m-bike.org

Author: Todd Scott

  • More Bike-Related Stimulus Updates

    MDOT’s Project List

    Crain’s Detroit has posted a list of the MDOT projects on their economic stimulus list. As we reported earlier, designing and re-constructing the entire I-275 Bike Path is on their list.

    Also on their list is for Michigan Avenue: Milling and resurfacing from Livernois to Rosa Parks; $10 million. Will this project include bike lanes like those planned for Corktown, just to the east? We’ll find out.

    DNR Project List

    Given the large backlog in DNR capital repairs and improvements, it’s not surprising to see their list is quite long. Trail-related highlights include:

    • Statewide: 600 miles rail-trail surface improvements
    • Proud Lake: Floating boardwalk and bridge connection for equestrian trails and the canoe launch to the Powers Unit
    • Sterling State Park: Surface improvements to connect internal trail system to City of Monroe’s trail system at Elm Street
    • Lakelands Trail: Nine miles of asphalt paving/aggregate equestrian trail project, and two staging areas in Pinckney Township;?6 mile asphalt paving/aggregate equestrian trail project, trail head parking in Putnam Township
    • Tri-Centennial State Park: Phase III, development of the mulit-use trail corridor. (This is would extend the Riverwalk through the park and provide connection to the Dequindre Cut.)

    Clinton River Trail/MTGA

    Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance submitted many trail projects including two for the Clinton River Trail:

    • Construct a bicycle/pedestrian bridge over Telegraph Rd. to mitigate high-traffic crossing on rail-trail
    • Construct a bike/pedestrian safety island on Orchard Lake Rd. and make trail alignment perpendicular to road to provide continuity and a safe crossing between West Bloomfield Trail and Clinton River trail

    New Center Council

    There are a slew of interesting projects requested for Detroit’s New Center, including the New Center Bike Lane Greenway Connector Project (along Second and Third Avenues, connecting New Center to Wayne State) and a skate/BMX park.

    Other Stimulus Project Requests

    There are far more requests than just MDOT’s.

    In fact the state just created a special website that discusses this stimulus funding, now called Michigan’s Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

    This new web site does have a list of all the requests they’ve received. Yes, there are over 17,000 requests.

    That includes 167 projects from Detroit. All of Detroit’s construction-ready greenways are listed, including Conner Creek, Corktown/Mexicantown, Midtown Loop (and Canfield Connector), Southwest Detroit, and Dequindre Cut.

    The entire Detroit Non-Motorized Transportation Plan implementation is on the list, which includes striping 400 miles of bike lanes. And similarly, bike lanes along Detroit’s east end of Jefferson are also listed.

    A project to rebuild the City Airport hangers along Conner/Outer Drive is on the list. This is also required to make room for the Conner Creek Greenway.

    Focus:HOPE has project requests, one of which calls for adding bike lanes to Oakman Boulevard in Highland Park.

    The Hamtramck Trail is also on the list for Hamtramck.

    Clearly not all these projects can be funded. Michigan is asking municipalities to prioritize their requests. While indications are some of these bike projects will receive funding, nothing yet is set in stone.

    What other trail-related projects of interest in the list for Metro Detroit?

  • Genesse County and Trails

    genesee-trailsThursday was the second annual Regional Trails and Greenways Summit in at U of M Flint.

    While the focus was primarily on Genesee County, the sessions were applicable to similar efforts elsewhere. And there were many familiar faces from Oakland and Wayne County, including engineering staff from the City of Royal Oak.

    There was full day of excellent session topics, including road diets, complete streets, and creating non-motorized master plans. We were even treated to an rousing welcome from Bobby Crim.

    For those unable to attend, Genesee County Planning will be putting all of the presentations on their web site.

    Last year’s summit presentations are already on-line.

    We extend a special thanks to the Ruth Mott Foundation for making this Summit possible.

  • Winter Bike Commuting & Safety

    Bike share of work trips, 2000/2001
    Bike share of work trips, 2000/2001

    Yesterday’s Detroit Free Press had a decent article on those still commuting by bike during the winter.

    Bike enthusiasts, law enforcement and transportation officials say people like Bierman are among a growing number of commuters in metro Detroit who are responding to the sluggish economy and rising gas costs by riding bikes to work during the winter — despite a total snowfall that measures more than 21 inches above average so far.

    We’ve heard from naysayers that Detroit won’t be popular for biking because of our winters.

    Not true.

    A higher percentage of people bike to work in Canada than the U.S. — three times higher according to one report. In fact a much higher percentage of people bike to work in the Yukon Territory than either California or Florida.

    This same report offers some explanations as to why.

    One explanation is safety, and that was a highlighted concern in the Free Press article. Since 1988 Canada has done a signficantly better job at making biking safer compared with the U.S.

    In fact, compared with many European countries, the U.S. is much more dangerous.

    Due to the lack of comparable time-series data on cycling levels in Canada and the United States, we can only attempt a standardized comparison for the latest available year. We also include selected European countries as a basis for comparison, since cycling is generally considered safer in Europe than in North America (Pucher and Dijkstra, 2003). That impression is certainly confirmed by Fig. 4, which shows rates of cycling fatalities per 100 million km cycled in each country. Fatality rates range from a low of 1.03 in Denmark to a high of 5.74 in the USA. With fatality rates well under 2.0, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden have the safest cycling. Canada has 2.39 cycling fatalities per 100 million km cycled, just about the same rate as France (2.04) and Germany (2.43). The United States has, by far, the most dangerous cycling, with a fatality rate of 5.74 almost six times as high as in Denmark, almost three times as high as in Canada, and about twice the rates in Italy and the UK.

    Besides safety, the report notes one other statistically significant explanation for biking levels: the price of gas.

  • Mexicantown’s Bagley Bridge Update

    img_2058The Detroit News is now reporting that the Gateway Project, including the Bagley Pedestrian bridge “could be completed in August instead of MDOT’s initial forecast of December.”

    That’s great news for those who want a calmer, safer biking option over I-75 in the Mexicantown area.

    And this is not going to be just another run-of-the-mill pedestrian bridge, as we noted earlier. It will be suspended and showcase local artists.

    The recent construction photo (taken last Friday) on the right confirms the impressive design as well as the progress being made. That tower on the right will hold the cables suspending the bridge.

    According to the January 2009 Gateway Project newsletter:

    Q. What structures will the Gateway Project crew focus on for now?

    A: We’ll be working on the Bagley Avenue pedestrian bridge and the Vernor Avenue bridge throughout the winter months.

    We’re looking forward to the ribbon cutting, which may even occur before the Tour de Troit.

    In the meantime, here’s an animated video showing what the bridge will look like.

  • Getting Bikes Lanes in Michigan and Windsor

    Coincidenly there were two videos posted yesterday about getting bike lanes in our area.

    The first video is from the good folks at Scaledown. As we recently noted there’s a big battle brewing in Windsor over extending bike lanes along Riverside Drive. Their video reveals the likely source of resistance to the bike lanes: the landowners have apparently encroached on the Riverside Drive right-of-way.

    This second video is from Mike Wendland whose enjoying the bike lanes while vacationing in Florida. Mike asks why we can’t have these in Michigan?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3b2cTcHGP8&eurl=http://clydesdalefitness.com/2009/02/why-cant-michigan-have-bicycle-lanes/comment-page-1/&feature=player_embedded