Not much has been posted on m-bike this past week. Believe it or not, that’s a good thing. That means I’ve been spending more time doing bike advocacy and have no free time to blog about it.

So, now that it’s the weekend, there’s time to provide updates on some local non-motorized planning efforts.

Royal Oak Task Force

As we reported earlier, a group of cyclists went before Royal Oak’s City Commission to ask for improved biking and walking facilities. As a result, the Commission formed a Task Force to work with city staff to develop some proposals.

That has happened.

The Task Force has held many meetings and it seemed that near the beginning there was consensus that we needed to develop a non-motorized plan – a prerequisite for receiving construction grant funding for biking and walking facilities. We also concluded that such a plan would need to be developed by a planning firm that is experienced in developing such plans.

Of course means we would need money to pay for that planning. Most of our Task Force discussions revolved around finding money to pay for this planning. In fact, Royal Oak put this planning project on their economic stimulus request list. However, it did not make the final cut.

But, Royal Oak is getting economic stimulus money for road construction which frees up about $300K in road funds.

Our Task Force will be going before the City Commission on April 6^th to ask that $40K from that $300K be spent on hiring a planner to develop a non-motorized plan.

Troy Non-Motorized Plan

The city of Troy has hired two top-notch planning consultants, Hamilton-Anderson and The Greenway Collaboration. The city and consultants hosted a kickoff meeting on Wednesday. The proposed schedule promises prompt results, so stay tuned for updates over the next few months.

I gave the following public comment at a recent Troy City Council meeting.  I was speaking in favor of their Troy Trails initiative.  Given the city’s past success in attracting business, I thought the following insight might spur further support for making Troy more bikeable and walkable:

Yesterday I got back from a Smart Growth conference in Albuquerque

There I learned that progressive entrepreneurs and businesses – companies like Google – are starting to ask the question:

If we locate our operations in your city, what will be our carbon footprint?

Can our employees bike, walk or take transit to work?

Or do they need to drive?

Can they bike or walk to the grocery store, the parks, cafes or the local micro brew?

Can their kids walk or bike safely to school?

Or do they need to be driven?

Today, honestly,having a low carbon footprint in Troy is challenging. Troy is not yet competitive with the Ann Arbors, the Portlands, or the Chicagos of the world.

And while making Troy more bikeable and walkable is not a single solution, it is a major first step towards becoming more competitive in bringing future progressive employers to Troy.

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?

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.

2007 bicycle-vehicle crashes in Troy

This is a map of bicycle-vehicle crashes in Troy for 2007.  Troy had 20 such crashes in 2007, which was the second highest in Oakland County, 10 crashes fewer than Royal Oak.

While it’s difficult understanding how and where each crash occurs, it appears that all but a few crashes occured on sidewalks and crosswalks.  This coincides with national studies showing sidewalks are the least safe place to ride a bicycle.

It should be noted that, Troy is being very proactive and is looking to improve biking and walking safety within their community.