Today is the last day to submit comments to DDOT on the proposed Woodward Avenue Light Rail Transit project. Comments should be emailed to woodwardlightrail@detroitmi.gov.

The scoping booklet is on-line and presents a number of different options. One key issue with cyclists is the track alignment: curb-running versus median-running.

Curb-running makes bike lanes difficult to impossible. Do you really want to ride near the trains, their tracks, and their stations?

The best answer is median-running. In the scoping booklet, that is Design Option A. It would be great if many cyclists requested that option in their comments.

Transport Michigan also has some great thoughts and comments regarding this project and cycling.

Link: Additional information on Detroit’s light rail project

You must register within the next hour to get a T-shirt for the 2010 Tour de Troit.

More info on the Tour from their press release:

The 9th annual Tour de Troit takes place on Saturday, September 25, and organizers are estimated a record breaking 3,000 cyclists. “We have a very dedicated following,” says Bil Lusa, an organizer of the event. “It offers bikers of all ages and fitness levels an opportunity to tour the City and be involved in a completely unique experience.”

The Tour de Troit is a leisurely bicycle tour of Detroit that explores the city’s historic areas, takes in many of its most breathtaking sights and provides participants a unique opportunity to legally “take over” the streets of the Motor City. The ride will begin and end at Roosevelt Park in the shadow of Michigan Central Station, located in historic Corktown at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and 14th Street. Registration and sign-in will begin at 8:00 am. Coffee and carbs will be served, and bike technicians will be on hand to provide last-minute adjustments.

Hurry up and register.

It’s not every day you get to ride with 3,000 other cyclists throughout Detroit!

The Detroit News ran a recent article on a $25,000 grant they gave to the DNRE. This grant is seed funding for developing another phase of Milliken State Park on the RiverWalk.

Mayor Dave Bing being accepted the grant this morning for the William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor from Coca-Cola, the American Parks Foundation and the National Park Foundation as a part of the “America is Your Park” campaign. The Detroit Pistons were also represented at the event.

The plan includes redeveloping the Globe Building, a former automotive manufacturing facility across the street from the park, to construct 17,000-square-foot play area. It will include a rock climbing wall, playscape, obstacle course and a state-of-the-art archery range.

“One of the most important pieces of real estate we have in Detroit is our waterfront,” Bing said. “This riverfront is going to be a great attraction for a long time, not only for those who visit us, but for those of us who live in the city and around the city to come downtown. I feel real good about where we’re going downtown, but our communities are just as important.”

This DNRE plan is only for a portion of the Globe Building with the remainder being developed by a private developer. The playground would be both indoors and out.

The DNRE has developed a couple conceptual designs for the Globe Building. The DNRE has submitted a grant request to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund to help turn this plan into reality.

These concepts would certainly add tremendous value to the Detroit RiverWalk and Dequindre Cut greenways.

Don’t call it downsizing or right sizing.

The planning effort to redefine and rebuild Detroit is officially called the Strategic Framework Plan.

There is an initial set of five “Community Dialogue Forums” planned around Detroit. These meetings are a opportunity for cyclists to make sure the resulting plans include biking, greenways, Complete Streets, Safe Routes to School and more.

The Framework planning team does have copies of the city’s non-motorized plan and the Detroit Greenway Vision. Still, it would be helpful for them to hear directly from residents about the important role of bicycling in Detroit’s future.

Those community meetings are:

• Tuesday, September 14, Greater Grace Temple, 23500 W. Seven Mile Road (NW)
• Thursday, September 16, American Serbian Memorial Hall, 19940 Van Dyke Street (NE)
• Saturday, September 18, Whittier Manor, 415 Burns Drive (SE)
• Tuesday, September 21, El Kiosko Banquet Hall, 7271 Dix Street (SW)
• Wednesday, September 22, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, 315 E. Warren Avenue (Central)

Doors will open at 6 p.m. for all weekday meetings, with the meeting program from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Doors will open at 10 a.m. for the Saturday meeting, with the meeting program from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

The Globe and Mail newspaper out of Toronto had a chance to ride around Detroit. They went on a bike tour and are apparently giving us the big thumbs up.

Detroit’s old nickname, the “Paris of the Midwest,” does not roll off the tongue as smoothly as it might have in 1928. The city’s last few decades of Detroit’s 300 years have been rocky; thousands of its buildings burned, over half of its population moved away and its industrial strength weakened. But this once-gorgeous, battered city is a place of extraordinary Art Deco skyscrapers, palatial industrialists’ mansions and a vibrant arts community.

A burgeoning green economy is being embraced, replacing cars with bikes and establishing a strong local food movement.

It’s good to burgeon.

Ironically, Motor City is an ideal place to pedal. The Hub of Detroit is a Midtown non-profit bike shop with a mission to foster urban biking. It offers maps and great tips on biking in Detroit’s unique conditions, and profits are directed toward local youth programs. Wheelhouse, another bike shop on the waterfront, offers rentals and tours through Midtown and other parts of the city, encompassing Detroit’s majestic architecture, urban farms and local food movement, social events and its abandoned mansions – a great, safe way to experience the uniqueness of Detroit.

We couldn’t agree more.

Now if only we could get bikes across the Detroit River, our cycling friends from Toronto could take their bike train to Windsor and pay us a visit.