As mentioned earlier, Oakland County Commissioners passed a Complete Streets resolution. However, the original resolution was modified before it was unanimously approved.

Here is the final version as best as we can determine with the changes highlighted:

WHEREAS Complete Street are defined as a design framework that enables safe and convenient access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and drivers of all ages and abilities; and

WHEREAS Complete Streets are achieved when transportation agencies routinely plan, design, construct, reconstruct, operate, and maintain the transportation network to improve travel conditions for bicyclists, pedestrians, transit, motorists and freight in a manner consistent with, and supportive of, the surrounding community; and

WHEREAS development of pedestrian, bicycle, and transit infrastructure offers long-term cost savings and opportunities to create safe and convenient non-motorized travel; and

WHEREAS streets that support and invite multiple uses for pedestrians, bicycles, and transit are more conducive to the public life and efficient movement of people than streets designed primarily to move automobiles; and

WHEREAS increasing active transportation (e.g. walking, bicycling and using public transportation) offers the potential for improved public health, economic development, a cleaner environment, reduced transportation costs, enhanced community connections, social equity, and a more livable communities; and

WHEREAS Complete Streets principles have been and continue to be adopted nationwide at state, county, MPO, and city levels in the interest of proactive planning and adherence to federal regulations that guide transportation planning organizations to promote multi-modal transportation options and accessibility for all users; and

WHEREAS the Michigan Legislature enacted legislation that required the State Transportation Commission to:

A. Adopt a complete streets policy for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT)

B. Develop a model complete streets policy or policies to be made available for use by local road agencies; and

WHEREAS this legislation established the Complete Streets Advisory Council to assist with the development of the model policy or policies and to advise the Transportation Commission and local road agencies on such policies; and

WHEREAS it is imperative that any policies and practices adopted by the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) be consistent with the model complete streets policies for local agencies being developed by the State Transportation Commission; and

WHEREAS RCOC has established its own Complete Streets Review Committee to examine the complete streets concept; and

WHEREAS this committee includes a cross section of RCOC staff and other interested parties including the City of Novi director of Public Services, the Oakland Township parks and trails planner, a representative of the Michigan Trailways and Greenways Alliance, the MDOT Metro Region planner and SEMCOG’s non-motorized transportation planner; and

WHEREAS RCOC’s committee will finalize its complete streets recommendations after it has reviewed the model policies developed by the State Transportation Commission.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners hereby declares its support for Complete Streets concept. and requests the Road Commission of Oakland County (RCOC) adopt a Complete Streets into its strategic planning process.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners hereby requests the Road Commission of Oakland County to develop a Non-motorized Transportation Plan that will include, at a minimum, accommodations for accessibility, sidewalks, curb ramps and cuts, trails and pathways, signage, bike lanes, and shall incorporate principles of Complete Streets and maximize walkable and bikeable streets within Oakland County.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners hereby requests the Road Commission for Oakland County plan for, design, and construct all transportation improvement projects, both new and retrofit activities, to provide appropriate accommodations for bicyclists, pedestrian, transit users, and persons of all ages and abilities in accordance with an Oakland County Non-motorized Transportation Plan.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners requests that two additional members are appointed to the Complete Streets Review Committee, and meet the following requirements:

1) Two (2) members of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners appointed by the Chairperson of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners requests that the RCOC’s report to the Oakland County Board of Commissioners within six months of adoption of this resolution progress of the committee.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners requests the that, once the State Transportation Commission has developed its complete streets model policy for local road agencies, and the policy has been reviewed by the RCOC Complete Streets Review Committee, RCOC will report to the Oakland County Board of Commissioners on how the Road Commission will progress in implementing an Oakland County Non-motorized plan and adoption of Complete Streets principles in overall strategic planning within six months after adoption of this resolution a complete streets policy that is consistent with the State Transportation Commission’s model policy and Complete Streets principles.

Here is some additional media coverage:

• Daily Tribune, August 5th:?Ferndale, Royal Oak county commissioners tout plan for better roads
• Spinal Column, August 17th: ‘Complete Streets’ measure draws ire of the GOP, RCOC
• Spinal Column, August 24th: ‘Complete Streets’ request changed, approved by BOC
• C and G News, August 30th: County board shows unanimous support for Complete Streets
  

Woodward Avenue Complete Streets Grant

C and G News also ran a story on the Complete Streets grant for Woodward.

“(Complete Streets) is sort of a concept that communities across the country are adopting that says our streets should be more than for just cars,” said Heather Carmona, executive director of the WA3, which is based in Royal Oak.

This means that bicycling groups, non-motorized transit advocates, Woodward Light Rail supporters and all other stakeholders in the roadways will come together to make sure that every mode of transportation can share Woodward fairly and that all future road designs incorporate the Complete Streets concept.

To create a cohesive strategy, there would be standards, policies and land use changes that are shared by all jurisdictions. “The ultimate outcome will be some kind of overlying Complete Streets master plan for Woodward that will look at a lot of different components,” Carmona said.

John Scott elected SEMCOG Chair

In related news, Oakland County Commissioner John Scott (R-Waterford) was elected Chair of SEMCOG.

Scott initially opposed the County Complete Streets resolution by saying, “Does this mean bike paths or wheelchair lanes down Woodward (Avenue)? I’m not sure what I’m voting on here.”

Seriously? He thought Complete Streets meant wheelchair lanes on Woodward? Has he been traveling the U.S. and seeing wheelchair lanes in other Complete Street’s communities?

Now he’s chair of SEMCOG — our metropolitan planning authority that oversees much of this area’s transportation spending.

And in showing his true support for regional harmony, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson added, “He will defend Oakland County’s interests vigorously.”

It’s clear that a Complete Streets resolution is a start, but we need some more significant changes in our county government.

A couple years ago, NYC’s Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said public bike sharing would transform urban transportation.

Given the number of cities investing in such systems, that seems to be coming true.

There have been a number of discussions about a Detroit system over the past years. Such a system would complement the Woodward light rail investment by expanding its reach into the surrounding neighborhoods and connecting with places such as Corktown, Eastern Market, and Hamtramck.

Typically, bike share systems are city-led efforts. However, that’s not typical of successful Detroit projects which are collaborative public-private partnerships.

One exception is the Twin Cities Nice Ride system. This seems to be the public bike share model that best fits Detroit.

Nice Ride Minnesota was formed through the Twin Cities Bike Share Project, an initiative started by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and the City of Lakes Nordic Ski Foundation in July 2008. After meeting with stakeholder groups and evaluating bike share systems, the Project prepared a non-profit business plan and sought public and private funding. Bike/Walk Twin Cities (a program of Transit for Livable Communities funded through the Federal Highway Administration) announced its financial support in March of 2009, responding to a major funding commitment by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Center for Prevention (funded through the historic tobacco litigation settlement).

One likely reason for their success — over 100,000 rides in 2010 — was their impressively detailed business plan. The plan’s Phase I estimated the system startup costs at $3.4 million with $680K of in-kind donations and an annual operating budget of $1.6m. Modern public bike share systems are not cheap!

This Phase I plan was for 75 kiosks and 1,000 bikes over the 7.75 square mile service area. (Their actual installation was lower.) This provides 9.7 stations per square mile, which is a somewhat lower density than other systems.

Nice Ride is now expanding with help from the McKnight Foundation to 116 stations throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The city of Portland is also beginning a bike share and they’ve reviewed other systems. They note that station density is a key to success.

Dense systems tend to increase bike utilization rates, whether the systems are large (e.g., Montreal 500 stations at 27 stations/sq mile with 2.5 trips/bike/day) or Dublin 37 stations at 15 stations/sq mile w/ 10 trips/bike/day). Conversely, Minneapolis system has about 9 stations/sq mile which allows more districts/neighborhoods access to the system but has a much lower utilization rate at roughly 1 trip/bike/day. Portland plans to mirror Montreal in station density. Effective utilization not only requires a density of station but a high density of uses within the service area to be successful. Portland has chosen to locate the vast majority of stations in the city’s highest density districts related to employment, residential, commercial activity and tourist destinations.

Given Detroit’s greatly varying density, some analysis would be required to help determine optimal station placement.

Funding a Detroit System

Where could Detroit get the funding to build a Nice Ride system in the Motor City?

One likely target is Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding, which is sub-allocated to SEMCOG. Those federal dollars require applicants to show how their respective projects improve air quality. A Nice Ride system can do that by reporting on the number of bike trips taken, many of which would be replacing car trips.

With CMAQ funds only paying up to 80% of the total costs, private funding would likely be required. Finding private funding might not be too difficult if the bike share connects downtown employers to the light rail and elsewhere. For example, imagine the value of having bike share stations at the Blue Cross Blue Shield campus and their other offices at the Renaissance Center.

Other Federal Transit Authority (FTA) grant funding may also be a possibility. The FTA recently announced that “all bicycle improvements located within three miles of a public transportation stop or station shall have a de facto physical and functional relationship to public transportation.” It’s likely that nearly all of the bike stations in Detroit would be within 3 miles of the Woodward Light Rail.

Bike Share Detroit

A Detroit bike sharing web site and proposal has been recently proposed. While we applaud their enthusiasm, we don’t see enough details or funding to have a working system like the Nice Ride. A proposal of this scale might work on a much smaller service area (e.g. a college campus) rather than Downtown and Midtown.

The stations density appears to be about 1.5 stations per square mile — a fraction of what others consider as the minimum. Phase 2 expands north along the Woodward corridor to 11 Mile with an even lower station density.

Our preference is to take advantage of the Twin Cities’ experience, learn from their mistakes, and through a collaborative effort, invest in a system that gets more people in Detroit on bikes more often.

There are plenty of bike infrastructure investments in Corktown these days. Here’s one more.

MDOT is doing streetscaping along Michigan Avenue between 14th and Rosa Parks (12th). Streetscaping is a big word for enhancing the sidewalks. Included in that streetscaping is much needed bike parking — a nice complement to the bike lanes installed last fall.

M-Live has more coverage:

MDOT is fully funding the project, which will benefit the up-and-coming retail strip that includes Slows Bar B Q and the newly-opened Astro Coffee.

“There’s a lot of activity going on there,” MDOT’s Vince Ranger told MLive.com. “It doesn’t look good to have these businesses renovating fronts with bad sidewalks. So we’re just trying to clean that up for them.”

To learn more about this project, MDOT is hosting an open house at the Gaelic League on September 7th from 4pm until 6pm.

The Ferndale DDA is hosting a survey to collect your thoughts on the downtown area.

There are bike-related survey questions regarding bike lanes, bike parking as well as the call for traffic calming.

It’s just a one-page survey and it doesn’t take too long to complete.

A recent Daily Tribune article gives more details:

[DDA Executive Director Cristina] Sheppard-Decius said downtown officials hope to find a way to narrow West Nine Mile Road from five to three lanes, similar to what has been done in the main business district.

Reconfiguring the roadway would allow for wider sidewalks and landscaping and open the way to add public benches, decorative street lighting, bike racks, and on-street parking. Other possible improvements are bicycle lanes and a roundabout at Livernois.

We’d love to see that Livernois intersection improved. It seems to create endless waits especially when heading south. Livernois is a key Eight Mile Road crossing for area cyclists.

Detroit RiverWalk

More sections of the RiverWalk should be under construction come next spring. That includes segments on both sides of Chene Park and the critical connection between Mt. Elliott Park and Gabriel Richard Park at the foot of the bridge to Belle Isle.

Mt. Elliott park is getting a new universal recreation play structure that includes a super cool water feature.

Gabriel Richard Park is getting a parking lot.

And the grassy land just north of the Wheelhouse Detroit is getting a children’s playground.

It’s not too late to buy tickets for the Shimmer on the River event, a fundraiser for the RiverWalk.

Today’s Crain’s Detroit Business has an article which includes more details on this exciting news.

Dequindre Cut

The Dequindre Cut rail corridor north of Gratiot is not only active but privately owned. The city of Detroit has been negotiating with the owner to acquire the property while allowing them to keep their rails, which are mostly used to railcar storage. The city is getting closer to finalizing the deal.

Once purchased, the trail will switch over to the west side of the Cut at Gratiot and continue north to Mack. The rails will remain on the east side of the Cut and will be fenced off. There will also be trail connection into Eastern Market near Wilkins and near the Greening of Detroit’s urban agriculture demonstration area.

The city will likely apply for significant grant funding this fall to build this extension, as well as complete some Eastern Market streetscaping, build a bike/walk connection to the Midtown Loop, add bikes lanes to Hamtramck, and repair the bridges over the Cut.

Midtown Loop

The last we knew, construction for Phase II of the Midtown Loop will begin this fall. That includes the sections along Canfield and Cass.

Conner Creek Greenway

The next segment to be built will run from Eight Mile to McNichols along Conner Avenue. It includes new sidewalk, bike lanes and bike route signs. That won’t likely begin until next year.