The Olentangy Bikeway
- Discipline
- Landscape Architecture
- Semester
- Autumn 2016
- Course
- Design Studio VI
- designer
- Hillyer, Ryan
- faculty
- Mitchell, Jacob Steiner, Halina
- Location
- Columbus, Franklin, Ohio, United States, NA
- Description
- This was a student project by Ryan Hillyer for Halina Steiner and Jacob Mitchell's course LARCH 4960 in Autumn 2016. The Olentangy and Scioto Greenway trails are a key asset to the city of Columbus, creating north-south connections between downtown, The Ohio State University, and outlying neighborhoods along the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers. The paths allow cyclists and pedestrians a secluded network devoid of vehicular traffic, ensuring the safety of the green-way users. Despite these benefits, the pathway has its limitations. The Interstate Highway system took advantage of the space along the river, creating a network of large scale roadways that run along the river systems. Railroads reminiscent of an previously industrial city cut across the space with low lying bridges. The extreme floods of the early 20th century spurred an engineering project to ensure the safety of the city, building levees and flood walls to further define and compress the space. Vegetation growth is unchecked, often encroaching upon the path. For the users of the green-way, this series of conditions creates an uncomfortable, and sometimes dangerous situation. In order to further promote the use of the network to connect the city, the green-way requires a new set of strategies that will highlight the relationships between transportation infrastructure and the river corridor, and amplify the network’s value to the cycling community in Columbus. Conditions of the green-way inhibit the full potential it holds as a network asset for Columbus. Through a series of interventions, the Olentangy Bikeway will address the unique qualities of the space, revealing infrastructures, expanding mobility, clarifying identity, and highlighting moments of interest to change the perceived experience of the corridor.