The 2009 Oakland County Trail Summit: By Land, By Water is scheduled for October 8th at the Proud Lake State Recreation Area near Milford.

The details and agenda are on the registration page. Note that this event is limited to 150 registrants.

Later in the month (October 25th through the 28th) is the Mid-America Trails and Greenways Conference in Kalamazoo.

There is less than two weeks left to get the early registration price.

Here are some additional conference details from Nancy Krupiarz, executive director for the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance:

The 4th Mid American Trails & Greenways creates an excellent opportunity for all those involved in trails and greenways to share our experiences learn from each other and continue connecting our trails and greenways.

Sponsored by eight Mid America states of Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky, and supported by a host of national, state, regional and local trail agencies and organizations, the conference will feature interactive educational sessions and exciting mobile workshops bringing together the best presenters from Mid America and the nation. An update on the state of trails and greenways in Mid America will be followed by informative sessions that will look at all aspects of trail and greenway development and operations.

An exhibit area with more than forty exhibitors displaying their products and services will be a part of this event!

In my job at MTGA, I’ll be presenting on our trail and greenway efforts in Detroit.

After the conference, we’re looking at meeting in Detroit to discuss a new Adventure Cycling bike route we are developing. It will be a spur off of their existing Underground Railroad route and will extend from Ohio, through Detroit, into Windsor, and over to Toronto. We’ll also be discussing the U.S. Bicycle Route System and how it might be routed through Detroit.

When talking about trails, water trails or blueways are often not given their due — especially in Detroit. But there are some groups working hard to change that.

Kelli Kavanaugh has an excellent article in Model D talking about a recent kayak adventure.

A blue heron rises gracefully into the air. A fish jumps, the splash rising just over my shoulder. A muskrat sleekly dives. My kayak cuts noiselessly through the water. All this, on Detroit’s East Side.

Riverside Kayaks has been at the forefront pushing these water trails along the Detroit River and others downstream. In my trails job with MTGA, I’ve been helping where I can.

One issue we’re working to resolve involves existing city ordinances. It’s illegal to launch a kayak from a city park unless you first get permission from the recreation department. This ordinance may be a holdover from the days of Prohibition and rum running across the Detroit River when Belle Isle might be a welcomed landing spot.

Riverside Kayaks and MTGA are working with Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel’s office to change that ordinance to exempt small, light craft such as kayaks. We hope to have that change completed this year prior to Ms. Cockrel’s retirement from Council.

Back to Kavanaugh’s Model D article, she also highlights some of the Conner Creek Greenway additions that are in the works.

DECC’s Libby Pachota… is working on raising funds for the Conner Creek Greenway that will ultimately run from the Detroit River to Eight Mile.

DECC’s greenway efforts have led to the construction of a 2 1/2-mile section near City Airport as well as a short stretch called Milbank. Next up: bike lanes on St. Jean between Mack and Jefferson that will then connect down to Maheras Gentry Park. A third phase will connect McNichols to Eight Mile along Outer Drive and Conner. Funds are committed and these four miles will be completed by 2011, says Pachota.

While the city had hoped to have the St. Jean bike lanes in this year, they’ve been pushed back to next year. (This Saturday’s Tour de Troit metric century route will include this section of St. Jean.)

We’re also working with Macomb County to continue the Conner Creek Greenway north of Eight Mile, perhaps taking advantage of some upcoming improvements to Van Dyke.

Here’s some media coverage related to biking in Detroit:

Make the Motor City Smaller

Free Press write Bill McGraw has an article in Newsweek about the need to manage shrinking in Detroit.

Detroit has been shrinking for 50 years. The city has lost more than half of the 2 million people it had in the early 1950s, but it remains 138 square miles. Experts estimate that about 40 square miles are empty, and [Mayor Dave] Bing has said that only about half the city’s land is being used productively.

The next steps are complicated and largely uncharted. Moving residents into more densely populated districts has legal and moral implications; it must be done with care and the input of those who would be moved. And what do you do with the empty space? The city is already dotted with big vegetable gardens, and one entrepreneur has proposed starting a large commercial farm. Some people advocate bike paths, greenways, and other recreation areas. Surrounded by fresh water, and buffeted by nature reasserting itself on land where factories used to be, Detroit could someday be the greenest, most livable urban area in the country. A city can dream, can’t it?

Of course the positve side to this abandonment is our roads have few motorists and it’s a great place to bike. This largely goes unrecognized because the yardstick for bikeability is how much money a city has invested in bike lanes and bike racks. That bike-friendly yardstick fails to acknowledge how a shrinking city can make a city more bikeable.

On a related note, I spoke briefly with Detroit council candidate Charles Pugh at Saturday’s Dally in the Alley. He wants to sit down and discuss how greenways fit into a plan for shrinking Detroit.

Right way is the only way to ride a bike

The Times Herald out of Port Huron has a well-written column about riding on the right side of the road. Apparently they had many of their reads call in regarding biking.

Of course, it is a less-than-scientific survey, but a majority of TalkBack callers believe bicycle riders should travel on the left side of the road, against traffic.

On this, as in many matters, a majority of TalkBack callers are wrong.

One additional point is that riding against traffic on a sidewalk or sidepath (also called safety path) is even more dangerous than riding against traffic on the road.

Campaign focuses on plight of Rust Belt

The Pittsburg Post-Gazette covered the Great Lakes Urban Exchange also known as GLUE, who asks the question, “I Will Stay If…” at events throughout the Rust Belt.

The Detroit party was “a qualified success,” said Ms. [Sarah] Szurpicki. “We had around 100 people and collected over 80 good photos” of participants holding a white board with the phrase “I Will Stay If …” completed.

“The photos show that people want better regional cooperation, public transit, bike lanes, curbside recycling, things like that. And what has come out of this is people saying ‘I am staying to be a part of something,’ ‘I am staying because I want to help build that curbside recycling program.’

“This is about place-building.”

Yesterday 60 cyclists rode where no one had in more than 30 years — on the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit to Windsor.

This was the inaugural Bike the Bridge event, a special group ride which worked out the details with the Detroit International Bridge Company (DIBC) as well as U.S. and Canadian Customs.

The DIBC closed the Detroit-to-Windsor side of the bridge to motorized traffic during the ride over. They also placed mats over the expansion joints to help prevent any tire damage.

It took about 20 minutes for the cyclists to clear the bridge. That’s not too bad considering this is the tallest hill climb in Detroit.

Once in Canada, the group was met by Alan Halberstadt, a Windsor City Councillor and member of the Windsor Bicycle Committee. Halberstadt led the group on a tour of historic village of Sandwich and the Windsor’s Riverfront bike trail.

Halberstadt did mention that if the DIBC builds a second span across the Detroit River, they have mentioned keeping the existing bridge open and possibly available for non-motorized traffic. It’s still far too early to speculate whether than will happen or not.

The new proposed public bridge (called the DRIC) does plan to provide bike and pedestrian access.

The ride continued to a Windsor park where the group was fed. The 51st annual Tour di Via Italia bike race was just a few blocks away on Erie Street.

For the return to Detroit, the bicycle were loaded onto a rental truck and Transit Windsor provided two buses.

Biking in Windsor, Ontario is really a nearby gem, but unfortunately Detroit cyclists can’t just ride to it — at least not yet. Having a convenient, year round non-motorized international connection across the Detroit River would really increase the appeal of biking in the Detroit-Windsor area.

Link: Photos from Bike the Bridge

Imagine biking down a quiet residential street next to a wooded creek. Imagine clearing snow of the frozen creek for outsdoor ice skating in the winter.

Now imagine that in Royal Oak.

Impossible?

No, not at all. It used to happen in Royal Oak According to historical accounts. At least two tributaries of the Red Run passed through Royal Oak with the more prominent one being along Vinsetta Boulevard.

Those bridges crossing over Vinsetta used to be bridges over the creek as shown in this photo.

Then in the 1920s and 1930s, Red Run was buried in a large drain.

Other Michigan cities such as Detroit and Pontiac have also buried rivers.

The city of Pontiac has discussed daylighting the Clinton River through the downtown area.

In Detroit, on planning expert suggested daylighting creeks in the more vacant parts of the city, damming them, and creating lakes surrounded by forests. Imagine biking past around that in Detroit. Perhaps the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority could create a Metropark within the city boundaries.

But this discussion is occuring beyond Michigan. The New York Times published an article about river daylighting both inside and outside of the U.S.

Certainly it costs money. Everything does. But there are benefits to doing this besides creating more recreational opportunities.

How much would home values along Vinsetta increase if the Red Run was restored? Would that justify the cost?