The Friends of the Clinton River Trail have posted some very exciting construction photos of the Clinton River Trail bridge over Telegraph Road in Pontiac.

According to the Friends site, “Progress is being made on the bridge, with the ramps set and the first steel spans in place… Engineers say they are on track to have the bridge open by sometime in June!”

For more information and many more construction photos, visit the Friends of the Clinton River Trail blog site.

Omnicorpdetroit in Eastern Market is offering a three day bootcamp on bike repair from simple, on-the-road fixes to full assembly.

The dates are April 12th, April 26th, and May 3rd.

All participants must bring their own bike and be prepared to get greasy! This is a full hands-on class.

Tools and bike stands will be provided.

More info and online registration is available on EventBrite.

For more details, visit the Omnicorp web site.

Via Joe Aasim on Facebook

The Complete Streets Community Workshop held on March 31st was an absolute success. While it was hoped to attract perhaps 100 attendees, about 160 showed up. There is a brief write up on the MTGA web site:

Prior to the event, DHWP Director and Public Health Officer Dr. Yvonne E. Anthony said, “With this workshop, we hope to engage the community and garner support to make our streets safer in order to promote healthy lifestyles and activities such as walking, running and biking. We encourage Detroit residents to join in the conversation.

And they did.

After the [Richard] Wooten presentation, the attendees submitted questions ranging from the impact of light rail, truck traffic, and bike lanes.

In speaking with some city officials afterwards, they were very impressed with the turnout and interest in Complete Streets. In many ways this reaffirms their recent efforts.

On the radio

On March 29th, I joined Myra Tetteh from the Detroit Health and Wellness Promotion Department on the WDET’s Craig Fahle Show. If you missed the broadcast, the podcast is on-line. The Complete Streets conversation begins 54 minutes into the podcast.

A new web address

In order to simplify things, a new web address and basic web page has been created for the Complete Streets efforts in Detroit. That address is www.DetroitCompleteStreets.org.

Michigan Municipal League

The Michigan Municipal League has a helpful Complete Streets web page. The page is especially useful for government officials looking to pursue Complete Street policies. The web page includes example ordinances and resolutions from various Michigan governments. And if you’re just a motivated Complete Streets advocate, this is a good link to email to your elected government officials.

— Todd Scott

A new bike collective called the Red Planet Bicycle Collective has opened in Detroit. They are located south of  Seven Mile and Woodward and just down the street from the Innate Healing Arts Center (18700 Woodward).

Our mission is to mobilize the Seven Mile and Woodward area by providing access to donated bikes, tools and parts, and teach bicycle repair. Through hands on workshops the community will learn road safety and how to build and maintain a bicycle.

The collective is seeking donated bikes, parts and tools. Donations can be dropped off at the Healing Center (313.366.2247)

We recently received this notice from the Friends of the Clinton River Trail email list. And although we still have a dumb phone, we’re looking forward to using this someday and seeing  similar mobile applications that help promote biking in Metro Detroit.

Friends Group member, Doug Gordon, has created a free app for the Clinton River Trail.

Version 1.0 of the Clinton River Trail Android application is up and available on the Android Market. Those with Android smartphones should know how to install it. Search for “clinton river” and you’ll find it (just searching for “clinton” brings up too many political-related apps!).

This first version has a copy of our standard map that you can drag around on the screen to view different parts. Tapping on any of the 17 numbered points of interest brings up a short description. And that’s about it to start with.

Plans for the future include:

• Using GPS to show where you are on or near the trail, with possible distances to nearby facilities.
• Additional text about locations along and near the trail.
• Support for gestures to zoom in and out.
• Photos at various locations when you tap on them (e.g., at the Rotary Overlook).
• News feed for trail information (e.g., the upcoming construction closure).