Biking Between Windsor and Detroit
Bikes are not allowed on the Ambassador Bridge or in the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. They certainly aren’t allowed on the railroad tunnel beneath the Detroit River.
If you’re lucky, you might be able to talk the Truck Ferry operator into a ride.
Or you can take the Windsor Transit Tunnel Bus. But, unlike all the other buses in the Windsor fleet, you aren’t allowed to use the bus bike rack. You must disassemble your bike, put it in a bag, and carry it on the bus — not a practical solution.
Groups like Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision (SDEV) and MTGA are working to add a better option with the proposed new bridge over the Detroit River. (The bridge is more properly called the Detroit River International Crossing or DRIC.)
The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) says:
The new bridge over the Detroit River and the plaza will be engineered to accommodate bicycles and pedestrians. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and its Canadian counterpart (Customs and Border Services Agency) will determine whether this traffic is allowed.
That’s a great start. MTGA and others have submitted comments in support of making the new bridge a practical non-motorized connection between Windsor and Detroit.
Imagine the boost to cycling tourism. Imagine how valuable an international connection would be between two cities both developing bike and greenway networks. Imagine the Tour d’Troit heading over to Windsor on a new bridge.
The FEIS also includes more good news:
Bike lanes will be added to both sides of Jefferson Avenue and Clark Street, linking the Rouge River Gateway Master Plan Trail and potentially the proposed West Riverfront Greenway. Non-motorized paths will be included in the buffer zone surrounding the plaza.
Some of our friends in Windsor are also pushing for this crossing as well.
In the meantime, efforts are underway to determine if and how the Transit Windsor Tunnel Bus could better accomodate bikes.
EDIT: There is a Yahoo! discussion group dedicated to this topic.
Related Posts
Tags: bike lanes, Detroit, Detroit Truck Ferry, DRIC, MTGA, Windsor
January 15th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
[…] previously discussed the plans for the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) bridge and whether it will accommodate […]
January 15th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
[…] http://www.m-bike.org/blog/2009/01/06/biking-between-windsor-and-detroit […]
March 29th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I used to bike across the bridge in the 1980s during college days at Wayne. We would usually ride to pointe pelee and back or just around windsor. They would ask (make) us walk bikes but we could ride when the fuzz or bridge patrol was not nearby. The worst they would do is yell at you. One time, we did a bike trip all they way into NY and road both the Ambassador bridge and the Peace Bridge in Buffalo.
The same sidewalk is still there on the Ambassador. It’s pretty lame that the Ambassador bridge (go Manny go) won’t let people use it. And the tunnel is useless as disassembling a bike for a one mile bus ride is equally stupid.
Thank god for cars. The border is in a timewarp now.
April 24th, 2011 at 3:13 pm
How unprogressive of an owner is he (manny). Its too bad he owns the bridge in detroit.