliated with the village government, plans to add 10 paved public parking spots and put some chairs and tables on the public patio in the spring.
The 1,400 square-foot patio could be used for seating or downtown events at the CIC’s discretion. The lot could also be a spot for food trucks to park.
