MEDINA — Thursday was like Christmas morning to Bike Medina County president Beth Schnabel.
The exuberance is because she finally received her first shipment of signs that will be erected all over Medina County that will alert drivers to give bicyclists a 3-foot buffer when passing
An Ohio law passed last year requires drivers to leave the space in an effort to decrease collisions.
Bike Medina County received 40 signs from A Smart Sign Store in Brooklyn, New York. Schnabel said she wanted the city of Medina as well as York, Litchfield and Liverpool townships — the first municipalities to support the project — to get the signs first.
“I’ve been anticipating this night,” she said. “It’s been like Christmas morning. (Getting the signs) were like a baby that wouldn’t come.”
Another shipment of 108 signs has been ordered at a cost of about $5,608. Then, during the meeting, the bike club decided to order eight more.
Medina Mayor Dennis Hanwell, Service Director Nino Piccoli and Parks Director Jansen Wehrley were on hand for a brief ceremony and to pick up their 30-inch-by-30-inch signs.
Medina had put up some smaller signs around the city that will be replaced by 25 larger ones. Schnabel said the smaller signs will be repurposed somewhere in the county, possibly in Homer Township, where there is little traffic.
Schnabel visited every township in the county, in addition to all three cities, promoting her project. All approved the bike route and to put up signs, with the exception of Granger and Spencer townships. Granger officials said they wanted to research the idea a little more.
Sharon Township will get 14 signs, Liverpool 12 and Medina Township 11. The city of Wadsworth will get six and Brunswick four, for now. Bike officials said they expect Brunswick to add a few more in time.
The point of the bike route will be to get to one end of the county to the other, connecting points of interest.
Medina’s Murray Van Epp has donated about $8,000 for the signs.
“Anything we can do to make it safer for everybody is a great idea,” he said previously. “I appreciate all the support in the townships.”
Schnabel said the sign has been approved by the Ohio Department of Transportation and supported by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency.
She said townships will pay for posts and hardware for the signs.
Bike Medina County achieved nonprofit status recently, which it hopes will help with fundraising efforts.
Schnabel said it will be up to the cities and townships’ discretion when to put up the signs. She hopes they’ll be up by the spring.