Bexley council reviews nonbinding support for LinkUs BRT stop at Pleasant Ridge and Main

Council President Lampe introduced a nonbinding resolution at the April 8, 2025, Bexley City Council meeting to express support in concept for a LinkUs bus rapid transit stop on East Main Street west of Pleasant Ridge Avenue. She told council she had not decided how she would vote and called the measure a vehicle for further fact-finding and resident input.

The mayor and staff described LinkUs as a voter-approved regional transit program that will add bus rapid transit on East Main Street and related “transit-supported infrastructure” such as bikeways and sidewalks. Mayor Ben provided a high-level overview of the project’s design status — roughly 60% complete — and said a final design and construction agreement would come to the city later. He and staff said the proposed Pleasant Ridge station would be a median platform; the existing medians on that block measure about 8 feet and the planned BRT medians would be about 14 feet, requiring a modest roadway configuration change in that segment.

President Lampe emphasized the resolution does not reopen the voter decision that approved regional BRT: “The voters have already voted that there will be a bus rapid transit line coming down East Main Street,” she said. The resolution instead addresses whether Bexley should host a stop and where the best location would be. She said the resolution, if adopted, would signal to COTA and LinkUs a preferred location while final engineering and a formal city–COTA agreement are negotiated.

Council members pressed staff and the mayor on several practical points: whether the DORA/stop would abut an elementary school, how traffic patterns and left-turn movements would change, effects on on-street parking and whether current local Route 2 service would be retained. Staff said they would verify proximity rules to schools and noted they did not recall a statutory distance restriction for DORA-type actions; Mr. Hurley cited Section 4301.82 of the revised code in a DORA-related exchange earlier in the meeting. The administration said COTA has indicated Route 2 local service would remain for at least four to five years even if a BRT stop is installed; timing and stop co-location would be studied to avoid buses blocking each other.

Staff and council said a major consideration was right-of-way width in Bexley. The mayor said engineers concluded a dedicated curb-running BRT lane was not feasible on Main Street without removing buildings in some locations, so the LinkUs plan for Bexley uses mixed-traffic operation with a center median station at selected intersections. The mayor and staff said the Pleasant Ridge location was chosen partly because it offers sufficient median and adjacent space for platform amenities and bike parking while minimizing impacts to parking. Staff said some on-street parking would be removed but additional parking could be added on Pleasant Ridge; the project was expected to be roughly parking-neutral for the block.

Council members also raised safety and operational questions. Council President Lampe said she was interested in more public engagement and planned to distribute a brief survey in the Bexley Blast; the mayor said COTA and city staff would attend a future council meeting to take questions. The administration provided an estimated timeline: the project is in detailed design through the 60–100% phase over the next year; a city–COTA right-of-way/use agreement would be negotiated and would require a subsequent council vote before construction; installation of the BRT station in Bexley would be a relatively short construction window (staff estimated three to six months for the median work within Bexley once the project is under construction).

One resident, Constance Lewis, provided a written submission and public comment that cited federal procedures: she told council the Federal Transit Administration is preparing a categorical exclusion for the East Main Street BRT corridor and is initiating Section 106 consultation under the National Historic Preservation Act (36 C.F.R. part 800). Lewis said documents she received referenced a consultation-signing deadline of April 17 for organizations wishing consulting-party status on the Section 106 review; she provided copies to the city and asked that staff follow up.

No vote was taken on resolution 02-25 at the meeting. President Lampe and the mayor said additional COTA briefings and expanded public outreach would be scheduled before any formal city agreement was placed before council for approval.