A group of central Ohio officials from COTA, Dublin, Washington Township, Ohio University and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) broke ground on a LinkUS-funded Shier Rings Road shared use path Sept. 18.
The project, which is projected to be finished in October, will likely be the first completed infrastructure project funded by COTA's LinkUS initiative, COTA President and CEO Monica Téllez-Fowler said. COTA and MORPC presented Washington Township and Dublin with a check for $544,300 to fund most of the $709,000 project at the groundbreaking, which took place at the Washington Township Administration Building.
The new path will connect two currently separate neighborhood trails along the south side of Shier Rings Road near the Oak-Shier
Estates neighborhood. When the project is completed, there will be a continuous connection from Avery-Muirfield Drive to Cosgray Road. Construction workers will also install drainage improvements and reconstruct affected driveway aprons during the project, according to a LinkUS news release from the groundbreaking.
"While this project may represent a relatively short stretch of path on a map, its impacts are far more significant. These investments strengthen our local community when we make it easier for people to move throughout Dublin and spend time in our neighborhoods and business districts. We create opportunities for local businesses to attract customers, grow, and thrive," Dublin Mayor Chris Amorose Groomes said at the groundbreaking.
Washington Township began surveying residents on a potential shared use path along Shier Rings Road five years ago, Washington Township administrator Eric Richter told The Dispatch. An overwhelming majority – 92% – of residents said they supported the path, so the township began doing preliminary work on the project with Dublin. When voters approved LinkUS in 2024, and when the initiative's grants later became available, the township was ready, Richter said.
Without LinkUS, the township likely would have had to use its general fund to pay for the project, and it likely would have taken longer to get started, Richter said.
"I think we would have had to have pondered it a little bit longer to make sure that we had the resources to allocate to a project like this," he said.
The Shier Rings Road path project is one of 83 infrastructure projects the COTA Board of Trustees approved funding for in March 2025. Central Ohio communities will build these projects over the next five years, which will amount to 150 miles of sidewalks, bikeways and trails in COTA's service area, according to a LinkUS news release from the groundbreaking.
Reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com, @NathanRHart on X and nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: COTA, Dublin, Washington Township break ground on LinkUS trail project
