First, NBC is in Detroit today for an upcoming national story which includes biking in Detroit. It is expected to air later this month….
Detroit on Two Wheels: Wheelhouse
A short article from Papermag gives some love to the Wheelhouse Detroit, which is now open for business.
Not every form of transportation in the Motor City requires an engine. Wheelhouse Detroit, a bicycle shop in downtown Detroit, that offers rentals, retail, and service. They also offer tours that help make little-known tourist gems more accessible in a city that is spread across many miles.
Detroiters Kelli Kavanaugh and Karen Gage opened Wheelhouse two years ago and they emphasize the ecological practices of their business, including the t-shirts and sustainable water bottles they sell. “Our store is an opportunity to get to talk to people about road safety and spread the word that cars need to share the road with riders,” said Gage, who also works as an urban planner in the city.
Real Detroit also ran a nice article on the shop.
Big plans for the future Detroit
The Detroit Free Press published a big article which compiles the various plans for Detroit — including the greenway and non-motorized plans.
The city plans to put up about 30 miles of bike lanes and more than 12 miles of routes designed for cyclists starting in September in southwest Detroit, near Wayne State and on the east side. The aim is a network of hundreds of miles of biking and walking paths connecting neighborhoods and attractions across the city.
There’s also updates on the RiverWalk and Midtown Loop. The Free Press did a find job creating a map showing bike lane projects planned for this year.
The same issue included an editorial.
For all its troubles today, Detroit is also a place brimming with hope for tomorrow.
When you assemble all the proposals, plans and dreams that have been advanced in recent months, the city of 2020 looks dramatically different than it looks today: smaller, smarter, greener, more mobile, with more job opportunities — and once again the pounding heart of a metropolitan region.
You see thousands of kids attending schools that work for them. You see people using light rail and boarding buses in a transit system that serves them. You see a gleaming, growing medical complex; banners being hoisted to the rafters of a new sports arena; and people tending little farms that nourish their neighborhoods in more ways than one. You see convention-goers strolling a crowded RiverWalk and bicyclists coasting the downhills of a new trail network.
Bicyclists coasting the downhills? It’s a nice thought, but with Detroit being built on a former lake bed, there aren’t going to be many downhills of note.
Michigan residents are winners under new state parks passport law
Howard Meyerson, a columnist with the Grand Rapids Press, has covered the state park funding situation for years. His latest column celebrates the passage of the Recreation Passport legislation. He also shined some light on those that opposed or at least delayed these bills.
It wasn’t an easy passage. The Chamber of Commerce and transportation lobby opposed it. Speaker of the House Andy Dillon held it up over the holidays, reportedly to help an old college buddy, now a transportation lobbyist.
But in the end, wiser heads prevailed.
Yes, wiser heads did prevail. The new payment system begins this October, so everyone will still need to purchase their 2010 Motor Vehicle Pass stickers.
Detroit was represented well at the 10th annual National Bike Summit in DC
And, Model D just published an article on the recent National Bike Summit. They referenced our review of the event. Thanks, Model D!