Central Ohio Greenways

Central Ohio is fortunate to have a rich trail implementation history that has afforded the region with over 230 miles of scenic, highly used trails that serve as the backbone to Central Ohio’s growing active transportation network.

The trails invite people to experience the natural world through connections to parks, rivers, and other natural resources.

COG has seen an increased use of trail miles traveled from 2014 to 2020, demonstrating the significance trails play in the quality of life of our growing region.   

In 2018, the Central Ohio Greenways (COG) Board, MORPC, and local government partners adopted a Regional Trail Vision.

This vision identifies a community supported desire to add approximately 500 new trail miles to the existing trail network of over 230 trail miles. New miles will extend existing trails, fill gaps in trail corridors, connect neighborhoods to job centers, and create a truly interconnected network useful for both transportation and recreation.   

Recent studies, including community surveys and interviews with regional leaders, affirm the COG Board’s belief that trails and active transportation infrastructure are essential for equitably achieving climate resilience, improving public health, and increasing economic prosperity.

COG has heard Central Ohioans’ call to maintain and expand the trail network with bold and targeted investments that celebrate, protect, connect, and uplift all the beautiful natural features, cultural landmarks, local businesses, and diverse people in Central Ohio.

To better understand where strategic, new investments in trail infrastructure have the potential to impact the region most dramatically, the Franklin County Engineer's Office, the City of Columbus Public Service, and MORPC came together to support this trail prioritization effort.

The focus area of the analysis is Franklin County.  

Today, Franklin County boasts 120 miles of existing COG trails. Major trails include the well-traveled and loved Olentangy, Alum Creek, Scioto, Darby, and Big Walnut trails, among others. 

To determine the percentage of Franklin County residents with access to existing COG trails, MORPC identified a ½-mile pedestrian walk-shed and a 1-mile bike-shed extending from each current trail access point. A bike/walk-shed for this study is defined as the area one could walk or bike along safe and comfortable networks of sidewalks, trails, and other pedestrian and cycling infrastructure. Populations within the walk/bike-shed can access the trails from their home using comfortable and safe pedestrian and bike infrastructure. 

About 14% of Franklin County’s population can walk to a trail access point within a ½-mile of their home using a pedestrian network. 24% of jobs fall within this walk-shed as well. 

About 27% of Franklin County’s population can bike to a trail access point within one mile of their home using a low-stress bike facility, such as a multi-use path or a neighborhood street. 28% of jobs fall within this 1-mile bike-shed as well.  

Major population centers in Franklin County, such as The Ohio State University, Downtown, and dense suburban centers fall within this 1-mile bike-shed.

The Regional Trail Vision will add 176 Miles of Regional Trails in Franklin County.

When the proposed trails are built, nearly 40% of the population will be able to reach a trail access point within one mile of their homes using a low-stress bike facility. 41% of jobs will be within this bike-shed.

To set the stage for a strategic trail implementation phase, COG analyzed how segments of the proposed vision will interact with the surrounding land-use, population, and transportation/recreation network. The results of the analysis highlight the segments of the proposed vision that have the potential to impact the region most dramatically.

The Regional Trail Vision includes about 176 miles of proposed trails.

The Regional Trail Vision is segmented into 53 unique segments.

Typical project boundaries such as geographic, jurisdictional, and highways do not influence the segment endpoint. Instead, segments are extended to endpoints that allow a segment to provide realistic utility on its own. For example, many endpoints are major shopping destinations, population centers, or intersections with existing trails. Adjustment factors normalize variation in segment length in the analysis that follows. In other words, the length of the segments does not impact the prioritization. 

Criteria related to Connectivity, Health/Environment, Social Equity, and Economic Development informed the prioritization analysis that follows.

Based on connectivity, health & environment, social equity, and economic development criteria, the following trail segments have the greatest potential to most significantly impact the region: 

Downtown Trail

This trail section completes a critical gap in the trail network within the economic core and links the three most highly used trails (Scioto, Alum Creek, and Olentangy trails).

Linden Greenline (2 segments)

This trail section takes advantage of an abandoned rail corridor, providing a north-south connection through the Linden neighborhood, a historically underserved neighborhood severely impacted by redlining and highway development.

Hudson Urban Greenway (2 segments)

This trail section provides an east-west connection and has the potential to aid in activating economic activity along an underutilized commercial corridor.

Big Walnut Creek (2 segments)

This trail section connects several suburban neighborhoods to outdoor recreation and transportation opportunities.

SR 161 Trail

This trail section takes advantage of extra right-of-way capacity to diversify transportation options and provides outdoor recreation opportunities in an area with few parks.

Camp Chase Gap

This trail section completes a critical gap in a popular multi-county trail, which also is part of the Ohio to Erie statewide trail.

Schrock Rd Trail

This trail section provides a critical connection to the Alum Creek Trail from surrounding neighborhoods, major job centers, and the Ohio to Erie Trail.

Navigation Tip: Click on the highlighted purple segments to view ranking scores. 

A trail that can be connected to an extensive network of other active transportation options, such as low-stress neighborhood roads, protected bike lanes, trails, and bus stops, allows for a convenient option for residents to get to places, such as friends, work, schools, jobs, or outdoor recreation, without a car.

The segments identified here received the highest connectivity related scores.

Many of the trails that Central Ohioans know and love in Franklin County, including the Olentangy or Alum Creek trails, were built decades ago as a way to protect riparian corridors from more intensive development. Today, these trails serve our community by offering experiences that support mental and physical health. In fact, a 2020 survey revealed that nearly 100% of trail users say that their mental health is improved when using trails.

 The segments identified here received the highest health and environmental rankings based on criteria related to proximity to parks, riparian and environmental sensitive corridors, and high crash locations. 

Transportation and housing development over the last decade have severely disenfranchised minority populations, especially people of color. Systemically racist transportation and housing policies have left many of our Central Ohio neighborhoods disconnected from transportation options, community resources, and outdoor recreation. While trails alone will not solve decades of inadequate service to these neighborhoods, COG recognizes the current inequitable access to trails and outdoor recreation, especially in communities that have higher rates of people experiencing poverty, unemployment, and disabilities and/or that have a high percentage of zero car households and minority populations.

The segments identified here received the highest scores in criteria related to social equity. 

The trail access analysis revealed that only a quarter of the county’s population lives within the 1-mile bike-shed or walk-shed of the existing regional trail network.

Some neighborhoods, especially those along the Alum Creek Trail, have limited accessibility to the trail due to land use barriers, roadway patterns, and lack of access points.

On-road bike and pedestrian improvements within 1 mile of the EXISTING trail could nearly double the percentage of the population with access from 27% to 45%.

The 1st mile/last mile connection illustrated here represents approximately 50 miles of roadway improvements, which would require an estimated $25-50 million in transportation dollars.

Many opportunities for these improvements could be captured by local governments in routine roadway widening, paving, streetscape, and other maintenance projects.

If these types of 1st Mile/ Last Mile access improvements are extended to the entire Regional Trail Vision, pedestrian and cyclist access to trails would increase to approximately 60%.

This would mean that roughly 40% of the county would still be unable to safely walk or bike to a trail from their home.

Crossing these geographic access gaps in the trail network with approximately 50 miles of high-quality bike and pedestrian connections could increase the number of people with access to nearly 75% of the population.

Further planning, consideration, and local government collaboration is necessary to fully understand the potential impact and appropriate placement of these additional network improvements. This analysis is intended to identify the access impact on filling network gaps with additional bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

As these additional improvements are considered, neighborhoods of low-income, minority, and other underserved populations should be prioritized. It is well understood that historic planning practices, housing policies, and actions that – intentionally or unintentionally - supported systemic racism have resulted in racial, economic, and social inequities across Central Ohio.

Franklin County’s lowest income populations are most heavily concentrated on the east and south sides of the county. The neighborhoods identified in grey on the map here represent 466 neighborhoods, that compared to the rest of the county, experience a disproportionately higher rate of incomes within 200% of the poverty line.

Historically, highway construction and other transportation development projects have cut off many of these neighborhoods from resources - leaving these areas underserved as compared to the rest of the region.  

Today, about 40% of these neighborhoods are connected to a COG trail.

Completing the Regional Trail Vision and improving the bike and pedestrian infrastructure along these corridors would mean that 59% of these neighborhoods could be connected to trails.

And finally, improving bike and pedestrian infrastructure along these additional corridors would result in connecting 85% of neighborhoods experiencing high rates of poverty to the trails.

Other regional efforts may be able to support these additional network improvements. The Regional LinkUs Mobility Initiative imagines improved transit, and pedestrian and bike infrastructure along 5 main corridors, many of which fill access gaps in the COG Vision.