At 11 PM on March 6th, 1896, Charles B. King drove the first gasoline-powered automobile in Detroit — and perhaps the first in Michigan.
He shared the road with a bicyclist.
And it’s been that way ever since. Cars and bikes have the same access to all of Michigan roads except for the Interstates.
Despite what some motorists may think, they are not offered any priority under the law. They may be annoyed with having to share the road. They may have to endure slight delays on occasion. They may think cyclists should ride on sidewalks, which is much less safe. [In fact in some cities like Royal Oak, it’s against local ordinance for adults to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk.]
But on the grand list of inconveniences motorists encounter on our roads, items like traffic slowdowns, construction delays, train crossings, school buses, and inclement weather rank near the top — not cyclists.
Even so, the bottom line is our public roads need to be shared. That’s how it’s always been and that’s the law.
So who was the bicyclist that King first shared the road with? It was a lanky 32-year old mechanical engineer named Henry Ford, who would drive his own first car three months later.
John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press wrote an excellent article about transforming Detroit’s current road infrastructure to the betterment of the surrounding neighborhoods.
Detroit’s main streets make good highways but lousy neighborhoods.
It’s time to change that.
The local development community is abuzz with talk of adding bicycle lanes, wider sidewalks, new landscaping and other devices to narrow Detroit’s arterial streets — Woodward, Gratiot, Jefferson and others.
Whether it’ll happen is open to question. But the goal is to recapture Detroit’s cityscape for the people who actually live here.
Gallagher also references last week’s transportation week that we wrote about earlier.
Model D also covered last week’s events with this video featuring Ian Lockwood from Glatting-Jackson.
While our public comment echoed much of what we said before the City Commission last week, we did try to focus a bit more on the downtown area.
For example, we noted that on average 1% of Michigan trips are currently made by bike. They’ve made a big commitment in Portland, Oregon to improve biking and now 8% of their trips are by bike and it’s growing. (Amsterdam is at 40%!) If we followed Portland’s lead, we could save money by decreasing our need for more car parking. And bicyclists shop local.
Overall, the DDA was receptive and was interested in having a representative on our bicycle task force.
At the same meeting, the DDA approved nine new bike racks throughout Downtown Royal Oak. SMART is covering the cost for eight of the racks.
We’ve also received additional media coverage from The Mirror and the Royal Oak Review.
We are meeting with City Manager Tom Hoover and staff this Tuesday.
In 2004 our state legislators removed all taxpayer support for Michigan’s state parks.
The result is our state parks rely heavily on camping fees and motor vehicle passes to keep the front gate open.
You can help keep our state parks operating by buying a $24 motor vehicle pass for 2009. You can also buy them to give as gifts. The DNR also offers gift certificates.
“Most Michigan residents are located within a one hour drive of a state park, recreation area or boating access site. The permits provide Michigan residents, and non-residents, access to 98 Michigan state parks or recreation areas and over 800 access sites located statewide,” said Ron Olson, DNR Parks and Recreation chief. “Giving a motor vehicle permit, a boating access site permit, or a gift certificate is giving the gift of outdoors, and it also helps support our state park system.”
These state park passes are really quite a deal. For only $24, one can have year-long access to one of the nation’s premier state park systems. California State Park annual passes are $125.
People have asked why the DNR doesn’t raise the motor vehicle entry fees to help make ends meet. The bottom line is they can’t. The price is set by the state legislators who have been reluctant to make any changes.
Gift certificates and permits can be purchased year round through the Michigan e-store or by calling 517-373-9900.
This is due in part to Hamtramck resident Dick Kaleski and the new Hamtramck Community and Economic Development Director Jason Friedmann. On Monday, both Dick and Jason were on Detroit Today with Craig Fahle. If you missed it, there is an MP3 of the show.
Jason was also highlighted last week in a Model D article.
Here’s a brief description of the Hamtramck Trail from the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance web site:
The Hamtramck Greenway is a planned 1.5-mile that will eventually connect Downtown Hamtramck with the Dequindre Cut and the Detroit Riverfront. The trail also passes through historic Veterans’ Memorial Park and a diverse community of Polish, Bengali, and Arabic residents. The Trail is a project of Preserve Our Parks, a 10-year old non-profit community organization in Hamtramck, Michigan.
And actually that is just Phase I of the trail. There are tentative plans to expand it further and hopefully integrate it with Hamtramck’s Safe Routes to Schools project.
Of course not all the funding is in place for Phase I, but that is being worked on.
