LinkUS, the Central Ohio Transit Authority's plan to improve transit, build rapid bus lines, and create more sidewalks and bike paths could mean big changes to a stretch of East Main Street (U.S. 40) in Reynoldsburg.
Initial drawings show the existing left lanes of East Main Street from Brice Road to Haft Drive being designated as "bus only" lanes, effectively reducing the main thoroughfare to only one lane in each direction. Terminals for bus rapid transit, or BRT, riders would occupy the current center turn lane, inhibiting left turns except at traffic lights, according to information on the city of Reynoldsburg's website.
To address concerns about the proposed changes, COTA is hosting a meeting from 4-6 p.m. on Aug. 27 in Rooms 2 and 3 of the Columbus Metropolitan Library Reynoldsburg Branch, 1402 Brice Road.
In November, voters in Franklin County and portions of adjacent counties served by the transit agency approved increasing their local sales tax. That increased COTA's share of local sales tax by 0.5%, bringing its total share to 1% to pay for LinkUS, which will build three bus rapid transit (BRT) lines by 2030 and fund more than 500 miles of sidewalks, bike paths and trails by 2050.
Reynoldsburg will be part of the East Main BRT corridor that will run from downtown Columbus and connect Olde Towne East/Near East Side, Bexley, Mideast/Eastmoor, Whitehall, Far East Side and Reynoldsburg, the LinkUS website shows.
To have dedicated BRT lanes for the 1.3 miles of East Main Street through Reynoldsburg, Mayor Joe Begeny said the city had two options: reduce East Main to one lane in each direction with the exclusion of some turn lanes or have COTA acquire right-of-way to expand and add additional lanes. Putting aside the cost of acquiring right-of-way, Begeny said the latter option would mean almost every business on East Main Street would not have any parking whatsoever.
"When you look at the situation in general, there are two options. One of them, I felt, was significantly worse than the other option," Begeny said. "Overall, that's kind of the direction that we were working with COTA to kind of understand that we need to figure out how to do this in a way that is as least intrusive as possible without taking away everything from all businesses forever."
Begeny said the proposed dedicated bus lanes have been discussed at Reynoldsburg City Council meetings, on his weekly Facebook live show, and at numerous other city events over the last two years. And while residents knew about the November 2024 ballot issue and that the issue passed, he understands that the project now feels more real to residents as planning ramps up.
But just because planning is ramping, that doesn't mean the project will happen overnight. COTA has a goal of having the BRT project 100% designed by 2026, with construction taking place from 2027-2029, the LinkUS website states.
Eastern Columbus suburbs reporter Maria DeVito can be reached at [email protected] and @mariadevito13.dispatch.com on Bluesky and @MariaDeVito13 on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Reynoldsburg meeting set on proposed LinkUS East Main lane changes
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