With only 11 total miles of bike lanes, Oakland County is not even competitive in terms of bike friendliness — except when they’re competing against Macomb County.

Macomb has zero miles of bike lanes.

Harrison Township Supervisor Anthony Forlini tried getting bike lanes but was rebuffed by the Macomb County Road Commission.

Excepted from an archived Macomb Daily editorial, August 18, 2009:

Robert Hoepfner, chief highway engineer for the road commission, has no complaint with bicyclists. But he is concerned about safety. Many county roads simply aren’t wide enough for the kind of designated lanes Forlini described, Hoepfner said.

If county residents want designated areas for bicyclists, “Then let’s build bike paths and make them safe,” he said.

As we noted back in August of 2008 , Hoepfner showed his lack of knowledge on AASHTO design guidelines for bicycle facilities and best practices.

And he apparently hasn’t learned much since then. Just last month he proposed adding a side path to a road widening project. If the road was being widened, why isn’t it being made wide enough for bike lanes? What’s the excuse now?

Bye, Bye Road Commission

Last Tuesday was the last meeting of the Macomb County Road Commission. After creating a county charter, a vote of the people and the amendment of state law, Macomb County was able to combine the county road commission and county government, saving the taxpayers money as well. (Governor Snyder, It shouldn’t be that difficult to combine county government with county road commissions in order to save money.)

Like Wayne County, Macomb County now has a road division as part of county government. It’s accountable to the public, too. They report to the county executive.

Even still, Hoepfner is was named the head of the county road division.

Utica mayor mentions Complete Streets

While Complete Streets policies and ordinances are popping up all over Michigan, there are none in Macomb County.

That might change according to this article in the Advisor & Source Newspapers:

Utica Mayor Jacqueline Noonan has asked City Attorney William McGrail to look into developing an ordinance based on the “Complete Streets” program, which has already taken root in several Michigan communities.

“This is an important issue and we should take a position on it,” Noonan told the Utica City Council on Dec. 14. “We should set ourselves up to do what seems to be the wave of the future – transportation for the human beings involved.”

“Complete Streets highlights that any improvement should speak to the issue of not just vehicular traffic but pedestrian and bicycle traffic as well,” Noonan said. “It also pays attention to transit development, such as the railroad that runs through this city. All of these issues are brought into play in the movement called Complete Streets.”

Could Utica lead the way to bike friendliness in Utica?

First bike lanes in Macomb?

Despite the positive words from Utica, its more likely that the first bike lanes in Macomb County just south of Selfridge. They would be part of the Lake St. Clair Shoreline Trail project. This project includes a bike lanes along portions of S. River Road, Bridgeview, and N. River Road. The bike lanes connect Jefferson Avenue with the planned shared-use path along the east border of the Selfridge golf course and along the shoreline.

The county’s Request for Quotes (PDF) from last September does provide some additional details on the project.

It remains to be seen what happens in Macomb County, but at least there are some signs of progress.

The Michigan Recreation and Parks Association is having a Michigan Trails Summit on February 9th at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa.

The Summit’s theme is “Sustainability – We built it, now what do we do?”

The cost is $95 and includes a lunch. You can download the summit brochure and registration form.

Here is information on the scheduled sessions:

State of Michigan Trails

Jim Radabaugh, State Trails Coordinator – DNRE

The 2011 Trails Summit will kick off with an opening session that gives the current state of Michigan Trails. Updates will be given about the Trails Advisory Council, the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, and the MRPA Trails Committee.

Marketing Your Trail

Wayne Hoffman, Wade Trim

Wayne Hofmann, Wade Trim’s Finance and Funding Coordinator will be presenting on how to take basic marketing techniques and use them to your advantage for your trail network.

Trail Towns Manual

Harry Burkholder, Land Information Access Association
Steve Schnell, Cheboygan County
Jim Muratzki, Land Information Access Association

This presentation will discuss a new “Trails Towns Manual” a document that describes and illustrates how communities can use a unique crowd-sourcing website to promote and encourage visitors to their trails. This document demonstrates how to support tourism, future business and economic development opportunities.

The Long and Short of Trail Maintenance

Jim Schneider, Trail Manager, Green County, OH

This presentation discusses the all aspects of trail maintenance for aggregate, concrete and asphalt trails. In addition, Jim will cover everything from the day-to-day items through long-term care. We will talk about tools and equipment for trail maintenance and offer some tips working smarter.

Lunch and Lightening Rounds

Best practices will be the theme of this lunch and learn session. Of course, there will be food but also plenty of opportunities to learn what others consider their best practices. This session will be fun but will provide lots of information to all.

Complete Streets Module

Nancy Krupiarz, Michigan Trails & Greenways Alliance

Complete streets is an inclusive, context-sensitive design framework and infrastructure that enables safe and convenient access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders of all ages and abilities and motor vehicle drivers. What does this mean to trail advocates, planners and promoters? Find out in this presentation by Nancy Krupiarz, Executive Director, Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance.

State Wide Water Trail Meeting

Mary Bohling, MSU Extension, Sea Grant

Water trails provide recreational opportunities for people to enjoy and there are unique considerations important when planning a new water trail. Join Mary Bohling, Michigan State University, Sea Grant Educator as she facilitates this meeting of advocates from across Michigan on developing a state wide water trail. This collaboration just recently formed to help promote Michigan as an outdoor paddle sport destination.

John Gallagher has a fine article in today’s Detroit Free Press which discusses the Complete Streets legislation that was passed earlier this summer — but especially from a Detroit perspective.

This whole topic of complete streets has informed much of the discussion lately about how to reinvent Detroit. Many Detroiters now acknowledge that we have too much road capacity in the city for the amount of traffic. That’s an opportunity to repurpose at least some of our streets for more environmentally-friendly uses.

New uses might include running a light-rail line up some streets (as is now planned for Woodward Avenue). And it can mean we’ll see a lot more of those bicycle lanes that are starting to turn up here and there around the city.

Complete streets also can mean bus-only lanes, or wider sidewalks created as part of the network of greenways — nonmotorized transportation venues — that Detroit is slowly creating.

Gallagher also wrote the excellent book, Reimagining Detroit, which made the Huffington Posts’s Best Books 2010: 18 On Social and Political Awareness and the 2011 Michigan Notable Books list.

Chapter 4 of the book is “Road Diets and Roundabouts.”

And, Gallagher also wrote about the city officials recent trip to recovering cities in Germany and England .

In recent weeks, leaders from Detroit, Flint, Cleveland and other Midwest cities have traveled to Europe as part of a “Cities in Transition” exchange sponsored by the German Marshall Fund and the Kresge Foundation.

A trip this month took leaders to Leipzig, Germany, and Manchester, England, following an earlier visit to Turin, Italy. All three cities are reversing decades of job losses and population decline.

…the trips have injected a note of excitement into Detroit’s effort to reinvent itself through Mayor Dave Bing’s Detroit Works program.

It seems both Leipzig and Manchester have made significant investments in bicycling infrastructure.  We asked if those investments made any impression upon the Detroit officials, to which Gallagher replied, “We did see some of that, yet the weather wasn’t very helpful in that regard when we were there….”

Perhaps upwards of 400 Santas participated in this fun Milwaukee ride which resembles a more sober Santarchy on two wheels.

Anyone up for organizing this in Detroit next year?