There’s been plenty of debate about the value of two Southeast Michigan ghost bikes.

One positive thing they have resulted in is front page media coverage.  The October 1st Royal Oak Review put the story on page one with a photo.  The October 5th Mirror Newspaper just did the same.

For many, the incident, and the stark reminder of it, have heightened the awareness for bike safety in what is still largely a car-dominant metro area.

It was great to read informed public officials talking about bike lanes as an option for safer cycling in Metro Detroit.  Cullen Watkins, store manager for American Cycle & Fitness also said the same.

He thinks bike lanes would go far to protecting bicyclists. “When all is said and done, every community can put in bike lanes. People are walking on the sidewalks; we don’t belong on the sidewalks.”

So at this point is remains to be seen if this recent media attention will help put this issue on the City of Royal Oak and the City Commission agendas’ — something we have not been able to achieve to date.

Last Tuesday, the full Detroit City Council approved two resolutions relating to the Non-Motorized Transportation Master Plan.

Why a Master Plan?

Municipalities develop non-motorized master plans to look at their entire area and creates a vision for improved biking and walking facilities based on public input and various data sources.  Typically the plan calls for modifying existing road right-of-ways to better and more safely accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians.  It would also consider non-motorized trails needs as well as related amenities, such as bike racks.

And of course, a good plan would make recommendations on how to change city policies in order to make the planning vision a reality.

Having a good non-motorized plan helps municipalities implement them as road construction projects are planned.  Similarly, it obligates other road agencies (e.g. MDOT) to implement the plan on roads they own within the municipality.

And finally, having system-wide plans such as these improves the chances for grant funding to help implement the plan.

Detroit’s Plan

MDOT funded a non-motorized plan for Detroit.  Giffels-Webster along with other firms and the City of Detroit developed the plan.   The plan calls for various improvements for walking and biking in Detroit, including nearly 400 miles of bike lanes.

Link to Detroit Non-motorized Transportation Master Plan

City Council Resolutions

The plan was first presented to Council President Ken Cockrel Jr.’s Green Task Force.  We received a very favorable response and Mr. Cockrel got this on a council committee agenda.  With a solid showing of public support, the committee created resolutions to approve it.

Both resolutions are shown below: (more…)

On Monday, September 8th at 11:15 AM, the Detroit City Council’s Public Health and Safety Committee will be discussing the Detroit Non-Motorized Transportation Master Plan.  This plan has never been brought before City Council for their approval — a necessary step before groups like MDOT will recognize and help implement the plan.

When: September 8th at 11:15 AM
Where: City Council, 13th floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, Jefferson at Woodward

So what does this plan do? As we noted earlier, this plan takes inventory of the many cycling destinations across Detroit, including parks, schools, cultural centers, recreational centers, etc. It looks at how to best connect them with a network of on- and off-road bike facilities — trails, bike lanes and shared signed routes. The plan calls for nearly 400 miles of bikes lanes across the City of Detroit that could be implemented during normal road maintenance by simply re-striping existing roads.

The authors of the plan, Giffels-Webster will be there to give a presentation on it.  Detroit’s Traffic Engineering Division, the city department that is ultimately responsible for implementing this plan will be at the meeting as well.

We need public comment from cyclists, walkers, and other residents to voice their support for this plan!

Note that current changes in city government may affect this meeting time, causing it to be delayed or changed.  If you want to be certain the meeting is still on as scheduled, call the Office of the City Clerk at 313.224.3266.

We hope to see you there.

Perhaps you read in Model D recently about Terry Paris Jr’s experiment: Detroit, One Man, One Month, No Car.

I spoke with Terry afterward and he really seemed to enjoy biking more.  However, bad luck did strike him at the end.

And, as a nice little topper-off for this whole thing, on the last day of the experiment my bike was stolen in broad daylight outside a bar in Hamtramck – lock and all.

Terry also wrote a companion article listing ways to improve local public transit and biking options.

Bike racks on DDOT buses would also improve DDOT riders, too.

Oh, and bike lanes along major streets.

“A greater number of people would ride their bikes if the city had lanes,” says Todd Scott, Detroit Greenways coordinator. (It’s Detroit Greeways’ goal to get 400 miles of non-motorized lanes in Detroit.) “Bike lanes make the person feel a lot safer and makes the cars more aware. This would be a great city for bike lanes.”

Fortunately for Terry and the rest of us, DDOT bus bike racks and Detroit bike lanes are moving closer to reality.

E.J. Levy recently sent me an article about Colorado State Highways and how many of them have paved shoulders 4 feet or wider — a great way to make roads safer for bicyclists.  Colorado has had a policy since 1999 to add these shoulders to their state highways.  Nine years later, 72% of their state highway roads have them.

I am not sure if this includes Interstates, where in Colorado they are sometimes open to biking (e.g. I-70, I-76.)

So what’s the story in Michigan? As of last year, 35.8% of MDOT trunklines had paved shoulders 4′ or greater.    That percentage does not include Interstates, which are not currently opening to Michigan bicyclists.

That’s 3,031 miles of state roads with wide paved shoulders.

According to Josh Debruyn, MDOT’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, “In the last two years, MDOT has added 365 miles of paved shoulder suitable for bicycling and the number continues to grow every year.”

We expect these to grow as well now that the Governor has directed MDOT to do more.

And don’t think paved shoulders are just for bicyclists.  They help roads last longer, provide a safe pull-off area for vehicles, and allow vehicles to pass bicyclists more safely.

Now if we could only get the Metro Detroit road agencies (e.g. Road Commission for Oakland County) to step up and make this same committment to bicyclist safety.