The League of American Bicyclists just announced 16 new Bicycle Friendly Community awards, three of which are in Michigan:

• Lansing
• Marquette
• Portage

All three earned the entry-level Bronze status for Engineering, while Lansing also got a Bronze in Education.

There are now six recognized Bicycle Friendly Communities in Michigan. Sadly enough, none are in Macomb, Oakland, or Wayne Counties.

However, it’s expected the city of Detroit will apply within the year given the recent Bikes Belong/REI Bicycle Friendly Community grant. The city of Ferndale had applied years ago but did not receive an award or honorable mention.

Here’s some breaking news from Rory Neuner from the Michigan Environmental Council and a League of Michigan Bicyclists director:

The Lansing City Council voted unanimously tonight (Monday) to adopt a Complete Streets / Non-Motorized Plan ordinance. We’re thrilled!

What does this mean?

There’s more information on this ordinance and how the Lansing Walking & Bicycling Task Force got to this milestone on their web site. But in summary, this ordinance:

1. Requires the City of Lansing to adopt a Non- Motorized Network Plan.
2. The Non-Motorized Network Plan would include, at a minimum, accommodations for accessibility, sidewalks, curb ramps and cuts, trails and pathways, signage, and bike lanes, and shall incorporate the principles of Complete Streets and maximize walkable and bikeable streets within the City.
3. To the extent financially feasible, future construction or reconstruction of City rights-of- way or any parts thereof shall be in conformity with the Non-Motorized Network Plan.
4. Encourage adequate funding for the plan.
5. Require an update of the Non-Motorized Network Plan every five years from the date of adoption.

Passing an ordinance up front is a slightly different route than what was taken in Royal Oak and Troy, but definitely works.

And perhaps the biggest benefit to what Lansing has achieved is the funding. Making plans is easy. It’s a major challenge finding the money to implement them, especially in these economic times.

Under current Michigan law (called Act 51), a minimum of 1% of the state road funds each city, village, and county receive must be spent on non-motorized facilities like bike lanes and sidewalks. Some follow this law and some don’t, but that’s a whole other topic.

The city of Lansing currently spends 2% to 3% for non-motorized facilities. Under this ordinance that  is raised to 5%.

Congratulations, Lansing!

Last week the Great Lakes Metros Summit was held in Buffalo, New York.

And to quote Artvoice, this event was where “activists and policymakers from around the Great Lakes gathered to share homegrown solutions to Rust Belt problems.”

At the Summit, I moderated a panel on Complete Streets and Transit while also providing a brief overview status of Detroit’s greenways and non-motorized transportation based on my work for the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance (MTGA).

Our panel included Rory Neuner from the Michigan Environmetnal Council and a League of Michigan Bicyclists director. Rory is very active with the Walk and Bike Lansing campaign. They are working on a Complete Streets policy for Lansing.

If you are a Lansing resident, please visit their web site to learn how you can help make Lansing “accessible and walk & bike friendly!”

Next on the panel was Dom Nozzi of Richmond, Virginia. Dom has an invaluable web site devoted to making cities more bikeable and walkable. His four-part speech from Bloomington, Indiana really defines a vision for how we need to prioritize transportation for people first rather than cars.

After the summit, I had a chance to talk with Dom. One interesting point he made is that many people are stuck with outdated transportation paradigms, primarily that mobility — high speeds, wide roads — is the primary goal. They’ve committed themselves to this paradigm and cannot step back to view the bigger picture. They are often unconvinceable. An advocates best hope is they will be replaced or retire.

And also on the panel was Justin Booth, who certainly plays a major role in all the good things happening in Buffalo with respect to biking.

Justin created Buffalo’s Blue Bicycle program, a low-cost, simple, innovative means for sharing bikes across town.

Also, Justin helped create the Rusty Chain beer program here a portion of sales from a custom locally-brewed beer go towards bike racks — an example of which is shown next to Justin in the above photo. To date the program has generated $10,000, which has been matched with city and federal funding (CMAQ). As a result, businesses within Buffalo’s Central Business District can request bicycle racks which are installed for free.

Buffalo recently installed 110 bicycle racks! Justin noted that the racks are custom designed and made locally.

That’s something worth raising a glass to.

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?