As reported in the Spinal Column, Wixom, Walled Lake, and Commerce and looking to apply for Michigan Natural Resource Trust Fund monies for a third time.

The Michigan Airline Railway property spans from West Bloomfield Township to the western city limits of Wixom and is considered the missing link in a trail that traverses the county and connects to a cross-state corridor spanning the Lower Peninsula.

The target 5.33 miles of Michigan Airline Railway corridor crossing the trailway council communities would be converted into a non-motorized recreational trail to link the Huron Valley and West Bloomfield trail segments.

“Our resolution emphasis is on the acquisition of the property at and surrounding the Walled Lake depot and including the depot,” [Wixom city manager Mike] Dornan said.

This grant request was denied in 2009 when there was no commitment for the required matching funds from MDOT.

Last year it was rejected due to protests of a local business still using the line. According to the Trust Fund minutes, “Chairperson Muchmore responded he feels this proposed trail project has some loose ends that need to be resolved.”

The Spinal Column reports that the local business issue has been resolved and that this section of railroad is being formally abandoned this summer.

…the railroad owner has filed a petition for exemption which would lead to the abandonment of the railway, which has led the trailway council to try again.

“The three communities now feel we are on better ground now that the railroad will be abandoned,” [trailway council administrator Kathleen] Jackson said.

We sure hope so. This is a critical link locally, regionally, and statewide. It is part of the Great Lake to Lake Trail (formerly known as the Michigan Airline Trail.)

Also, the Spinal Column supported this rail-trail in this editorial.

Link: Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Nov. 2010 minutes (PDF)

The group Bikes and Murder is presenting a free showing of the movie We Are Traffic which “chronicles the history and development of the Critical Mass bicycle movement – one of the most spirited and dynamic social/political movements of the apathetic 90s.”

The movie is showing tonight, Saturday April 2nd at 7pm in the Boll Family YMCA in Downtown Detroit, 1401 Broadway.

We will be forwarding this information to Rob Morosi, a spokesperson for MDOT.

In a recent Metromode article about an MDOT road project in Rochester Hill, Morosi gave the following quotes:

“When we’re developing a Complete Street project we’re required to meet with the local community to take into account non-motorized uses and facilities. The idea is to make it a more walkable community,” says MDOT spokesman Rob Morosi.

“Even before the Complete Street legislation we would meet with local communities to see if there’s something we can include that the local community has always wanted but has been prohibited to do because of the way the road is constructed,” he says.

This M-59-Crooks project is “a great example of what we’re doing to address that,” he says. “So now people riding their bikes or walking won’t be in conflict with traffic…People can ride, their bikes, Rollerblade, walk safely.”

First, from what we’ve learned, this project is not a Complete Street. MDOT is simply adding sidewalks. In fact, the bridge itself will be less bikeable when this project is completed because it will no longer have a wide curb lane. It will not have bike lanes.

Second, we aren’t in “conflict with traffic.” We are traffic.

Let’s be frank about walkability.

A large percentage of communities in Southeast Michigan will never be very walkable. That doesn’t mean they can be improved, but it does mean they won’t be competitive.

And it was by choice.

They were purposely designed for low density (e.g. large residential lot sizes) and no mixed use development. In short, most things are too far away to walk to. Putting a sidewalk on one side of a road between a residential area and a shopping district doesn’t make it walkable if they’re separated by a mile or more.

As I told some residents last week, if your community wasn’t designed during the streetcar era, chances are it’s not very walkable.

Some communities are a mixed bag where the older portions are very walkable while the newer areas are not. Royal Oak is a good example of that. The downtown, an area once served by a number streetcar lines, is highly walkable. The northern portions of the city are more car dependent.

This is very apparent in this graphic from the WalkScore web site. The green areas indicate good walkability.

Birmingham: top 20 for walkability?

There is a major bicycle festival being planned for Birmingham this year, which sounds very promising. What caught our eye in the article was the statement that Birmingham was “recognized as one of top 20 most walkable communities in the country.” The Birmingham web site also says the city was named one of the country’s “Top 20 Most Walkable Communities.”

A Google search for the phrase “top 20 most walkable communities” return 47 matches, all of which referred only to Birmingham.

Irregardless, is Birmingham truly in the nation’s top 20 according to the Walk Score web site, arguably the best indicator of walkability? The Walk Score site determined the walkability of the 74 largest cities in Michigan. Birmingham is tied for 14th among these Michigan cities. It apparently has the same issues Royal Oak has: a walkable downtown, but less walkable outlying areas.

So what were the most walkable Michigan cities? Hamtramck, Clawson, and Berkley tied for first. Ferndale and Traverse City weren’t too far behind.

And Detroit?

While the city of Detroit scored lower, it also received scores by neighborhood. New Center was most walkable with Corktown and Midtown tied for second.

The declining Detroit population and the resulting loss of area businesses certainly hurts the walkability of Detroit. And while much has been made about the city potentially moving residents to more dense areas, it seems the draw of greater walkability might be more of a carrot.

USA Today just reported on walkability and how it is attracting young professionals.

Educated 20- and 30-somethings are flocking to live downtown in the USA’s largest cities — even urban centers that are losing population.

In more than two-thirds of the nation’s 51 largest cities, the young, college-educated population in the last decade grew twice as fast within 3 miles of the urban center as in the rest of the metropolitan area — up an average 26% compared with 13% in other parts.

Even in Detroit, where the population shrank by 25% since 2000, downtown added 2,000 young and educated residents during that time, up 59%, according to analysis of Census data by Impresa Inc., an economic consulting firm.

“This is a real glimmer of hope,” says Carol Coletta, head of CEOs for Cities, a non-profit consortium of city leaders that commissioned the research. “Clearly, the next generation of Americans is looking for different kinds of lifestyles — walkable, art, culture, entertainment.”

Yes, even in Detroit.

It seems that Milford is the first township in Oakland County to have passed a Complete Streets resolution.

According to the Spinal Column:

Milford Township Planning Commission members are reviewing design features as part of the township’s “complete streets” policy to make streets more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists.

This comes after the commission passed a complete streets policy resolution in January, which was then adopted by the Milford Township Board of Trustees in February.

The policy allows the Planning Commission to review all street plans to ensure all public and private street projects, including reconstruction, are built to follow the guidelines of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials to accommodate all users of the rights-of-way or private road easements.

“This allows the township to be more involved in street improvements with help from the county and state planning process,” said Milford Township Building Official Timothy Brandt.

The Township is also looking to “adopt a non-motorized transportation network plan.”

What’s interesting about this development is Michigan townships generally aren’t in the road business. They don’t receive state or federal road funds. They typically rely on their county or county road commission for road design, construction, and maintenance.

And to date, the Road Commission for Oakland County does not support Complete Street designs. How this gets resolved given the Township’s resolution remains to be seen.

One interesting note: the newest Road Commissioner for Oakland County is from Milford. From what we hear, he gets Complete Streets and might help push the organization forward.

An unnecessary exception?

Below is the Milford Township Complete Streets resolution, which includes this interesting exception:

Where non-motorized network improvements are contrary to the community’s intent to preserve areas having or perceived to have a low density pattern of development, being generally void of man-made improvements such as paved roadways, and exhibiting open Fields, farmland or woodlands as common elements of the visual landscape; and,

To us, this looks like unnecessary. Complete Streets are context sensitive. There is no singular design. Low density communities have designs that make sense for that area. Complete Streets are not incompatible with low density development nor open space preservation.

Perhaps this was added to allay fears that it would lead to paving roads and removing roadside trees for sidewalks.

And the Village of Milford?

Milford Township and the Village share the same planner, who has offered to help the Village with a Complete Streets policy. Tow Village Planning Commissioners attended a Complete Streets introduction last fall and “found it to be very informative” but that’s all we know.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s Detroit Free Press has a great story about Franciscan friar Brother Al Mascia and his Canticle Cafe bicycle cart. Brother Al rides around Downtown Detroit offering food and warm clothing.

The idea of the cart came from the Franciscan friar’s memories of growing up surrounded by street vendors in New York. The food cart fits over the bicycle’s front end.

The cart, purchased from California with the aid of a benefactor, was outfitted with foldable countertops insulation and a battery for lighting. It holds Thermos bottles of coffee and hot chocolate. Some days, Mascia dispenses muffins and cookies. On really good days, he has hot homemade breakfast sandwiches donated by church groups.

He said he thinks the cart adds a bit of joy to the act of giving. “It’s not just for the food and clothing we can provide,” he said, “but the whimsy, if you will, of the way we can provide it.”

Whimsy is good.

To donate or help, contact Saint Aloysius outreach ministries at 313-237-5810 or contact Mascia at 313-320-0548 or e-mail alofm@hotmail.com.

You can also purchase their coffee at the Canticle Cafe at 1209 Washington Boulevard in Detroit or by calling their coffee order hot line at 313-309-1276.