Posts Tagged ‘Ferndale’

Exciting 2018 bike updates from the city of Ferndale

Thursday, April 26th, 2018

From Ferndale Planning Manager Justin Lyons:

As fellow Ferndale bicycling supporters, I wanted to let you know about some upcoming events and projects happening this summer.

May has nearly arrived, which means Ferndale Bike Month is right around the corner! This year, we are hosting more group bike rides (including a parks tour), a Bicycling 101 class, and the annual Downtown Bike Rodeo. All the details can be found on the City’s Bike Month page with final locations, routes, and start times to come.

The biggest road construction project of the summer is taking place on Livernois (between 9 Mile and 8 Mile). Aside from a freshly paved road (sans potholes), protected bike lanes, bike boxes, safer pedestrian crossings, a new traffic signal at 9/Livernois, and a new public plaza at 9/Livernois will be part of the project. Informational meetings will be held at the Kulick Community Center (1201 Livernois) today, April 26th at 11am and 6pm and more details are posted at this link. If you’re free, we always appreciate bike lane supportive voices in the crowd.

Aside from those projects, Gainsboro/Paxton (between E. Nine Mile and Woodland) will be getting a bike lane this summer (July/August), which will better connect E. Nine Mile to Woodward Heights. Lastly, W. Nine Mile (between Pinecrest and Coolidge) will be restriped to 3 lanes and adding a buffered bike lane as part of a joint project with Oak Park (page on Ferndale Moves coming soon).

Looking forward to seeing you on the streets of Ferndale this summer.

Bad local biking ordinances become enforceable in 2018

Thursday, November 23rd, 2017

Oops!

The state legislature recently enacted bills that raise speed limits in Michigan and decrease penalties for doing so. That wasn’t smart but that’s not all.

Many Michigan cities have bad local bicycling laws. We’ve documented them both here and here, though some may have been removed since these articles were written. Now fortunately nearly none of these are enforceable since current state law (MCL 257.606 Section 4) requires local authorities to post these local bicycle ordinances on signs.

That requirement goes away on January 5th, 2018.

Why? Because the that speeding bill we mentioned earlier incorrectly amended 257.606. It removed items from Section (1) and failed to update Section (4) which referenced those items. It appears to only affect the enforcement of local bicycle ordinances (posted signs are no longer required) and truck routes (posted signs are now required.)

The Detroit Greenways Coalition worked with Detroit City Council to remove its outdated local ordinances. Other cities have not. We expect the Coalition will help get this state law corrected. It would also be a good opportunity to remove local authorities from requiring bicycle registrations and licenses — and fees.

Not that you will, but you can potentially get tickets for the following bicycle violations starting January 5th: (more…)

Woodward Complete Streets meeting on April 17th

Tuesday, April 9th, 2013

Woodward Complete Streets flyerThe Woodward Complete Streets planning project has been underway for months, but now it’s time to engage with residents and stakeholders.

To accomplish this, a series of five 3-day open houses are being announced along Woodward. The first is April 17th through the 19th with a focus on Woodward from McNichols (6 Mile Road) north through Ferndale.

The meeting location is the St. James Catholic Church at 241 Pearson Street at Woodward in Ferndale.

A special focus group meeting for cyclists is scheduled for April 17th at noon. Yes, lunch will be provided. This is your best bet to giving feedback on how to make Woodward more bicycle friendly.

If you can’t make this meeting, there are drop in hours:

  • April 17th from 9am until 5pm
  • April 18th from 12pm until 8pm
  • April 19th from 9am until 3pm

There’s also a walking audit with Dan Burden. We’ve been on many of his tours that are full of common sense traffic solutions. He strongly recommend you consider attending one of these.

More information is available on this Woodward Complete Streets flyer.

TAP grants fund local bicycle and trail projects

Wednesday, February 6th, 2013

The current Federal Transportation bill made many changes to how we fund non-motorized projects. One major change was the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) functionally replaced the old Transportation Enhancements (TE) program. The bill also required MDOT to share that TAP funding to groups like SEMCOG that would make grants within their seven county region.

At the national level, this sharing was considered a “win”. In Michigan, MDOT did a fair job with TE funding, so this may be a negative since it adds complexity and requires advocates to monitor two separate granting programs.

Either way, the first round of SEMCOG TAP grant funding has been announced — a total of $6.3 million in grants:

  • City of New Baltimore, Connection to the County Line Rd. Path, $183,016
  • City of Monroe, North Dixie Highway Median, $80,000
  • City of Auburn Hills, Opdyke Pathway Gaps, $267,475
  • City of Auburn Hills, Downtown Riverwalk Squirrel Ct Improvements, $194,589
  • City of Ferndale, Livernois Complete Street, $118,094.40
  • City of Ferndale, West Nine Mile Streetscape Improvement (Livernois to Pinecrest) Phase IV, $590,134
  • City of Novi, Metro Connector Trail, $741,200
  • City of Rochester, Safety Crossing, $99,970
  • St. Clair County Road Commission, Bridge to Bay Trail on Desmond Landing, $211,339
  • City of Port Huron, Bridge to Bay trail – 10th Street to Military Street, $250,614
  • Ypsilanti Twp (Road Commission for Washtenaw County), Grove Road trail reconstruction, $763,000
  • City of Allen Park, Ecorse Road Streetscape, $626,883
  • City of Dearborn, Proposed Rouge River Greenway Extension Project- UM Dearborn Connection, $242,830
  • City of Dearborn, Rouge River Gateway Trail Extension Phase I, $302,000
  • City of Detroit, West Vernor / Woodmere to Clark Streetscape, $1,000,000
  • City of Detroit, Congress Streetscape, $636,310

Our favorite? bike shop morphett vale will provide bike lanes and more to improve the cycling connection between Ferndale (at 9 Mile) and Detroit. The city of Detroit is also looking at improvements to Livernois south of Eight Mile. When completed, this will provide a nice route between the University District/Sherwood Forest neighborhoods and downtown Ferndale.

We also like Dearborn’s extension of the Rouge Gateway Trail from Andiamo’s Restaurant and westward. Ending in a restaurant parking lot on a busy Michigan Avenue is far from ideal. Continuing the trail to the nearby neighborhood and park is a great idea.

Many of the other projects are wide sidewalks and sidepaths along roads. With the exception of Novi’s project (which connects two MDOT trails), it’s disappointing to see these projects funded from a limited source. We think the cities should pay for sidewalks and sidepaths, especially since in so many cases they less safe and more costly than other options.

Women leaders in the Detroit bicycle movement

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

Detroit’s ever-growing bicycle scene is largely due to women leadership.

The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, SDBA, Midtown Detroit, Wheelhouse Detroit, Fender Bender, DECC, MTGA, Criterium Detroit City, etc.

And that influence continues to grow.

Detroit Je T’aime published a story on Fender Bender called, Detroit’s Real Bike Chix.

Sarah Sidelko goes by the nickname “Sidewalk” – in matters of transportation justice, she’s the boss. Sarah has been living in Detroit for 10 years – out of which she spent 7 years without a car. That inspired her to create Fender Bender, a bike shop exclusively dedicated to women, queer and transgender folks.

“It’s about creating a safe space where we can have free conversations. We use bike mechanics to think about ourselves”, says Sidewalk.

The article also mentions Fender Bender’s successful SOUP pitch which earned them $514 – a story also covered in Model D.

Fender Bender Detroit will use the SOUP grant funds towards funding the July and September Fender Bender Detroit bike mechanic training course. This six week series of bicycle mechanic training classes comprehensively covers bicycle maintenance and repair skills for each function, system, and component of the bicycle. We learn, understand, and demonstrate the anatomy of the bicycle, tools used in repair processes, and repair skills.

Skirts and Wheels

Melanie Piana has been very busy on the other side of Detroit’s north border. She led efforts to pass Ferndale’s Complete Streets ordinance. She’s now starting a woman-focused group as mentioned on Mode Shift.

Forget the Lycra, Spandex and jerseys. Bring your skirts, heels and other “normal” clothes to this new monthly Ferndale bicycling gathering for women.

Inspired by the CopenhagenCycleChic.com website, the new Metro Detroit event is organized by Melanie Piana, mayor pro tem in Ferndale.

“We need to educate people that cycling can be a very normal part of your life, and that you don’t need to spend a lot of money on clothing and gear to do it,” she says. “Cycling is a very normal, everyday activity and in Michigan and other places it’s something viewed as a fad or a hobby, not something you do as a very normal daily activity to get around and do daily things like going to the grocery store or pharmacy.”

The Ferndale Patch also covered this story.

MASH Ride

Back within the City, MASH magazine had their first ride last Saturday.

This RIDE was created to encourage YOUNG WOMEN (and men) IN DETROIT to BIKE!

Their next ride is June 16th.