Given Toledo’s health metrics, which tend to be poor compared with the nation, in building the bike path that now parallels the Anthony Wayne Trail, Toledo potentially puts itself in the position of the consumer who buys a home gym and never touches it.
The biking/hiking path on the Trail will eventually make it possible to get from Maumee and points farther south and west all the way to the Toledo Zoo without having to walk or pedal on a street with cars. Access to the heart of downtown via the Riverwalk are in plans for the next several years.
Public officials held an event last week to promote Bike Month and to update residents on the fact that Lucas County has a construction plan to be fully implemented by 2040. Its goal is providing safe routes for walkers, cyclists, and public transit riders of all ages and abilities.
When completed, the county will have 47 new miles of shared-use paths — such as the Anthony Wayne Trail multiuse path, 5 miles of buffered or separated bike lanes, 21 miles of bicycle lanes, 11 bicycle boulevards, and 20 miles of wide shoulders: that’s 104 miles all told.
The Lucas County Active Transportation Plan was created under the leadership of a steering committee led by Creating Healthy Communities, an initiative through Toledo-Lucas County Health Department and Live Well Greater Toledo. The initiative is strongly supported by YMCA/JCC of Greater Toledo.
Lucas County’s wealth of public parks — the Metroparks Toledo system — is a factor in the growing network of bike paths. Metroparks’ goal is to have every park connected by a bicycle trail. Eventually, 13 of the 19 Metroparks will be connected through the bike-trail system.
Motorists who drive on the Anthony Wayne Trail cannot help but be struck by how the route is being reshaped to accommodate the bike path. Until the 1930s, the Anthony Wayne Trail was a canal bed. Now it’s being reshaped for the transportation demands of another generation.
The expansion of bike path options will make Toledo a more traversable and networked city by making other noncar modes of transportation, such as bikes, useful in getting to places we need and want to go. We’ll be healthier, as well.
First Published May 6, 2023, 4:00 a.m.
