Popular Science magazine recently put all of their archived issues on-line. A quick search for bicycles brought up this interesting article from July 1936.

The bicycle is back. Four millions Americans now pedal along streets and highways. And, last year factories in the United States turned out 750,000 machines, nearly equaling the peak production of the gay nineties. News items from all part of the country tell the story of this dramatic boom in popularity.

Bike polo. Bike rental stations. Trains on bikes. The bicycle news of 1936 wasn’t all that different than today.

And, they note that Detroit has created “handlebar paths” for bicyclists in several city parks. We’re guessing that included Belle Isle and Rouge Park.

The article also documents the rise of bicycles starting in 1885 and their subsequent fall by 1904. The depression spurred Americans to rediscover this “forgotten vehicle.”

That sounds similar to what has happened during our gas price spikes and tough economy.

First the good news. MDOT recently made the following Transportation Enhancement (TE) awards that should improve bicycling in Metro Detroit.

From MDOT’s press release:

Macomb County

The city of Utica will construct a nonmotorized bridge over the Clinton River to provide accessibility and connectivity to the city of Utica’s portion of the bike trail that will connect the Huron Clinton Metroparks at Metro Beach and Stoney Creek. The project is part of the Macomb County Bike/Hike Master Plan and will allow bicyclists to connect to the Macomb Orchard Trail as well as the Clinton River Trail in Oakland County. The project cost is $452,525, including $303,192 in federal TE funds and $149,333 in matching funds from the city.

Macomb, Oakland, Wayne counties

SMART, in coordination with its community partners, will purchase and install bike racks at several locations in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. The intent is to provide communities with secure bike racks at locations away from bus routes for the convenience of SMART riders who also ride bikes. The project cost is $20,016, including $16,013 in federal TE funds and $4,003 in matching funds from SMART.

Clawson is also getting bike racks installed along 14 Mile Road. Unfortunately they only seem willing to make mild improvements to walkability and even milder ones for bike-ability. Their conceptual plans for their Main Street road diet included bike lanes. Their final plans and implementation did not.

MDOT Five-year plan

MDOT recently released their five-year spending plan. With reduced revenue from people driving less, Michigan cannot provide the full 20% match for federal transportation funding.

This does affect the Transportation Enhancements program. Normally MDOT would provide $12 million in match for TE projects on their roads. That may be reduced to $1 million per year, which means MDOT will undertake fewer TE projects like paved shoulders, bike lanes, and streetscaping on MDOT state trunklines.

However, it also means that local governments will received more TE funding since they provide the match and not MDOT.

It’s also worth highlight this language within MDOT’s plan. This provides useful quote for cycling advocates in Michigan.

Pedestrian and bicycle transportation are on the rise due to increased fuel costs. Injury and fatality statistics are humbling reminders of the importance to design and build safe facilities for multiple modes of transportation and of the importance of education and enforcement.

It may be surprising to some that in Michigan, one pedestrian is injured every three hours and 59 minutes and one bicyclist is injured every five hours and 13 minutes.

In addition, in 2006, 17.9 percent of the 1,002 traffic fatalities in Michigan were bicyclists or pedestrians, whereas nationally, 11.6 percent of the 42,642 traffic fatalities were bicyclists or pedestrians. A reduced [Transportation Enhancements] program would severely jeopardize MDOT’s ability to provide safer pedestrian and bicycle facilities.

This does raise one question.

If 17.9% of road fatalities are non-motorized users, why did the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning only allocate 0.36% for non-motorized safety under the State and Community Highway Safety Grant Program in 2009?

From the Commerce, Walled Lake and Wixom Trailway Management Council:

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to the Guidelines for the Development of Community Park, Recreation, Open Space, and Greenway Plans, Michigan Department of Natural Resources Grants Management, the Commerce, Walled Lake and Wixom Trailway Management Council will be holding a workshop and public hearing to discuss Council’s consideration to file a Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) Grant application for financial assistance for acquisition of approximately 5.45 miles of railroad right of way, the purpose of which is to ultimately develop a non-motorized trail from Haggerty Road, in Commerce Township running east through the City of Walled Lake to the western city limits of Wixom. A map of the proposed trail and supporting documentation will be available at the meeting or before the meeting at the Commerce Township Planning Department located at 2009 Township Drive, Commerce Township, Michigan 48390.

NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN, that the Public Hearing and Workshop will be held at 5:00 P.M. on March 8, 2010 at the Commerce Township Hall, located at 2009 Township Drive, Commerce Township, MI 48390 to hear and consider public comments on the proposed MNRTF Grant Application.

All interested persons attending the hearing will be given an opportunity to be heard with respect to these matters. If you cannot attend this meeting, you may submit comments in writing to the Commerce, Walled Lake and Wixom Trailway Management Council c/o Commerce Township, 2009 Township Drive, Commerce Township, MI 48390 ATTN: Township Clerk or email kjackson@commercetwp.com until 5:00 PM the day of the meeting.

Recently released 2009 National Household Travel Survey from the Federal Highway Administration documents transportation mode choice trends. From 2001 to 2009, the percentage of biking, walking, and transit trips have increased while vehicle trips have fallen.

According to the Mobilizing the Region web site:

Of course, the good news for walking, bicycling and transit use may reflect fluctuating gasoline prices and the current economic recession (respondents were surveyed between March 2008 and April 2009). But when asked to interpret the findings, FHWA staff told MTR that “the general public is more aware of the need to walk and bike for environmental and health reasons, thus they make more of those trips and they report more of them in our survey.”

What we have found in Metro Detroit is traffic engineers assume there will be increased vehicle traffic, even in cities which have undergone drastic populations drops like Royal Oak and Detroit. (Note that according to U.S. Census data, Royal Oak’s population decline rate is slightly higher than the city of Detroit’s since 2000.)

Assuming increased vehicle travel often means our roads are wider than they need to be — width that could be converted into bike lanes.

Washington Boulevard in Royal Oak

For example. last year we tried pushing the city of Royal Oak to change Washington Boulevard before it was repaved between Lincoln and Woodward. We asked for a 4 lanes to 3 road diet which would have added bike lanes while increasing safety for all users. We were told that the city was projecting an increase in vehicle travel on Washington over 20 years and therefore could not reduce the number of lanes.

This projected increased was standard practice but completely unrealistic given that:

• Washington Avenue north of Lincoln had already been road dieted from 4 to 3 lanes.
• Woodward vehicle traffic was declining.
• Royal Oak’s population is dropping.

(Of course what’s ridiculous is that the road diet could have occurred for the time being. If that vehicle traffic did return, the road could be re-striped. In the meantime, there would be increased safety for all travel modes. Clearly safety was not the highest priority in this decision making process.)

I-94 Expansion in Detroit

Another example is the planned expansion on I-94 through Detroit. MDOT is still forecasting increased vehicle traffic even though the actual numbers show no increase.

On the other hand, MDOT decided to remove two pedestrian bridges after concluding they weren’t justified given the existing pedestrian and bicycle traffic. MDOT did not project any growth for biking and walking on these bridges despite the US DOT policy statement that such projects “should anticipate likely future demand for bicycling and walking facilities.”

Their bias is apparent.

We need to ensure that Metro Detroit transportation projects realistically and consistently forecast traffic for all modes.

From MDOT:

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is hosting an open house-style meeting to provide an overview on the upcoming construction work on the I-275 Metro Trail in Wayne County. The project includes reconstruction of the bike path between US-12 (Michigan Avenue) and Edward Hines Drive. Interested stakeholders will have the opportunity to learn details and provide feedback regarding this project.

Scheduled to begin this spring 2010, MDOT will reconstruct approximately 7 miles of the Metro Trail, rehabilitate pedestrian bridges, install signals at certain intersections and upgrade signs.

WHEN: Tuesday, March 2, 2010, 6-8p.m.

WHERE: Canton Township Administrative Building, Freedom Room, 1150 Canton Center Road, Canton
(Special accommodations: 734-394-5100)

You can optionally RSVP for this event on Facebook.