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Pedestrian Accessibility and Bicycle Task Force highlights gains, flags data gaps in annual report
Summary
At a committee meeting Feb. 23, the Pedestrian Accessibility and Bicycle Task Force told the Committee of the Whole the city made measurable pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure gains in 2025 — but it flagged missing crash reporting and several lost bike-lane stripings that it says undercut safety improvements.
The Pedestrian Accessibility and Bicycle Task Force presented its annual report to the Committee of the Whole on Monday, outlining infrastructure improvements completed in 2025 and areas that need follow-up.
Rob Delich, a task‑force member, said the city completed a federally funded curb‑ramp project that added or replaced roughly 150 curb ramps and increased the share of ramps with tactile warning surfaces from about 60% to roughly 75%. He noted the Stimson Bridge shared‑use path opened last year and added about 770 feet of multiuse path, and that nearly a mile of sidewalk was replaced as part of ongoing work to maintain the city’s pedestrian network.
"If walking is not safe and comfortable, we are not fully meeting the needs of our community," Delich said, arguing that Athens functions largely as a walking city and that pedestrian safety should not be treated as a niche concern. The task force also described a public‑art curb‑extension mural — The Migration — that was selected in a public poll with more than 1,000 responses.
The task force reported transit and safety metrics compiled for 2024 and 2025: Athens Public Transit audited 77 stops and the task force calculated about 64% of those stops had a sidewalk connection; ridership was reported up about 10% in 2025 compared with 2024. The group also compiled bike‑and‑pedestrian crash records through 2024 and concluded there are reporting gaps.
Delich said "about 30 reports, 30, 35 crashes" across the last six years that the task force found do not appear in the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) crash database, and he urged staff and the police to work through each report to determine whether incidents were not submitted, rejected, or miscoded. "We just don't know yet," he said of the cause.
The task force highlighted other concerns: a bike lane on Mill Street was removed during repaving because engineers judged the remaining width below standards; several repaving projects have removed painted crosswalks and bike lane markings, the task force said. Delich recommended the city more consistently apply complete‑streets practices during repaving (for example, restriping to restore or add bike lanes or shoulders when roads are repaved).
Members of the committee pressed the task force on coordination with the Disabilities Commission; Delich said several task‑force members also serve on or coordinate with the Disabilities Commission and the groups are exploring joint meetings with the administration to reduce duplicated outreach and improve accessibility planning.
The committee did not vote on policy at the presentation. Delich said the task force will publish its report on the city website and invited questions from council and staff about the metrics.
What comes next: committee members encouraged the task force and the police records staff to audit crash‑report submission procedures and to develop follow‑up work in the coming year; the task force said it will continue work on a bicycle‑parking ordinance and on intersection‑specific audits.
