Have you seen the new bike lanes and bike routes being installed throughout Corktown, Mexicantown, and along West Vernor in Southwest Detroit?

This is not a new project. It started about seven or so years ago with the Greater Corktown Development Corporation and a grant from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. The goal was to make the area more walkable and bikeable while connecting it to the future West RiverWalk.

But much has changed since then. Greater Corktown went through financial issues forcing them to hand off the project to the Southwest Business Development Association (SDBA). In taking over the project, the SDBA expanded it to include bike lanes along most of West Vernor, connecting it with their existing trail through Patton Park.

The project design also changed over time, shifting from having some off-road paths to simply bike lanes and bike routes. The latter are being employed on roads that are too narrow for bike lanes.

In the meantime, the wildly successful Tour de Troit has generated additional funds for the project to keep pushing it forward.

Safety Grants

There’s one other piece. The city of Detroit applied for an MDOT grant to improve safety along a portion of West Vernor from Livernois to Waterman. As a result, the city is adding bike lanes along that one mile of Vernor. They’re also adding lighting beneath the viaduct just west of Livernois.

When completed, there will be 24 miles of new bike lanes and 11 miles of signed bike routes.

Building on this success, the city recently applied for seven safety grants and received six. The city is looking to add bike lanes to all six projects in 2012, which includes roads such as Central and West Chicago.

Bike parking, directional signs, and more

And there are additional projects which complement this work.

There are new bike racks being installed throughout the area by a handful of different groups. Have you seen the new cool bike racks at Clark Park? They’re across the street from Cafe con Leche.

Also, the SDBA is also looking at wayfinding — signs and maps that help guide bicyclists through the area. For example, a sign might provide bicyclists with direction and mileage on how to get to specific destinations like downtown, the RiverWalk, Roosevelt Park, and Patton Park. The posted mileage also reminds those who don’t bike just how close some places are — and that perhaps bicycling between them is easier than they may have thought.

This wayfinding project is looking to develop designs that can be used across the city, which would help keep signs more consistent.

Adventure Cycling should have their first of two maps completed this year for their Underground Railroad Bicycle Route through Detroit. That route has been located on West Vernor to take advantage of these bike lanes.

Now wouldn’t it be great if the West Vernor bike lanes could get you to the Rouge Gateway Trail and Hines Drive in Dearborn?

Another section of the Conner Creek Greenway was opened yesterday in Detroit on Arbor Day — a holiday for tree planting created by a J. Sterling Morton, a Michigan Wolverine from Monroe, Michigan.

The event at Maheras Gentry Park began with a parade, music, and a long line of kids from the Detroit Merit Charter Academy. The kids were dressed in frog costumes they had made earlier. The frog theme was a nod to the parks historic condition as marshland. It was an amazing site to see.

Following the parade, remarks were made by those who helped make this greenway possible (i.e. the funders): Karla Hall of the DTE Energy Foundation, Tony Kratofil of MDOT, and Tom Woiwode from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

During his remarks, Kratofil announced MDOT’s commitment to funding the next portion of the Conner Creek Greenway. That portion is along Conner Avenue from McNichols to Eight Mile. That project includes a new section of sidewalks, bike lanes, bike routes, and some landscape improvements.

Wayne County Commissioners Tim Killeen and Bernard Parker also presented a resolution from the commission as well.

The new sections of greenway had been mostly completed late last year. That included bike lanes from Jefferson to Maheras Gentry Park along Clairpointe and a shared-use path from the park entrance to the existing paths near the river. The bike lanes on St. Jean built earlier last year were also part of the opening celebration.

Crain’s Detroit Business and Model D has media coverage prior to the event, while TV20 News has post-event coverage.

The Detroit Free Press published an interesting story on a Lawrence Tech (LTU) project which looked at making Southwest Detroit energy self-sufficient.

That planning involved creating energy as well as reducing current usage by encouraging more energy efficient transportation. In other words, more public transit, more walkability, more greenways, and more bike lanes.

Other tactics suggested by the team include creating more public transit and more green infrastructure, like the planned extension of the RiverWalk west of downtown.

Still other aspects of the project include mapping sites where higher-density, mixed-used development might create a more walkable urban environment.

The LTU team is working with the Southwest Detroit Development Collaborative, a coalition of more than a dozen community nonprofit groups. Kathy Wendler, president of the Southwest Detroit Business Association, said the LTU project dovetails with other greening projects under way, like the bicycle lanes and energy-efficient street lights planned along West Vernor.

This project was funded by a grant from the Ford Motor Company Fund. According to the article, previous grants  “supported a bike-sharing program in Atlanta.”

Market Street's green bike lane (Photo by SFGate)

While at the National Bike Summit, Leah Shahum the Executive Director for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition shared an interesting story. After showing a photo of bicycle lanes on Market Street, she mentioned that Twitter was relocating their offices to this street and requested more of these bike lanes. They wanted to make it easier for their employees to bike to work.

In another session, it was noted that employee health insurance is lower in states with healthier employees. Getting more employees to walk and bike can reduce the cost of doing business.

And with that, the Observer and Eccentric published an article on Novi’s new non-motorized transportation plan.

It seemed fitting that as gas prices in metro Detroit approach $4 per gallon, the city of Novi moved forward with approval of its first non-motorized master plan.

Norm Cox, president of The Greenway Collaborative, which was the lead designer on the plan, said it is going to be years before the system is complete, but when done will change how people travel in the city.

“We think you will have a multi-faceted non-motorized system, one that works for the whole range of citizens and their preferences as to how they want to bike and walk around,” he said. “It will make a noticeable change in the quality of life for residents.”

And while Twitter might not relocate to Novi, some other tech firms just might — and having a more walkable and bikeable city is definitely a selling point.

StreetFilms has posted another really interesting video (below) showing improved bicycling infrastructure in cities like Portland, New York, and San Francisco. These cities have made huge investments in bike lanes, and now physically separated bike lanes. The result has been a large increase in choosing to bike for transportation.

One great quote from Congressman Earl Blumenauer.

It’s important that people have choices. They shouldn’t have to burn a gallon of gas to get a gallon of milk. Half of the trips that are taken everyday in America are within 20 minutes on a bike. A quarter of them are a 20 minute walk.