While giving public comment to the Road Commission for Oakland County about building bike lanes, one Road Commissioner kept his head cocked with a look of confusion that said, “Why are you here?”

The comments that the Road Commission wasn’t following best practices for bicycle design and that there were no excuses fell on deaf ears. There was no response.

Bike lanes are an easily dismissed request among the Metro Detroit’s three main counties. At one time all three county road agencies had unwritten policies against providing bike lanes.

But that has to change eventually. The cities of Detroit, Ferndale, and others are setting the example locally while the federal government is providing reinforcement from above.

And just last month Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood celebrated the opening of bike lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.

It was hot, sizzling hot, and summertime-in-DC humid. But I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

I’m talking about yesterday’s dedication festivities to inaugurate Washington, DC’s newest bicycle lanes. And these are not just any bike lanes. These lanes run right down the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue–America’s Main Street–from the White House to the U.S. Capitol.

For too long, walking and biking have been overlooked as important forms of transportation. Now we see local governments answering that call by creating new opportunities for people to take advantage of streetcars, transit, walking, and bike lanes. They’re taking the needs of pedestrians and cyclists into account like never before.

Building bike lanes on county roads is inevitable. When will the Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties stop resisting and start building them?

When will Secretary LaHood celebrate bike lanes opening on county roads in Metro Detroit?

Corktown/Mexicantown Greenlink

The Greater Corktown Development Corporation spearheaded this Greenlink plan that would make Detroit’s Corktown and Mexicantown neighborhoods some of the most bike friendly places in Michigan. Among other bike facilities, the plans include about 20 miles of bike lanes. The Tour-de-Troit has been raising money for this project for some time as well.

However, the Greater Corktown Development Corporation has suffered financial issues as reported by Crain’s Detroit Business, but the project is moving forward.

To continue work on the Corktown-Mexicantown Greenlink project to connect those communities to Detroit’s west riverfront, Greater Corktown has secured an agreement from Southwest Detroit Business Association to serve as the new fiduciary for the greenlink, a project it’s worked on for over five years.

SDBA is working with Greater Corktown, the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan to combine as one project the greenlink, the Southwest Detroit/East Dearborn Greenway it’s been shepherding, and other walkway and bike path work the city has planned for west Vernor, said Kathleen Wendler, president of the business association.

“I like to think of it as SDBA adopting the infant we took care of for some time but are currently unable to raise,” said Kavanaugh, a freelance writer and co-owner of Wheelhouse Detroit Bike Shop.

Yesterday at Councilmember Ken Cockrel’s Green Task Force, Detroit Traffic Engineering said they still hope this project can begin by the end of this construction season. Detroit’s W. Vernor project (from Waterman to Lansing Street) is expected to be done this year — which also includes bike lanes and improvements to that unlit (and nearly unpaved!) railroad underpass west of Livernois.

Once these three projects are completed, there will be bike lanes all along W. Vernor. This will greatly improve access to the amazing restaurants and bakeries in Southwest Detroit — an unbeatable fueling station for cyclists.

Villages CDC Planning & Bike Ambassadors

Model D is reporting on a recent grant awarded to the Villages CDC which include non-motorized planning.

The Villages CDC has been awarded $215,000 from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan for greenways and bike lane planning and design. The money will also be used for community outreach and construction documents. Villages board member Kim Clayson hopes to complete this pre-development phase by February of next year.

While details are yet to be worked out, The Villages hopes to link its community up with other existing and planned greenways in Detroit, including the Dequindre Cut, Detroit RiverWalk and Conner Creek Greenway. Partners will include the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative, Detroit RiverFront Conservancy, Creekside CDC, Jefferson East Business Association and Gleaners, since the agency is preliminarily planning a connection from its food bank to the Riverwalk.

Regarding the Gleaner’s Food Bank, they too received a grant for a feasibility study. That study will look at converting the abandoned railroad east of Beaufait into a trail. That railroad property runs from the Uniroyal site on the Detroit River (just west of the bridge) to Gratiot. This potential trail would also connect with the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and their Earthworks Farm.

The Villages CDC grant is also funding the development of a bike ambassador strategy for Detroit. The Active Transportation Alliance out of Chicago will be working with local stakeholders to develop this strategy based upon their successful program in Chicago: Mayor Daley’s Bicycling Ambassadors.

Mayor Daley’s Bicycling Ambassadors work toward the following objectives:

• to increase the number of trips made by bicycle
• to reduce the number of bicycle-related injuries
• to help all users – bike riders, motorists, and pedestrians – better share roads and off-street trails.

To accomplish these goals, the Ambassadors appear at events throughout Chicago to reach as many Chicagoans as possible with bicycle safety education. Ambassadors talk face-to-face with Chicagoans and give presentations to kids, teens, and adults by participating in community events.

There are also Junior Ambassadors who “work with the Bicycling Ambassadors to deliver bicycle safety messages to their peers.”

There would certainly be many benefits having a similar program in Detroit, and thankfully the Villages CDC and the Community Foundation are planting that seed.

The Let’s Save Michigan web site has a great video of Phil Cooley talking about making Michigan Avenue a Complete Street in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood.

We received this video with an accompanying email, which included the following:

Michigan’s local economies are struggling. Listen to the perspective of one small business owner in Detroit explain the biggest obstacle his business is currently facing — it may surprise you:

The exciting news is that Michigan is poised to overcome these obstacles right now. Creating more livable communities where businesses can thrive does not have to take the money or resources Michigan is lacking — it just takes some smart planning.

When planners and engineers design neighborhood streets with bicyclists, pedestrians, and public transportation in mind, the need for complex intersections is reduced and infrastructure costs can be cut by as much as 35 to 40 percent.

Even property values have been proven to get a boost from Complete Streets. Studies show that the value of homes in walk-able communities is $4,000 to $34,000 more than the same homes in regular neighborhoods.

This section of Michigan Avenue is being repaved with federal stimulus funding. MTGA and other organizations are working with MDOT to get bike lanes added. It seems MDOT would like to add the lanes but may be constrained by Michigan state law regarding trunklines. We’re hoping to have that resolved before the road lines are painted.

The city of Detroit has added another couple miles of bike lanes this spring on St. Jean between Jefferson and Mack Avenues. (Two miles? Yes, we count both the northbound and southbound lanes.) The city was repaving St. Jean using federal stimulus funding and suggested adding the bike lanes.

These bike lanes help complete a portion of the Conner Creek Greenway, which will eventually stretch nine miles from the Detroit River to Eight Mile Road (and hopefully beyond!)

Sandi Svoboda sent us this photo of her giving them the thumbs up while riding on St. Jean. Sandi is a staff writer for the Metro Times and authored the recent articles on cycling in Detroit. She’s also a dedicated bike commuter.

She also added a Metro Times news blog entry titled Streets Completing.

The city of Highland Park is currently updating their recreation master plan.

Surprisingly enough, their 1999 plan “promotes the implementation of bike lanes throughout the city in an effort to promote both a linked park and school system as well as non-motorized traffic” (according to the city’s master plan.) We’re trying to find a copy of the original 1999 plan which supposedly have greater details.

Even still, we do have proposed bike lane map, which is fairly good. Our only thoughts are:

• McNichols needs bike lanes. They are specified in the Detroit plan.
• It’s too bad there’s no clear continuing route for Glendale over to Oakland, which is a fairly minor issue.
• We’re not sure why Midland was chosen rather than continuing on Puritan.
• It might be wise adding a connection between Second and Third at the southern city boundary. That would tie together the two Detroit routes. McNichols would tied them together on the northern boundary.
• The railroad should be highlighted as a future shared-use pathway called the Inner Circle Greenway.

What is odd about the city’s master plan is they recommend a single bike lane on the east side of Hamilton. That is not a safe or proper design.

Of course, none of this has been implemented to date. Highland Park has been through some tumultuous times of late. Still, these plans certainly open the door for the future.