The Kleingers Group recently spoke at the 2017 International Trail Symposium held in Dayton, Ohio. The educational conference brings together experts from all across the globe to learn more about trail system challenges, successes, and progressive ideas. We were inspired by so many ideas and conversations shared during the conference that we thought we would share some of our thoughts with you.

See our takeaways from speaking/attending below:

Sharing International Challenges and Successes

• Those in attendance during our speaking session included individuals from Brazil, El Salvador, Idaho, and New England (just to name a few). It was incredible to sit alongside others from all across the globe, discussing similar challenges, programs, and worldwide support for creating trails to connect people across the earth.
• Much like what we see in areas where we perform trail engineering and design services, many cities across the globe have been built around a single mode of transportation – cars.
• In general, Ohio has created many fantastic ‘destination trails’ where families travel by car, with bikes in tow, for recreation. Recreational communities across the state have done a great job creating these core recreation destinations. The challenge now is to create paths that connect these destinations with the people of the area.

Dayton Sets an Example for Others Across the Globe

More than just trails and paths, extreme biking paths were demonstrated at the symposium.

• Dayton has such a rich history of those within the biking community. The Wright brothers and the founder of Huffy Bicycles both got their starts in the area.
• Dayton is home to the largest paved trail network in the United States.
• Following the Great Miami River flood of 1913, the Miami Conservancy District was both created and funded locally. The organization set out to build levees in the area and eventually turned its attention to focus on water activity and then trails.
• Many organizations across the country look to the conservancy as a leading example. The district has found ways to continue funding the program which helps maintain the trails in the area, including winter plowing, ADA upgrades, and more – typically a challenge for trail owners.
• The Dayton area is also known in the trail community for Huffy’s ‘Rails to Trails’ conservancy program developed in the 1970s, before converting old rail lines to bike trails was popular.
• Large metropolitan stakeholders across the globe are just now getting programs in place and look to the Dayton area as a leading example.

Changing our approach to trails through progressive examples for funding area complete streets.

• Historically, money is spent ordinarily on the right-of-way for roadways. Complete streets is a way of approaching how best to a projects’ right-of-way while generating modes of transportation and access for all-wheel riders (aside from cars).

Prefabricated bridge showcased in the exhibit space.

How is The Kleingers Group affecting change in the area?

• As one example, Kleingers currently serves as the City of Wilmington, Ohio’s municipal engineer. We have been working with the city to set in place an active transportation plan which focuses on multi-modal transportation with complete street elements so that when new projects are completed within the city, they will comply with the program. The results will be a community that is not only multi-modal but a desirable place to live, work and play.
• Kleingers was recently awarded a fourth task order with ODOT for Safe Routes to Schools and Pedestrian Safety. We have an ongoing commitment to design multi-modal paths for school districts and local governments while creating a safe and healthy means of travel for students and families all across the State of Ohio.

Successful trails not only encourage healthy living and help reduce the carbon footprint; studies have shown they also increase property values for those adjacent to and in close proximity to the path. If we can consider the above successes, challenges, and creative approaches to constructing paths and trails for recreation and commuters alike, then we can (alongside others across the globe) create more desirable places to live and enjoy.

Backing out of 90-degree on-street parking into a busy road is generally recognized as a very dangerous parking maneuver. Drivers often can’t get a good view of oncoming traffic before pulling into it, leading to driver anxiety and accidents.

So when The Kleingers Group started a safety improvement study for Blue Ash Road in the City of Deer Park, the existing 90-degree on-street parking was a major concern.

The transportation and infrastructure group used Miovision Scout Data Collectors—a camera that records video for use in data collection and observation—to observe parking maneuvers along the corridor. With video capture, they were able to cost-effectively perform over a day’s worth of observations at a birds-eye view.

What they found was surprising: a good portion of drivers were already backing into the existing 90-degree parking spaces to enable themselves to be able to see when they pulled out later.

This knowledge led The Kleingers Group to consider reverse angle parking, an innovative solution.

Unlike traditional angled parking, in which drivers pull into a space head-on, reverse angle parking encourages drivers to drive just past an open space and back in, vastly improving visibility when they pull out. The result is parking that is safer for both drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Although reverse-angle parking is less common than traditional angled parking, the data from video observation showed that a culture of backing into on-street parking already existed.

“We learned that a good portion of drivers were already making maneuvers similar to the changes we were proposing,” Traffic Engineer Dave Meyer said. “Reverse angle parking will allow much greater visibility when you are exiting a parking spot.”

Although education campaigns will still be necessary to acquaint residents with the alternative parking scheme, many drivers won’t have to substantially change their habits. By encouraging the remaining drivers to also back into their parking space, accidents should be reduced and parking will be safer for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians.

The result is increased economic development—including visitors, shoppers, and diners—as people feel safer parking and, as a result, frequenting the area.

Improvements to Blue Ash Road are expected to be completed in 2019.

Congratulations to Jay Stewart and Tim Casto for their work on the Deer Park 2035 Vision Plan, which recently won the Frank F. Ferris II Planning Award in the Implementation category!  The award honors local communities whose efforts have contributed to the elevation of planning principles, greater awareness of the value of planning and improved quality of life.

The Kleingers Group drafted the Vision Plan with a heavy emphasis on the implementation of the key priority action items. Some of the key action items identified in the plan and implemented since the plan’s adoption in 2008 include:

• Update of the City Zoning Code – Following on the heels of adopting the Vision Plan, the City’s first implementation project involved the re-write of the City Zoning Code.
• Blue Ash Road Streetscape Project – With the help of the City’s planning consultant,The Kleingers Group, the OKI Regional Council of Governments; Ohio Department of Transportation; and Hamilton County Engineers, funding has been secured for the $6.5 million Blue Ash Road improvement project.
• Development of a Capital Improvement Plan – Acting on one of the key recommendations from the Vision Plan, Deer Park created and adopted its first Capital Improvement Plan.
• Creation of a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) Tax Incentive Program – In September 2012, the Deer Park Council designated the entire City as a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) to provide tax incentives to property owners to encourage new investment.
• Creation of a Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) – Created in February 2011, the Deer Park Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) serves as the economic development arm of the City.
• Establishment of the Deer Park Business Organization – Beginning in 2009, the City spearheaded the creation of the Deer Park Business Association (DPBA).

The 2035 Vision Plan recognized that without a written master plan, the City of Deer Park would likely place itself at a disadvantage when presented with redevelopment and other growth related opportunities. The implementation of the Vision Plan’s priority goals and action steps will facilitate fiscal sustainability, maintain and enhance the quality of life for residents and businesses, preserve the City’s many traditional neighborhoods, and place Deer Park in a competitive position in the Greater Cincinnati economy.

Tim Casto, serves as Deer Park’s City Engineer. Jay Stewart, serves as a planning consultant to the city and is President of the Deer Park Community Improvement Corporation.

Everyone knows buying in bulk can save you money.

Paving city streets may not be any different. Contractors tell us that one larger contract is more attractive than several smaller ones and can save the end-user money.

Unfortunately, many smaller municipalities can never reach the level required to achieve costs savings on their own.

This year, The Kleingers Group, in coordination with the Center for Local Government, will premier one of the first multi-jurisdictional pavement improvement plans, combining paving needs from three communities into one project.

The idea is that three communities—Silverton, Amberley Village, and Golf Manor—are more likely to attract a competitive bid and get better pricing with a combined request for the proposal than individually.

“The Center for Local Government exists to help local governments work together to achieve efficiencies.  We are always looking for innovative new methods of service delivery, and we are happy to be working to make this project a reality,” said T.J. White, Executive Director for the Center for Local Government

There are numerous benefits to the three communities working together. For starters, the communities can share small costs, such as printing and advertising, almost immediately. The cost of asphalt is cheaper when purchased in large quantities. Another real cost savings comes from transporting the very large paving equipment to the site. Since Silverton, Amberley Village, and Golf Manor are all neighboring communities, the contractor selected for the project will be able to transport equipment to the area once, completing the needed repairs in all three communities without incurring the cost of transporting equipment multiple times.

The result is an RFP that is more attractive to contractors and potentially cheaper for the communities involved.

The Kleingers Group has created combined bid documents previously. Last year, Kleingers coordinated two nearby improvement projects—one in Deer Park, one in Silverton—into one set of bid documents. Although the documents were created so they could be two individual sets, they were released as one document, producing a more attractive package for contractors and creating more competition.

Following that success, The Center for Local Government approached the Kleingers Group to discuss additional ways to help create coordination between local governments and began exploring multi-jurisdictional pavement improvements.

The Kleingers Group participated in a series of meetings to examine the possibility, bringing Silverton, Amberley Village, and Golf Manor on board.

As a result of the meetings, an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) was drafted between the three communities agreeing that Silverton will hold the contract with the roadway contractor for work to be done in all three of the communities and will be reimbursed by the other two communities for the costs. While Silverton will hold the contract and administer the construction, each community will prepare its own plans, have its own inspector, and approve the work completed.

The Kleingers Group and each of the three communities ensured their paving projects were as homogenous as possible. This coordination included using standard Ohio Department of Transportation asphalt mixes, consistent special provisions, and material testing standards. The result is the contractor doesn’t have to use a different set of standards in each community, which would have increased costs.

Moving forward, The Kleingers Group hopes to not only add communities to the Silverton/Amberley Village/Golf Manor paving program but also look at working with other Southern Ohio communities to cluster their paving programs.

Silverton Mayor John A. Smith emphasized the need to share services and cooperate with neighboring jurisdictions, even as Silverton retains its own identity.

“Our residents have told us clearly:  we don’t want to merge with another community and lose Silverton’s identity and self-governance.  For Silverton, partnering with neighbors like Deer Park and Amberley Village has always been a priority.  Today, though, it is essential. We have found even more ways to pool our resources and cooperate.  Paradoxically, it is only by working together on projects like this that we can preserve our communities and determine for ourselves how to self-govern,” he said.

Construction documents for the project will be sold on March 9 and bids will be opened on March 23.