m-bike.org

Author: Todd Scott

  • Michigan Air Line Trail in the News

    The Michigan Air Line is the name of a railroad that ran east and west across Michigan.  Nearly all of that railroad line has been abandoned and much if not most of it is now rail-to-trail.

    (Note that the Michigan Airline name has nothing to do with air travel.  In fact, the Airline route was developed before bicyclists Wilbur and Orville Wright flew their first plane.)

    A part of the Michigan Airline lies between the Huron Valley Trail and the West Bloomfield Trail.  It was the Coe Railroad which ran a dinner train.  The dinner train has ended and efforts are underway to abandon the rail line and convert it to a trail.

    As we’ve mentioned earlier, this would be a hugely critical and popular trail connection.  We also noted last month that West Bloomfield was recommended to receive grant money to purchase their portion of the railroad.

    The Spinal Column ran another article this week that sheds more light on the progress or lack thereof.

    The Michigan Star Clipper Dinner Train made its final run on Wednesday, Dec. 31, closing a 24-year chapter in Walled Lake’s history but also opening up negotiations on selling the railroad’s land to local municipalities.

    Railmark Holdings Company CEO and President B. Allen Brown has entered into discussions with Montoff Transportation Company to sell the railroad land. Although no official transaction has been finalized, Brown insists a deal is close at hand.

    “There are legal complications but that’s to be expected in such a complicated transaction,” he said. “There are at least five parties involved. Suffice it to say that as of Dec. 31, there was no deal, but all parties are committed and we are all making a final push this month to finalize something by end of January.”

    Rail-trail conversions are never easy or straightforward.  So, with a little luck and committment, there’s hope this missing trail link can become a premier connection in the near future.

  • Mother Natures vs. Careless Driving

    399px-ice_road_in_hokkaido_001There is a tendency to not blame motorists in the public discourse.  It’s reflected in the terms used by officials and the media when collisions are called “accidents” and drivers “lose control of their vehicle.”

    This week the Detroit News reported on Wrecks blamed on nature while the Freep Press says Slick Roads Cause Accidents.

    It’s apparently easier to blame Mother Nature than Motorist Nature.

    Tom Vanderbilt’s How We Drive blog had an excellent article on this topic which we covered back in October.  Though we’ve already posted this quote from Vanderbilt, it’s so good that it’s worth repeating:

    Whether from personal on-road experience, or from reading studies, or from examining in-car footage of crashes and near-crashes, I am often struck by how often people seem to put themselves, and others, at great risk. Following closely at high speed on the interstate, or driving fast through a neighborhood street, they act in a way that suggests they believe that nothing could go wrong, or that they would be in control if it did. Over time, this behavior is typically rewarded, perhaps through sheer luck, until the ‘black swan’ event that they never expected actually happens. Then, as is often the case, begins a process of denial, an attempt to assuage the cognitive dissonance that has come between the image of themselves as a good and cautious driver and an event that was ‘beyond their control.’

    And unfortunately our language, media, and public officials often reinforce this beyond-your-control excuse.

  • Share the Road: Biking in Detroit

    John R with four one-way vehicle lanes and negligible traffic -- an urban cyclist dream street.
    John R with four one-way vehicle lanes and negligible traffic — an urban cyclist dream street.

    Metromode has a great article covering biking in Detroit, but more specifically those whose bike in the winter.

    The Cass Corridor is cold, snowy and largely deserted outside of The Hub in Midtown Detroit this time of year. That’s not the case inside the new bike shop just north of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Bicycling enthusiasts of all ages, colors and creeds rub tires inside a space littered with custom wheels and vintage bikes.

    There is a constant stream of people coming and going from the shop in the dead of January, and they all got there on two wheels. Cold or no cold, these year-round commuters brave the freezing temperature, ice and snow to keep on pedaling. The destinations for these die-hards are their jobs, local businesses, friends and families.

    “The winter time weeds out all of the wussies,” says Jordan Bentley, the mechanic manager at The Hub.

    In the article, Alex Aranda makes a point that we make often: the City of Detroit has some of the best urban biking in the U.S.

    We don’t have a many bike lanes (yet) but that’s not always a necessity for many of us.

    We have roads like Second Avenue, Third Avenue, and John R with four lanes traveling in one direction and very few cars.  How few? In 2005, John R saw 1,405 vehicles per day at Owen.  That’s an average of less than 1 car per minute on a four lane one-way road.  And we’re driving less now.

    Austin, Texas is a designated bike friendly community.  Last year I was there trying to follow some prescribed bike routes using their excellent bike map.  There was no shortage of motorized traffic.  It was not the most pleasant ride.  The repeating thought in my head was I’d rather be riding through Detroit.

    And, Detroit’s streets are so lightly traveled that an alleycat was purposely held last year when three major events were happening downtown.  The hope was we’d have enough traffic on the roads to make the alleycat a little more New York-ish.  Even then, it just wasn’t that crowded on the roads.

    Certainly the lack of motor traffic is indicative of Detroit’s depressed economic landscape and overbuilt road infrastruture.  The silver lining is it’s great for Detroit cyclists.

  • More Bike Racks coming to New Center

    An improvised bike rack in the New Center
    An improvised bike rack in the New Center

    The Detroit Free Press has a brief article noting the new bike racks and other streetscaping that’s coming to New Center.

    Woodward will see new trees, decorative light fixtures, trash containers, benches and bike racks between I-94 and Baltimore and between West Grand Boulevard and Euclid. The Michigan Department of Transportation is partnering with the city of Detroit and the New Center Council on the nearly $2-million project, aimed at making the area more pedestrian-oriented.

    These racks will certainly complement SMART’s bus bike racks and DDOT’s new bus bike rack program.  Woodward is the busiest bus transit corridor in Michigan.

  • Hit-and-Run Update

    Police have arrested a 49-year old woman they believe was involved in hit-and-run that left a cyclist severely injured in Fort Gratiot.

    According to the Times Herald:

    St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon said the woman was arrested about 1:15 p.m. Wednesday after a car believed to be involved in the hit-and-run accident was spotted parked outside a residence. The woman was taken into custody after police went to the home and found her inside.

    St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon said the woman was arrested about 1:15 p.m. Wednesday after a car believed to be involved in the hit-and-run accident was spotted parked outside a residence. The woman was taken into custody after police went to the home and found her inside.

    This same article has a horrific picture of the damaged bike.

    The Times Herald reported earlier that the cyclist, Michael Eckert was now in good condition at the St. John Hospital.