There’s a lot going on in Windsor, Ontario with respect to biking.  Despite being just across the Detroit River, there hasn’t been much interaction and exchange between bike advocates and even bicyclists — that should change in the future.

But first, lets begin by highlighting some Windsor stories on biking that have come up during the past couple months.

To begin with, a recent Windsor Star newspaper article spoke of efforts to improve biking on Riverside Drive:

Windsor has rolled a little closer to the longtime but controversial goal of having a bike path stretch from the Ambassador Bridge to the east end’s Ganatchio Trail.

A recent ruling by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment allows the city to widen parts of Riverside Drive — against the wishes of some residents — in order to create an unbroken bike path along 16 kilometres of waterfront.

The Windsor Star even printed an opinion piece in support.

One of the biggest supporters for biking in Windsor right now is Councilor Alan Halberstadt.

Mr. Halberstadt was also involved in a flap over ticketing cyclists that ride on sidewalks (and endanger pedestrians.)  One problem is some streets are not properly designed for bicyclists and high-speed, high-vehicular traffic counts. As a result, many cyclists feel forced to use sidewalks.

One such example is Windsor’s Tecumseh Road.  A cyclist challenged him to ride Tecumseh during rush hour to eyewitness the problem and he did.

Their two-wheeled adventure took about 15 minutes. More than once the much faster motorists were hitting the brakes as they slowed behind the cycling duo. Some impatient drivers farther down the line even hit the horn before darting out into the other lane. Graber said he wanted the councillor to experience what cyclists go through every day.

“So he could have more insight when he’s making decisions,” said Graber, who rides 15 kilometres to work each day. “I gotta take my hat off to him. He really stepped up. He was out there and a city bus came within two feet of him, so I really have to give him credit.”

Halberstadt said his ride, while hair-rising at times, hasn’t changed his outlook.

“Not really,” said Halberstadt. “I’ve been saying for 10 or 12 years, since I’ve been council, that we need to improve our cycling network. If the attention this has brought helps move this along, then I’m thrilled.”

And if you’re really interested, there’s a video of this ride as well.

Windsor Star also ran an editorial Bike Paths would Boost our Quality of Life.  It was great to read except it didn’t mention Detroit and our biking efforts.

Expect that to change.

NEXT UP: Getting bicyclists across the border

www.pedbikeimages.org / Dan Burden

Ever wonder how many people are biking or walking to work in Metro Detroit?  How do we compare with the bike friendly cities of Chicago and Portland?

Fortunately the U.S. Census publishes statistics on how people get to work. The below numbers are from 2007, which is before gasoline hit $4 a gallon and encouraged increased bike commuting.  We look forward to seeing the 2008 numbers.

Note that the Metro Detroit error margins are generally +/- 0.1%. For cities, the error margins are much larger which makes comparing these numbers somewhat precarious.

One conclusion that can be drawn is women don’t bike to work as frequently as men, but especially in some areas such as Wayne County, Southfield, and Grand Rapids.  Even in more bike friendly cities like Ann Arbor, Chicago, and Portland, women workers are much less likely to bike to work.  There is no corresponding gender difference among those walking to work in many of these regions (the City of Detroit is an exception).  In Metro Detroit, women  walk to work more often than men (1.6% vs. 1.4%).

Another conclusion: Detroit has much room for improvement compared to places like Ann Arbor, Chicago, and Portland.

One question we have is how does the Census Bureau count workers that use bus bike racks?  Are they counted as public transit commuters, as bicyclists or both?

John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press wrote an excellent article about transforming Detroit’s current road infrastructure to the betterment of the surrounding neighborhoods.

Detroit’s main streets make good highways but lousy neighborhoods.

It’s time to change that.

The local development community is abuzz with talk of adding bicycle lanes, wider sidewalks, new landscaping and other devices to narrow Detroit’s arterial streets — Woodward, Gratiot, Jefferson and others.

Whether it’ll happen is open to question. But the goal is to recapture Detroit’s cityscape for the people who actually live here.

Gallagher also references last week’s transportation week that we wrote about earlier.

Model D also covered last week’s events with this video featuring Ian Lockwood from Glatting-Jackson.

What a busy week for bike advocacy!  There are four meetings scheduled this week.  Each meeting is an opportunity to speak up and ask for better bicycling facilities.

Tuesday: Detroit Riverwalk and Dequindre Cut

This is a public forum to discuss future programming of the East Riverfront and Dequindre Cut.  Details were posted last week.

Wednesday: Troy Trails Committee

The next Troy Trails Committee meeting is being held at 7:30pm in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.  We’ll be reviewing an upcoming presentation to City Council and get an update on the Troy’s Master Plan Request for Proposal (RFP).

Thursday: Bloomfield Hills Master Plan

A master planning public workshop is scheduled for Thursday, November 20th from 4 PM until 8 PM.  The workshop is being held at city hall, 45 East Long Lake Road.

The purpose of this public workshop is to inform local citizens of the process to update the Master Plan and gain input into areas of concern and opportunities for the future of the City to be addressed in the Master Plan.  Topics of discussion will include land use, housing density, building design, transportation systems, natural features and community facilities and services.

Improving roads for bicycling is certainly an issue within Bloomfield Hills.

Thursday: Royal Oak Downtown Development Authority

** Note that this is a date change **

We will be going before the DDA to ask that they support better biking and walking in Royal Oak, but especially in Downtown Royal Oak.  We expect to give a presentation similar to what we gave the Royal Oak City Commission.  This meeting is at 4 PM at City Hall.

Last week, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan brought in Ian Lockwood, a traffic engineer from Glatting Jackson.  Ian was here to lead a multi-disciplinary team of experts to look at how we can improve the built environment on Detroit’s lower eastside.

One of the biggest benefits of these sessions is Ian provides the terminology and solutions to familiar urban design issues, e.g. super blocks, a city’s bone structure, etc.  He also emphasizes that cities exist to promote exchange.  That increasing transportation speeds limits exchange.  And when making decisions, we need to err on the side of place.

So, if you missed these sessions, you’re in luck because Ian has a video from an earlier presentation on-line (see below.)

He also has a PDF document that covers many of the same topics covered last week.  It’s called Transportation Prescription for Healthy Cities.