A social studies instructor at the Tri-County Career Center in Nelsonville, Wooster began using the Bikeway six years ago as a way to kill two with one: get his daily exercise and get to work, leaving more room for after work family time.

The 45-minute ride is more entertaining in April, he says.

“April is the best because every day you can watch different flowers bloom. There is a period where everything changes. It’s amazing,” he said.

Since he started cycling to work, his family has downsized from two cars to one. And the effort gives him the energy he needs as a teacher.

“As a teacher you need to have energy, and I have way more energy [now that I bike] to work. That is motivating because my work day goes so much better,” he said.

OHIO employee Elaine Goetz, PHD ’16, takes advantage of the Bikeway’s wide, open path for an occasional summer jog to work.

“Sometimes I’m the only one on it. Jogging and walking to town [by other routes means] there are more people, curbs, cars, other pedestrians, and bikers. [The Hockhocking Adena Bikeway] is just easy. It’s calm. It’s pretty too,” says Goetz, sustainability specialist at OHIO’s Office of Sustainability.

The Bikeway has played a big role in her family’s life, too, she says. When the children were young, the Goetz family would often bike to Larry’s Dawg House, a local hang out, for a cool treat. Her children took some of their first bicycle rolls on it, she recalls.

“We used to organize family outings with the bike path [in mind],” she said.

Wooster’s and Goetz’s use of the Bikeway illustrates how Athens County and OHIO communities benefit from partnering in creative ways. Often in a college town, town and gown relations may be strained, but in Athens, the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway highlights how the University and surrounding communities work together to strengthen the region.

Just as it connects people to places, the Bikeway connects Ohio University, the City of Athens, the City of Nelsonville, Hocking College, Athens County, local and county residents, students, and government organizations to a common purpose: making the area bike-friendly and open to sustainable modes of transport.

Bike culture takes root

On any given day, one can see walkers, cyclists, runners, skateboarders, and lovers of nature gliding along the Bikeway, a ribbon of smooth pavement that stretches more than 21 miles. It starts on Athens’ east side, hugs Ohio University’s campus, runs along the Hocking River, and continues northwest to Nelsonville.

The first section of the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway was constructed over abandoned railroad lines circa 1980 on Athens and University property.

Athens native Pete Kotses, AB ’92, who co-owns Athens Bicycle with his wife, Meredith Erlewine, AB ’95, another Athens native, recalls when the first section of the Adena Bikeway opened.

“My mom was like, ‘This is great.’ She put me on the bike with my towel around my neck, and I would ride the bike path to the city pool every day,” he said.

Kotses, an Athens City councilman, and city officials, together with OHIO support, worked to get Athens designated as a Bike Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists in 2015. The title marks Athens as a community that supports biking infrastructure.

Sam Crowl, MAIA ’99, and another Athens native, sits on the city’s bicycle and pedestrian committee, which applied for the designation. Crowl, OHIO Office of Sustainability project coordinator, aims to one day obtain the Bicycle Friendly University designation for OHIO. A designation for both Athens and OHIO would be a boon when applying for future bicycling project grants, he said.

Enhancements en route

In 2016 Bikeway improvements included a spur that connects it to Columbus Road in Athens. It provides easy access for the city’s north side residents, where Wooster lives.

“I felt like they opened it just for me,” he said.

More improvements are underway this summer. University Planner Shawna Bolin, BSHC ’97, is working closely with Athens City Engineer and Director of Public Works Andrew Stone, MS ’13, on what’s known as the McKinley project. The project will improve the Bikeway rider’s experience.

“There were two things we were hoping to do [with the McKinley Project],” Bolin said. “Better connect to the bike path along Stimson Avenue, and encourage (safe) bike traffic.”

Stone and Athens City Planner Paul Logue, AB ’97, collaborated with OHIO as it developed plans for a robust bike system and paths radiating from the Bikeway into campus, part of the University’s Comprehensive Master Plan.

When completed, McKinley Avenue will be transformed into a boulevard for the city and a gateway for OHIO, Bolin said.

Annie Laurie Cadmus, director of OHIO’s Office of Sustainability, serves on the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway Advisory Committee, a unit that represents myriad entities along the Bikeway. It’s a labor of love for Cadmus.

“The Bikeway is my favorite part of Athens County,” she said.

For improvements that fall outside of the committee’s scope, Cadmus hopes the newly-formed nonprofit Friends of the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway can shore up the route’s needs, like building a new spur or upgrading gravel. Also in the Bikeway’s future? Constructing park-and-pedal lots, Cadmus said. This would allow commuters who have a longer journey the ability to drive halfway to work, park their vehicle, then ride their bike to their destination. —Natalie Trusso Cafarello, MSJ ’08

Of bricks and bikeways: mile markers reflect local history

The arts are everywhere in Athens, and the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway is no exception. In June 2016, volunteers, local government officials, and OHIO employees gathered to dress-up the Bikeway by painting mile markers designed after patterns of historic bricks that were once made in Athens and Nelsonville.

“It was truly a community effort,” said Annie Laurie Cadmus, OHIO’s sustainability director, who also serves with community members on the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway Advisory Committee and on the Friends of the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway, a nonprofit.

A state grant for projects that encouraged healthy choices secured by Athens City-County Health Department’s Megan Buskirk supported the installation of wayfinding signs that point to nearby restrooms, a hospital, water, and fix-it stations along the Bikeway.

The inspiration for the mile-marker designs began with Athens City Planner Paul Logue, AB ’97, who put Buskirk in touch with local brick collector and retired University Refuse and Recycling Manager Ed Newman, MS ’03. Patterns from Newman’s bricks inspired the mile marker stencils. The singular designs tell users they are on Athens County’s own Hockhocking Adena Bikeway, not just another boilerplate, 10-foot-wide path.

“It uses something that is old and historic in Athens in a new way and reinforces part of history,” Logue said.  “It encourages curiosity and a little bit of learning about Athens for someone who is visiting.” –Natalie Trusso Cafarello is assistant director, content for Advancement Communication and Marketing, photo by Kaitlin Owens