According to this Detroit News article, “Wayne County Parks has allocated a $200,000 grant for a seven-mile bike trail. The trail will encompass central business district, several county and local parks, a golf course and schools and is expected to be completed by the end of this year.”
A little digging at the Redford Township web site revealed these proposed plans:
- Streetscaping along 5 Mile at Beech-Daly showing bike lanes and a pedestrian refuge island.
- Conceptual trail plan – a mix of on road and off-road bicycle facilities.
In most cases, bike trails that parallel roads are a major safety issue. Safety paths are usually a misnomer. However, in this case the adjoining parks and golf course means there will not be a significant number of driveway and road intersections. This could work. Also, some of these roads are not paved and are a muddy mess in wet weather. A paved trail would be a benefit.
One addition note is that I’ve seen much resistance from counties, cities, and townships to propose much less build on-road bicycling facilities. The one group that could help cyclists overcome this resistance are the Downtown Development Authorities (DDA). DDA’s seem more willing to look beyond the status quo. They’re not into the bike lane debate for the politics. They just want to bring people and business downtown. Cyclists and pedestrians tend to shop (and snack) locally. They’re an indicator species for a healthy community.
If we want vibrant, cool downtowns, there really isn’t a choice. It’s inevitable.
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