During the past week, at least three different trails have been written about in the Metro Detroit newspapers, though most of the information has already been reported on this site.

Here are some excerpts:

From The Oakland Press

Portion of dinner train route will soon be a trail

A section of railroad used for a dinner train will become connected to a West Bloomfield trail system.

A $1.5 million grant from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund will pay for the project.

Plans call for the section of railroad between Arrowhead Road and Haggerty Road to be abandoned, the tracks removed and the trail connected to the west end of the West Bloomfield Trail, a 4.25-mile trail that winds through the township and which was once rail lines.

From The Oakland Press

Pontiac to use $2.1 million grant to build bridge

A $2.1 million stimulus grant has been awarded to the city of Pontiac to build a pedestrian bridge over Telegraph Road to link pathways along the Clinton River Trail, city officials announced Thursday.

The bridge, north of Orchard Lake Road and south of Voorheis, will connect the 16-mile trail that links the cities of Sylvan Lake, Pontiac, Auburn Hills, Rochester Hills and Rochester.

Department of Public Works & Utilities Acting Director Allan Schneck said Pontiac has been the weak link in the line to connect trails from South Lyon all the way to Rochester Hills in Oakland County. Most of the trail has been connected except for the portion through Pontiac.

From the Detroit Free Press

Recreational path in Detroit to open May 14

The much-delayed Dequindre Cut Greenway, an urban recreational path connecting the east riverfront with the Eastern Market district, will finally open to the public on Thursday, May 14.

There will be a grand opening ceremony at 10 a.m. and activities and entertainment until 2 p.m., according to the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, the nonprofit organization that will maintain the Cut.

The 1.2-mile paved greenway was developed through a public, nonprofit and private partnership. It is part of a growing network of greenway paths developing around the city.

Look at this map from West Bloomfield on the right.

The neighborhood streets are not in a traditional American grid pattern. Instead they are a maze of disconnected cul-de-sacs and roads to nowhere.

This design is embraced by communities where people drive everywhere and rarely walk or bike.

This design forces cyclists as well as motor vehicles to use the more busy arterials (such as Orchard Lake Road in this West Bloomfield example.) That often means less welcoming roads for many cyclists and plenty of traffic congestion.

Some cities (Charlotte, N.C., Portland, Ore., and Austin, Texas) and even states like Virginia are pulling the plug on cul-de-sacs.

According to the Washington Post:

The state has decided that all new subdivisions must have through streets linking them with neighboring subdivisions, schools and shopping areas. State officials say the new regulations will improve safety and accessibility and save money: No more single entrances and exits onto clogged secondary roads. Quicker responses by emergency vehicles. Lower road maintenance costs for governments.

But aren’t cul-de-sacs safer? Not really, according to William Lucy, co-author of the book Tomorrow’s Cities, Tomorrow’s Suburbs. Cul-de-sac communities have some of the highest rates of traffic accidents involving young children.

And these street patterns certainly aren’t safer for cyclists.

That’s one major reason why cycling in older cities like Detroit or Berkley is much more bike-friendly and convenient than places like West Bloomfield.

[There is additional cul-de-sac coverage at National Public Radio.]