10 bicycling myths debunked

Grist created this list and put a reference to the Detroit Bike City video at the top.

1. Biking is for elistists

Yeah, tell that to the good people of Detroit.

Metro Detroit has elitists. They’re just not in that video.

Detroit Complete Streets Coalition Makes City Streets Safer For Bikers, Pedestrians

The Huffington Post Detroit edition had this coverage of Detroit’s Complete Streets efforts.

It seems like a simple idea: Roadways should be safe for all users, whether they drive, ride public transit, bike or walk. But?Detroit is the 12th-most dangerous metro area for pedestrians in the country, and the region has a long way to go.

As the article mentions, the Complete Streets ordinance is in the Detroit law department prior to being introduced to City Council. Unlike many of the other communities making a buzz with Complete Street resolutions, Detroit’s should produce results.

Detroit, Michigan: The Non-Motorized City

Global Site Plans published this story which provides a very good overview of all that’s going in Detroit.

Do you ride for recreation, community organizing, or the daily commute? Within the Detroit community, public mobility has developed into two distinct exchanges: the first focused on physical redevelopment and the second, community development. On one hand, urban planners, environmental non-profits, and downtown developers are actively engaged in urban design and adaptive-reuse of existing infrastructure for the use of bicycles. While other Detroiter’s are focused primarily on the bicycle user: from recreation and community health to vocational skills and self-empowerment.

Compared to other transportation alternatives, bicycles do not require infrastructural changes. Indeed, Detroit has plenty of roads to share. However, road diets and greenway developments certainly make cities more inviting to cyclists.

The city’s Detroit Works Project reprinted this article as well.

Complete Streets isn’t anti-car

The article asks the question, “Will the Motor City ever relinquish its auto-centric ideals for the benefit of pedal power?”

Is that an accurate question? Perhaps in the suburbs, but not in the city of Detroit.

To improve biking, does Detroit need to get rid of expressways and convenient parking? It generally doesn’t have congestion. The city was mostly developed during its streetcar heyday and has a decent street grid, which means more intersections and non-expressway speed limits that are rarely above 35 MPH .

Is the road-dieted Michigan Avenue with bike lanes in Corktown any less ideal for driving? In many ways, adding bike lanes improves safety for everyone, including motorists and pedestrians.

Complete Streets isn’t anti-car. It’s about balancing needs among all transportation modes while considering how the road design affects the surrounding community.

Comlete Streets is anti-some-cars, specifically those motorists who ignore traffic laws, speed and imperil others. We’ve seen strong support for Complete Streets helping address that community issue — even in the Motor City.

Google Maps has a bicycle layer which shows three main types of bicycle facilities: off-road pathways (dark green), roads with bike lanes (lighter green), and roads that are preferred bicycle routes (dotted green).

As of this today, the city of Detroit has been updated.

• Milbank Greenway added
• Conner Creek Greenway added (including St. Jean and Clairpointe bike lanes)
• Southwest Detroit Greenlink added (bike lanes only)
• Atwater bike lanes added
• “bike lanes” on Joy Road removed
• “bike lanes” on Fort Street removed
• RiverWalk sections added

There are still more corrections to make.

• W. Outer Drive and W. Chicago are shown with bike lanes when they only have shoulders.
• There are still some sections of sidewalk shown as “preferred” bicycle routes.
• The Southwest Detroit Greenlink bike routes should be labelled as “preferred.”

We’ll get to these changes unless someone beats us to it.

We also removed the sidewalk along Lakeshore through the Pointes as a preferred bicycle path/trail.

What are the benefits?

For one, the map can help cyclists map their route. It’s interactive and up to date, though some may still prefer a printed bike map, especially since not everyone has a smart phone or direct access to the Internet.

Having an accurate bicycle layer also affects how Google generates bike route directions. Google will try to route cyclists on to bike lanes and preferred routes when it makes sense.

On the other hand, having an inaccurate bicycle layer can make bike directions less valuable. Google has directed us out of our way to use a sidewalk in Troy that has been labelled as a preferred bicycle route.

How to update the bicycle layer

The bicycle layer can be updated using the Google Mapmaker utility. There is a review and approval process for changes so it’s not as instant as Wikipedia.

Mapmaker gives you the ability to change roads attributes, sidewalks, places, and more. It appears bike racks are not being added to this map.

Guide to Mapmaker bicycle facilities

The Google guidelines on how to appropriately label bicycle facilities aren’t always that clear, but here are some key points.

• Paved shoulders are not bike lanes. Google’s best practices says, “Roads without explicit paint markings or signage indicating a bicycle lane should not be given the ‘On-street bicycle lane attribute'”. Since paved shoulders of adequate width can improve bicycling, they can be labeled as “preferred.”
• Sidewalks and sidepaths are not trails/paths. Sidewalks and sidepaths should be documented as part of the road attributes. Google’s best practices says they should only be mapped as separate trails/paths when they’re “separated by a river, railway, or other impassable physical barrier.” Yes, many parts of Oakland County has improperly labelled bicycle features.
• Sidewalks are rarely preferred bicycle routes. If the above guideline is followed, sidewalks along roads can’t be. It’s less clear for sidewalks that are not along a road. In some cities like Royal Oak, bicycling on a sidewalk is prohibited. Sidewalks aren’t usually not cleared of snow by cities unlike streets, so their value in the winter can be variable. We’ve removed a preferred sidewalk segment in Royal Oak that had stairs.

On Friday, December 18th, 1868 – only 143 years ago today – Detroit’s first bicyclist hit the street.

That is according to this colorful Detroit Free Press article, “The First Detroit Velocipedist,” which was published on the 19th:

Yesterday the first Detroit man that had the temerity to bestride the (not foaming, but very restive and treacherous) velocipede and show his skill (?) in the public street, might have been seen moving slowly along Jefferson avenue, followed by a large crowd of men and boys of all ages, classes and conditions. The bold rider was no other that the irrepressible Ben Fletcher, of the Michigan News Company. Sometimes he got along bravely by himself and seemed likely to run away from the crowd, but the next moment it would take a man on each side of him to keep him steady, while a third person behind pushed the machine along. Now the perverse front wheel would turn crosswise, and besides slopping all headway would make it pretty warm for the rider’s shins. In coming back it would usually lurch the other way, not infrequently seating the rider on the damp sidewalk. A horseman present thought he would as soon ride a “quarter horse”^{[Note 1]} while a large portion of the crowd were of the opinion that the velocipede had by some mistake been oiled with a superior brand of unstamped “tangle foot” or “forty rod.”^{[Note 2]} A gentleman in the crowd fancies he has discovered the way of balancing the concern, which he thinks is to turn the great wheel crosswise as soon as there is any danger of an upset. Ben allows him to put his theory to a practical test. He mounts the vehicle and dashes off at a fine rate; at the first waver of his balance he applies his new discovery; but the inturned handle takes him in the place where Jonah was^{[Note 3]}, and presently the velocipede is uppermost. Yesterday the velocipede had to be helped over crosswalks and steadied in rough places; but this state of things will not last a great while, for before long velocipedes will be as plenty as carriages in the streets, and velocipeding will become as popular as driving or skating^{[Note 4]}. The Michigan News Company has the agency for the Hanlons’ Patent Velocipede in this place^{[Note 5]}, and there can be no doubt that they will push their business so that in a short time velocipeding will be all the rage.

Notes

1. Quarter horses excel at short sprints and speedy maneuvers. The breed is often used in rodeos.
2. “Forty rod” is a facetious name for a “cheap and strong” whiskey “so called for its alleged ability to kill at forty rods” or one-eighth mile.
3. The “place where Jonah was” is a Biblical reference to the stomach.
4. In 1868, driving means driving horses, not cars. Skating refers to roller skates, which were around at that time.
5. The Hanlons were an New York acrobatic group that used velocipedes in their show. They modified their bikes and patented the improvements.

More details on the ride

It’s likely that Fletcher’s first ride began outside the offices of the Michigan News Company. They were located on Jefferson, a half-block west of Woodward.

Thirty-three years later, the Detroit Free Press had a follow up interview with Fletcher, who was now a traveling passenger agent for the Grand Trunk railroad.

He said that bike weighed around 100 pounds and was built in France. He eventually sold the bike to Daniel Soper of Newago, before Soper became the secretary of state for Michigan.

Fletcher also recalled the local music publishers selling a composition called the “Velocipede Gallop” and there was a cigar called “The Velocipede.”

This was not the first velocipede in Detroit, according to Fletcher. There was one on display in a specialty exhibit.

In our searches of the Free Press archives, the first velocipedes advertised in Detroit were in December 1851. However, these were for children and likely had three or four wheels.

Velocipede School

A new velocipede school was opened a couple months after Fletcher’s first ride. It was a 12-foot wide track around the outside of an indoors skating rink. Nine laps equaled a mile. The school rented velocipedes by the hour.

We’re not sure how successful this venture was as it did not appear in the 1869 city business directory.

Also, it wasn’t until 1878 that the first velocipedes were manufactured in Detroit. Velocipedes had become quite popular by then and their riders were starting to organize in order to establish their legal rights within Detroit.

As for Ben Fletcher, he died in early 1902 and is buried at the Forest Lawn cemetery.

More bike parking, more local green jobs. From the West Vernor and Springwells Business Improvement District (BID) newsletter:

The BID partnered with the SDBA and the SMART Bus System to identify locations for the installation of 8 decorative bike rakes designed by Disenos Ornamental Iron. The Bike Racks have been installed at Vernor Food Center, the Campbell Detroit Public Library, Chase Bank, Comerica Bank, La Mexicana, Secretary of State, Congress of Communities, and LA SED Youth & Senior Center. We have received many positive comments from residents and business owners who thought the bike racks were beautiful enough to be public art.

Would you like a bike rack too? Special Offer for Current BID Members!

If you are current on your BID fee, the BID will fabricate and install a bike rake in front of your business or property for the discounted price of $350. Please call Matthew Bihun if you are interested in having an ornamental Disenos bike rake installed at your location (313.254.8161).

It’s legal to ride your bike on most of the Detroit RiverWalk except for the portion in front of Hart Plaza.

Why? Because of this city ordinance:

Sec. 40-4-7. – Wheeled vehicles prohibited.

No wheelbarrow, handcart, automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, motordriven cycle, go-cart, unicycle, moped, solex cycle or other wheeled vehicles are permitted in Hart Plaza except as approved by the civic center department or recreation department for a scheduled event. This section shall not apply to a handicapped person in a wheelchair nor to emergency or service vehicles.

Razor A5 kick scooter review – what’s this little motorized scooter that looks like a cross between a ski and a skateboard? Find out at Go2Scooter, it may just look like a cross between a ski and a skateboard, but the kick scooter really is a unique scooter that combines the fun of a snowboard with the convenience of a motorcycle. A perfect mix of speed and simplicity, this kick scooter truly is a perfect match for anyone who enjoys skating or riding a motorcycle. Its large urethane wheels provide an extra smooth ride, while its sturdy frame supports rider of up to 100 kilograms.

It’s a little policy issue we shared with our wonky friends, but it wasn’t a big problem on the RiverWalk since it wasn’t enforced.

Apparently it’s more of big deal now because the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy will soon maintain that portion of the RiverWalk. Currently the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) maintains the RiverWalk from the Port Authority to Joe Louis Arena. The Detroit Recreation Department is developing a maintenance agreement for the Conservancy to take the reins.

The Recreation Department is asking City Council to change the ordinance’s definition of Hart Plaza to not include the RiverWalk. They said it would be the “most direct and expedient resolution.”

Doing this solves the bicycling issue and others. For example, it’s also not legal to walk your dog or roller skate on this section of RiverWalk.

We’d rather the ordinance not restrict bicycles (or unicycles!) in all of Hart Plaza except during events, but the above proposal is a step in the right direction.

We do have to wonder why solex cycles were called out in the ordinance.