From the Detroit Police:

Come decorate your bicycle or trunk for Halloween and pass out candy!

“Trunk or Treat” is a safe environment for kids organized by Central District Police District… Children will arrive at 5:00pm and will also receive other gifts for attending.

When: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 4:30pm – 7:00pm

(Cars must arrive by 4:30pm and stay entire time for safety of children)

Where: Central District, 7310 Woodward, Detroit, MI 48202

Contact Officer Dorsey at (313) 587-4172 or DORSEYD832@detroitmi.gov

Woodward Avenue in Detroit between McNichols and Eight Mile is ten lanes wide and carries roughly 30,000 motor vehicles a day.

With that traffic volume, Woodward is twice as wide as needed. That translates to:

• Roughly twice as expensive to maintain in good repair
• Twice as expensive to light
• Twice as expensive to remove snow
• Twice as much water run off flowing to storm sewers

And wide roads are much more difficult for pedestrians to cross safely. They also encourage speeding.

One interesting idea: change the road so that only the five northbound lanes are used. South of the Eight Mile bridge, vehicles would crossover and use a two-way 5 lane road which includes a center turn lane. Similar, but temporary crossovers are used during expressway construction when half of the road is under construction. Curbside parking would remain on the northbound curb.

This would free up the existing five lanes of southbound Woodward for other uses?

We imagine two lanes closest to the median would be dedicated to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). The curb lane would be for a two-way cycletrack for bicyclists. The middle lanes could be permeable to absorb storm water and while also having space for southbound BRT stations.

This redesign could also reduce the footprint of the overly built Woodward and McNichols intersection.

Sound crazy? Remember that Woodward south of McNichols is effectively has six lanes during rush hour and five lanes at other times.

It’s an idea we’ll definitely pitch during the upcoming Woodward Complete Streets planning process, scheduled to get underway very soon now.

Press release from the city of Birmingham. Note that the survey is intended for everyone, not just Birmingham residents:

The City of Birmingham is in the initial stages of preparing a multi-modal transportation plan for the City. The plan will help to improve the balance between all modes of transportation, with the goal of making foot, bike and transit travel easier and safer. To help guide the project, a survey has been prepared that will be used to help identify travel patterns, preferred types of improvements and desired project outcomes. The survey takes approximately ten to fifteen minutes to complete. To access the survey please click on the following web link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BirminghamMMTP

Alternatively, paper version of the survey may be obtained at the City Clerk’s office (located on the first floor) and the Planning Department (located on the second floor) at City Hall or the Baldwin Public Library. Completed paper surveys may be returned to the same locations or faxed to 734‐668-8820.

The web survey will close Sunday, November 4th at 11:00 p.m.

The results of the survey will be posted on the project webpage and be presented to the City Commission on November 12th.

Future public input opportunities for the project include: a Visioning Workshop on Thursday, January 17th from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., and two Preliminary Plan Open House sessions on Thursday, February 28th from 3:00 to 5:00 and 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The Visioning Workshop and the Preliminary Plan Open Houses
will be held at the Baldwin Public Library.

For more information on the project please contact:

Susanna Weckerle
Assistant City Planner
Birmingham, Michigan
(248) 530-1846
sweckerle@bhamgov.org

Or visit the project webpage at http://greenwaycollab.com/Projects/Birmingham/BMMTP.html

Your time and insights are most appreciated.

This Thursday, October 25th at 6pm is a special, free community gathering at the Gleaner’s Community Food Bank (2131 Beaufait) presented by the Detroit Food and Fitness Collaborative (DFFC).

The event is called Active Living in Detroit and the guest speaker is Veronica Davis from Washington, DC – a professional transportation engineer, non-motorized planner, and recent honoree of President Obama’s Champions of Change program. There’s more information about Ms. Davis on the Whitehouse web site.

Many people do not recognize the role that equitable and
accessible multi modal transportation options play in their
everyday lives. Transportation planning and choices have
the ability to impact socioeconomic conditions, personal
health and overall quality of life. I seek to help others
understand that the role of transportation cannot be
underestimated.

There will also be updates on our the DFFC’s overall and two priority active living efforts: Complete Streets and building more trails, greenways, and bike lanes.

We hope you can attend and share this with other who share our similar interests in making Detroit a healthier, more active community.

There was a huge turnout at last night’s Detroit Riverfront Community meeting. The large crowd eagerly applauded both the finished and planned projects along the Detroit Riverfront.

Some of the more popular topics were the extension of the Dequindre Cut and the “dream” of connecting the RiverWalk with historic Fort Wayne.

2013 is going to be a busy year for RiverWalk improvements, including:

• Mt. Elliott Park – Under construction now; Completed by 2014. LEED certified design
• Civic Center area – Improved lighting, wayfinding and security are planned for the older riverfront section from Joe Louis to the Port Authority.
• Watermark/Chene East & West – Two new segments will be built on both sides of Chene Park.
• Coast Guard – The segment just west of the RiverPlace is owned by the Coast Guard. Plans are underway to extend the RiverWalk across this property toward Chene Park.
• UniRoyal site – The biggest missing piece on the east; Western third (43 acres) being remediated now
• Gabriel Richard Park – Getting a green parking lot and new path to the river.
• Globe Trading Building – DNR is turning into a Discovery Center with indoor climbing wall, archery, and kayak simulator; scheduled to open in 2013
• Dequindre Cut North – Construction to being, extending the Cut to Mack Avenue with bike lane extension to Hamtramck; Also includes connetions to Midtown and Eastern Market; It should be completed by 2014.

In case you missed the meeting, it is on-line. You may want to skip the intro and jump to the 5 minute mark.

Video streaming by Ustream