A stretch of Refugee Road near Independence High School and Liberty Elementary School has a new sidewalk, and Columbus officials gathered this week to mark the occasion with the students who pushed for it. Columbus City Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Padilla joined Columbus City Schools students, school officials and community partners for the celebration, which the city framed as a win for pedestrian safety in the area.
According to a post from the Columbus City Council
, the gathering celebrated the completion of the new sidewalk along Refugee Road and highlighted how it improves pedestrian safety near the two schools. The project did not materialize out of nowhere — Independence High School says its own students were behind the push. Through their advocacy and a partnership with Vision Zero Columbus, as the school describes it on its website, a new sidewalk is helping create safer routes to school for students walking the corridor.
Students Took the Lead on the Push
The sidewalk's backstory ties into a broader safety campaign that has been playing out around Independence High School in recent weeks. A press event marking Traffic Safety Awareness Week was scheduled for Oct. 30 from 2 to 3 p.m. at 5175 East Refugee Road, the school's address, where new sidewalks had been installed, according to reporting from abc6onyourside.com. That same report notes that Columbus City Schools, the City of Columbus and community partners have been working together on Traffic Safety Awareness Week as part of the broader Vision Zero effort to make routes to schools safer.
On X, bike-advocacy group @yaybikes praised the collaboration, writing that it was grateful to Columbus City Council, Columbus DPS, SG_Hardin, Councilmember Barroso de Padilla and a Director Scocco for their leadership and commitment to make the public right-of-way safe for all people, adding that the group will continue to be a partner and resource for best practices.
Refugee Road's Troubled Safety Record
Refugee Road has drawn safety scrutiny well beyond this single sidewalk project. A separate city planning effort for the Refugee Road and Hines Road intersection, described on engage.columbus.gov, calls for a shared-use path along the south side of Refugee Road connecting to Portman Park, along with new sidewalk on Hines Road tying into existing sidewalk at Overbey Drive. That project description notes the location sits on the Vision Zero Columbus High Injury Network, though it is not established as the same sidewalk celebrated this week. A related fact sheet from the City of Columbus lists a design phase running from Summer 2024 to Fall 2026, with right-of-way work slated for early 2026.
The corridor's crash history underscores why safety advocates have focused attention here. Hoodline previously reported that the intersection of Gender Road and Refugee Road recorded 49 crashes and 29 injuries over a two-year evaluation window, part of a wider pattern of pedestrian danger in the area. That same Hoodline report cited Ohio State Highway Patrol data published in July showing Franklin County led the entire state in pedestrian-involved traffic crashes, with 2,749 pedestrian collisions recorded over a five-year period.
Past Incidents Along the Corridor
Refugee Road has seen specific crashes involving pedestrians in recent years. In March 2024, a pedestrian was struck by two cars near the intersection of Refugee Road and Tennyson Boulevard just before midnight on a Wednesday, abc6onyourside.com reported at the time. Investigators said there was no crosswalk on the road where the pedestrian was crossing, and the pedestrian was rushed to Mount Carmel East with life-threatening injuries, according to the same report.
In an earlier incident, Columbus police said a juvenile pedestrian was struck in a hit-and-run on Refugee Road west of Tennyson Boulevard at approximately 11:08 p.m. on a Friday, according to a report from Hoodline. The juvenile was taken to Nationwide Children's Hospital and was reported to be in stable condition upon arrival, the outlet noted.
None of those earlier crashes have been tied specifically to the stretch of sidewalk celebrated this week, but they illustrate the kind of pedestrian risk that has made Refugee Road a focus for Vision Zero Columbus and local schools alike. For now, students at Independence High School and Liberty Elementary School have a new stretch of sidewalk to show for their advocacy, with city leaders holding it up as evidence that community pressure can translate into infrastructure change.
