By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Walkers at Bowling Green City Park will no longer have to share the pavement with motor vehicles once a pathway is paved around the park.
City officials are planning to use some of the American Rescue Plan Act funding to make improvements at City Park on Conneaut Avenue. In addition to repaving the driveway that circles the park, plus both parking lots, installing lights and security cameras, the city is planning to pave a walking path around the park.
Currently, walkers and joggers must share their course with vehicular traffic.
“We have talked about it over the years,” said Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Director Kristin Otley. “It will be nice to give people space to get away from traffic.”
“People really like that outer loop because it’s a half mile,” Otley said. And adults can go for a stroll while their children are at the pool, playing ball or in a park program. “They can get their steps in.”
Bowling Green Public Services Director Joe Fawcett has heard anecdotally from local residents who wanted a separate walking path for the well-used park. And since attendance at the park has increased during COVID, it was only fitting that the COVID rescue dollars be used to put in the pathway.
“This is a one-time use of one-time dollars,” Fawcett said. “I think this is an exciting use of the dollars.”
The addition of the walkway will make the park much more user friendly to foot traffic, he said.
The cost for all the improvements to City Park is estimated at $250,000. It is hoped that walking path will be engineered this year, and constructed in 2023.
With the addition of the asphalt pathway, people walking dogs, baby strollers, and just themselves, will no longer share the road with the 15 mph traffic around the park.
“I think it will certainly improve the safety,” Fawcett said.
The engineering and further discussions should determine some details about the walking path, such as:
- Positioning of the path. It is unknown if the pathway will be paved on the outside or inside of the existing road looping around the park.
- Width of walkway. The City of Bowling Green has recently begun paving wider sidewalks, but it has not been determined how wide the walkway will be.
- Change in park hours after paving is complete. Fawcett said he is not sure if the open hours in City Park may be extended past dusk once walkers have their own walkway.
- Path particulars. The engineering will determine if the walkway will be flush with the roadway, or separated by a grass strip. Fawcett said a combination may be used, with paint striping separating the pavement in some spots.
- Pathway users. It is not known yet if the walkway will be designated for foot traffic only, or for bicyclists as well.
