Rick Snyder, the Republican candidate for Michigan governor picked State Representative Brian Calley as his running mate.

Calley, 33, is relatively unknown outside Lansing, but will bring conservative credentials and experience in state government to the GOP ticket as its candidate for lieutenant governor.

He’s not that unknown. He did consistently vote against the Compete Streets legislation.

But perhaps more worrisome was his House Bill 4204 which tried to divert at least half of the money from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund towards fishing and hunting programs. Currently that money is used to acquire park and natural areas, as well as for developing parks and trails.

The Trust Fund should be used to build upon Michigan’s natural resources and recreational heritage — not to stock fish.

Fortunately it appears the Trust Fund’s current funding focus supports two points in Snyder’s 10-point plan.

4. Create An Environment That Will Keep Our Youth — Our Future — In Michigan
7. Protect Michigan’s Environment

Down the road, cyclists, trail users and others may need to remind him of that.

Clinton River Trail: Bridge Groundbreaking

MDOT and the city of Pontiac are hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for the new trail bridge over Telegraph. The ceremony is August 12th at 10AM on the eastern edge of the bridge near Old Telegraph.

This bridge will connect two important pieces of the Clinton River Trail that are currently very difficult to connect using surface streets. A rendering of the bridge is shown on the right. This project is being funded primarily with ARRA (a.k.a. stimulus) money. The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund is also contributing.

This still leaves one major gap in the Clinton River Trail for Pontiac: from Bagley Street west of Downtown to the Auburn Hills border at Opdyke.

We are clearly ignoring the trail’s improper signed routing of the Clinton River Trail through Downtown Pontiac on sidewalks. Yes, a newly signed bicycle route on sidewalks.

We’re not sure how such obvious mistake could have been funded by MDOT given the AASHTO bicycle guidelines clear instructions against it — especially within a central business district. It’s unsafe for cyclists and pedestrians.

Macomb Orchard Trail: More Asphalt

The Detroit News is reporting that nine more miles of the Macomb Orchard Trail will be paved.

Officials recently authorized the county to seek a low-interest loan to pay for paving those parts of the trail.

“We’ve already submitted our application and it’s being reviewed,” said Bob Hoepfner, the county’s chief highway engineer. “Hopefully we’ll know if it’s approved in about a month. We’d like to get it paved this year if we can.”

There were many complaints about the existing pea gravel surface, so this is certainly good news for cyclists and pedestrians.

Milford Village: Seeking Sidepaths

Another Oakland County government with its DDA was looking to build a side paths for bicyclists (calling them “safety” paths) in spite of the AASHTO bicycle guidelines against it. This sidepath would include 18 intersections in less than one-third of a mile: 2 sidewalks, 3 roads, and 13 residential driveways.

“We asked how can we do this economically,” [Village Manager Arthur] Shufflebarger said. “The DDA went through the options, and said this one was the least expensive.”

They apparently didn’t go through the AASHTO bicycle design guidelines for options. The least expensive option would be an safe, on-road connection.

That said, the?sidepath project was stopped within the same month due to other reasons.

I-275 Metro Trail: Open House

MDOT is scheduling another 5.5 miles of trail reconstruction along I-275 for next spring. This includes rehabilitating “six bridges and two boardwalks, install a pedestrian signal at Ecorse Road and upgrade signs.”

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is hosting an open house-style meeting to provide an overview on the 2011 construction work on the I-275 Metro Trail in Wayne County. The project includes reconstruction of the bike path between US-12 (Michigan Avenue) and I-94. Interested stakeholders will have the opportunity to learn details and provide feedback regarding this project.

The open house is August 10th, from 5pm until 7pm at the Fellows Creek Golf Club (2936 South Lotz Road in Canton.)

The Detroit Free Press is reporting record sales for gas drilling rights on state-owned property.

Michigan oil and gas speculators bet the farm today on a newly developed natural gas field in the northern Lower Peninsula, paying well over $140 million for mineral rights at the halfway point of a record-breaking state auction.

The eye-popping auction results are a windfall for the state’s Natural Resources Trust Fund, which gets about 90% of the proceeds to buy recreational and environmentally sensitive property.

The oil and gas rush was apparently touched off by a single, deep well that went into Missaukee County over the winter. The well, owned by a Colorado-based company, has generated intense speculation on a possible boom in the Utica shale formation that underlies much of the northern Lower Peninsula. Utica shale and other deep shale formations have been productive in other states, but never before developed in Michigan.

Whether this is windfall is a long term or a bust remains to be determined.

Nonetheless, this is great news for the Trust Fund which should be able to provide more grant funding for items such as land acquisition and trail development. For example, the Trust Fund has paid for much of Milliken State Park, the RiverWalk, and Dequindre Cut — often through the DNR.

And, there may be a Trust Fund request in the near future for the Inner Circle Greenway — a trail that would combine with others and wrap around the city.

Until recently, the city of Detroit was not eligible for these funds since City Council had not endorsed a new recreation plan. As we reported earlier, Council endorsed the recreation plan which opens the door to more grant funding in Detroit.

The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grants millions of dollars each year for park land acquisition and trail development. One requirement is the grant recipients must have a recreation plan on file with the DNRE.

Until last week, the city of Detroit did meet that requirement.

They had a recreation plan that calls for adjusting the city’s parks, repositioning some, and investing in others to best serve the needs of the current population. Developed in 2006, the plan had been held up in city council committee.

Right-sizing the park system was called “controversial” by the Detroit News and others. More recently a Detroit News editorial said “it is essential to begin rallying the public to the benefits of right-sizing.” Clearly the wall between the news and editorial staff works.

With a new council came new committee chairs. Council member Kwame Kenyatta now chairs the Neighboorhood and Community Services committee. After a presentation on the rec plan and some positive public comment from MTGA, this committee voted out the proposal. Two weeks later it was approved by the city council.

The Recreation Department expects to submit Trust Fund grant requests due this April.

But some Detroit greenways may be seeking grants as well. The Trust Fund has specifically prioritized funding for greenways and trails that connect urban centers. Projects like the Conner Creek Greenway and Dequindre Cut could make excellent requests for development funding.

The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund announced their recommended projects to be funded for 2010.

The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) Board of Trustees on Wednesday recommended to Governor Jennifer M. Granholm that 67 recreation projects and land acquisitions totaling $35.7 million be funded in 2010. The board this year had considered 175 applications for development and acquisition projects totaling $108.3 million, which were competitively evaluated based on scoring criteria developed by the Board.

“Our natural resources help set Michigan apart from other states, and the work of the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund has made it possible to protect and acquire some of our most scenic lands and unique natural areas,” Granholm said. “These recommendations will allow all who live in and visit our state to further enjoy Michigan’s magnificent natural and recreational areas.”

We’d recently mentioned this upcoming decision. We also didn’t understand why the Wixom/Walled Lake/Commerce Michigan Airline rail-trail project was not listed. The DNR ruled the project ineligible until it can prove it has the required matching funds. (The Trust Fund does not cover 100% of a project’s cost.) It’s expected that this project will be resubmitted for next year’s grant funding.

Here are the final recommendations for trail-related projects within the Seven-county region. (more…)