Yesterday 60 cyclists rode where no one had in more than 30 years — on the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit to Windsor.

This was the inaugural Bike the Bridge event, a special group ride which worked out the details with the Detroit International Bridge Company (DIBC) as well as U.S. and Canadian Customs.

The DIBC closed the Detroit-to-Windsor side of the bridge to motorized traffic during the ride over. They also placed mats over the expansion joints to help prevent any tire damage.

It took about 20 minutes for the cyclists to clear the bridge. That’s not too bad considering this is the tallest hill climb in Detroit.

Once in Canada, the group was met by Alan Halberstadt, a Windsor City Councillor and member of the Windsor Bicycle Committee. Halberstadt led the group on a tour of historic village of Sandwich and the Windsor’s Riverfront bike trail.

Halberstadt did mention that if the DIBC builds a second span across the Detroit River, they have mentioned keeping the existing bridge open and possibly available for non-motorized traffic. It’s still far too early to speculate whether than will happen or not.

The new proposed public bridge (called the DRIC) does plan to provide bike and pedestrian access.

The ride continued to a Windsor park where the group was fed. The 51st annual Tour di Via Italia bike race was just a few blocks away on Erie Street.

For the return to Detroit, the bicycle were loaded onto a rental truck and Transit Windsor provided two buses.

Biking in Windsor, Ontario is really a nearby gem, but unfortunately Detroit cyclists can’t just ride to it — at least not yet. Having a convenient, year round non-motorized international connection across the Detroit River would really increase the appeal of biking in the Detroit-Windsor area.

Link: Photos from Bike the Bridge

We got an unexpected email from the office of Portland’s Mayor. It asked, “What is Michigan’s take on Cycle tracks?”

We can’t speak on behalf of the state, but it seems there certainly are many good potential locations for cycle tracks in Metro Detroit. Woodward around Campus Maritus (especially post-light rail) and many suburban downtowns (e.g. Main Street in Royal Oak) might make great candidates.

Or perhaps even portions of Ferndale’s bike lane along Hilton would work. The few number of vehicles parking along the road make the bike lane feel like it’s further out into the road than necessary. (Ferndale followed the Chicago Bike Lane Guide which did not have cycle track designs.)

So just what are cycle tracks?

According to Portland’s press release:

A cycle track is a bike lane nestled between the curb and on-street parking, providing a sanctuary for cyclists from fast moving traffic downtown.

This design is popular in Europe and is now starting to gain traction in the U.S. Portland’s first cycle track has been written up in the Oregonian, Streetsblog, and on the Portland Transport page. There’s even a video (see below).

Even the recently released New York DOT Street Design Manual includes this bicycle facility, although they refer to them as bike paths. (Chapter 2.1.2 ) Their manual also notes that this facilities use is “limited”:

Physical separation of bikeways can sometimes be preferable on wide or busy streets, on major bike routes, or along long, uninterrupted stretches. Separation can take the form of a painted buffer demarcating the bike lane behind a floating parking lane, a narrow curb or median, or a wider median with landscaping.

An alternative form of separation is grade separation, where the bike path is located at sidewalk grade or in between sidewalk and roadway grade.

One major concern with this design is it makes cyclists less visible to turning traffic. To design these for safe use, one must manage (and likely limit) vehicular turning movements and reduce vehicle access points (e.g. driveways.) The Portland video shows that parking is prohibited near intersections in order to improve the visibility of cyclists to motorists.

Given these design concerns, perhaps it also makes locating these types of facilities along superblocks where there are fewer intersections to deal with.

Portland Unveils Downtown Cycle Track from Mayor Sam Adams on Vimeo.

Imagine biking down a quiet residential street next to a wooded creek. Imagine clearing snow of the frozen creek for outsdoor ice skating in the winter.

Now imagine that in Royal Oak.

Impossible?

No, not at all. It used to happen in Royal Oak According to historical accounts. At least two tributaries of the Red Run passed through Royal Oak with the more prominent one being along Vinsetta Boulevard.

Those bridges crossing over Vinsetta used to be bridges over the creek as shown in this photo.

Then in the 1920s and 1930s, Red Run was buried in a large drain.

Other Michigan cities such as Detroit and Pontiac have also buried rivers.

The city of Pontiac has discussed daylighting the Clinton River through the downtown area.

In Detroit, on planning expert suggested daylighting creeks in the more vacant parts of the city, damming them, and creating lakes surrounded by forests. Imagine biking past around that in Detroit. Perhaps the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority could create a Metropark within the city boundaries.

But this discussion is occuring beyond Michigan. The New York Times published an article about river daylighting both inside and outside of the U.S.

Certainly it costs money. Everything does. But there are benefits to doing this besides creating more recreational opportunities.

How much would home values along Vinsetta increase if the Red Run was restored? Would that justify the cost?

Dan Burden in Southwest Detroit

In July, MDOT brought Dan Burden to a number of Michigan cities for walkability audits. Burden is from Glatting Jackson and is acknowledged as among the leading authorities on improving streets for walking and biking.

One visit was in Southwest Detroit. The audit was on Vernor Avenue from Clark to Livernois. We were joined by a couple city of Detroit traffic engineers who are looking to improve pedestrian safety along this specific stretch of road.

Some of Burden’s ideas included painted bike lanes (painted as in the entire lane, e.g. blue or green), a couple minor roundabouts (to slow traffic), and improved pedestrian crossings. And he also emphasized the need to change the facades. Too many of the buildings have covered or blocked their front windows. It would be best if these were unblocked so that there are more “eyes on the street” and adding to the pedestrian comfort levels.

Burden also visited Hamtramck. Model D Media has a coverage of his Detroit visits.

Dan Burden on Woodward

Next, Burden headed over the Woodward Avenue and stopped in communties between Birmingham and Ferndale. Some of his suggestions were noted in a Free Press article (no longer on-line):

City planners could revive Woodward Avenue with bike lanes, slower traffic, 100,000 new trees and big improvements at pedestrian crossings.

And that’s just the start of a vision that consultant Dan Burden shared last week with local officials, road engineers and residents, as he led what he calls walkability audits in Pontiac, Birmingham, Royal Oak and Pleasant Ridge.

To attract “the creative class” that can jump-start a region’s growth: “You start with paint. You put in bike lanes and get trees planted, and that brings the speeds of motorists down, and then the buildings start to come back, and with that, the tax base. That lets you redesign the streets,” he said.

Some of Burden’s suggestions were simply no-brainers. While auditing the crosswalks at 13 Mile and Woodward, we noted that MDOT had placed a sign that blocked the pedestrian walk signal. Another Don’t Walk signal was barely working.

Near Pasquale’s, there’s a sign telling pedestrians not to cross there. Burden correctly deduced that these signs are put up by cities when pedestrians are killed, rather than fix the problem. In this case, using a signalized crosswalk would require more than a half-mile of walking, which is completely unrealistic.

This isn’t Burden’s first visit to the area. Years ago Burden had advised Ferndale to narrow 9 Mile, which led to a huge turnaround and improvement to the area.

Unfortunately this time around, not all the communities were as receptive.

During a walking audit in Pleasant Ridge, Burden told local officials, “I can’t help you if your community wants to be auto-dependent.” Burden suggested they convert some of their mostly unused (and often inaccessible) green space into high density, mixed-use development. Sure, trees are “green”, but it would be more “green” if their residents could walk or bike rather than drive to nearby coffee shops, an ice cream parlors, or convenience stores.

Woodward: Next Steps

But there’s more momentum to improving Woodward for biking and walking than these audits, as evidenced by this press release:

The Woodward Avenue Action Association is pleased to announce that in partnership with engineering firm Giffels-Webster, we are closer to finding ways to make Woodward more pedestrian & bike friendly. The Woodward Avenue Non-Motorized Plan will focus on Woodward between 8 mile and Maple will identify ways for communities to plan and zone safer routes for non-motorist users of Woodward. Some of the elements being looked at for this plan include reducing speed limits, developing landscaped buffer zones and more countdown times at crosswalks.

This study was prompted by the city of Royal Oak, who is now doing a non-motorized study for the entire city. Other cities who have become examples of getting non-motorized plans right include the city of Ferndale. Since the early 1990’s the city has transformed its downtown which sits squarely along Woodward, from desolate streets into a thriving bustling district. Improvements such as parking lots developed behind stores, reduction in traffic lanes and lowered speed limits have all contributed to the economic boos Ferndale is currently experiencing. For more information on this program please contact, Nicole Klepadlo, WA3 Program Manager.

The Oakland Press recently ran an article that also discussed Woodward Avenue and this planning effort.

Of course beyond the communities that are dug in and ready to defend status quo, there’s MDOT. They’ve been willing to listen to these sorts of efforts but haven’t been overly interested in any plans that they think would reduce Woodward’s level of service.

That’s a level of service for motorists, of course.

However, they have acknowledged that the vehicle counts on Woodward have been declining. They should drop even further once Woodward gets light rail north of Eight Mile.

This month there are two bicycle summits in nearby Ontario.

The first is the Ontario Bicycle Summit which runs from September 20th through the 21st. The location is Waterloo, which is about 3.5 hours from Detroit via car.

Although there are not many details yet on the planned workshops, they do have an impressive list of speakers, including Congressman James Oberstar and Researcher Todd Littman.

• Oberstar plans to discuss the latest updates on the U.S. federal transportation bill he’s been crafting for months (which is currently stalled.)
• Littman is the founder of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, which has a wealth of excellent research on bicycling in both their TDM Encyclopedia and documents page.

The other event is the 2009 Ontario Mountain Bike Summit hosted by IMBA Canada. This event runs from September 25th through the 27th. The location is Kitchener, which is right next door to Waterloo.

Topics will include the creation of a provincial leadership body, bike parks and sustainable trails, youth outreach, and growing local capacity for the 40+ clubs and patrols in IMBA’s Ontario network. In addition to informative seminars and networking, the gathering will feature great parties and plenty of riding.

Of course, don’t forget the Mid-America Trails and Greenways Conference in Kalamazoo, Michigan at the end of October. For more information, visit the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance web site.