The date has been set for a grand opening celebration: Thursday, May 14th at 10AM.

Certainly the trail has been useable since last fall.

Keep in mind that this is only Phase I of the trail. Phase II continued the Dequindre Cut north of Gratiot to Mack Avenue.

And either the trail got a new sign along Gratiot or I haven’t been paying attention. Either way, it looks good.

Also, there are rumblings of a “Dequindre Cut East.” There is an abandoned rail corridor just east of Beaufait from Mack to the Riverfront. The Gleaner’s Community Food Bank is interested in this project as it would connect their building to the Riverwalk. This is still very much in the conceptual phase, so there are not many details to share at this time.

The Dodge Brothers mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit. Photo by Alex Dolpp.

Detroit has some interesting bike history due in part to the strong connection between bicycles and early automobile manufacturing.

One interesting connection is the Dodge Brothers Company, second only to Ford in car sales during the 1920s and now a brand of the Chrysler Corporation.

But before the Dodge Brothers made cars, they made bicycles.

From the book, The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922 by Clarence Monroe Burton, William Stocking, Gordon K. Miller:

The Dodge motor car stands as a tribute to the work of two brothers – John F. and Horace E. Dodge. As young men they learned the machinist’s trade in their father’s shop at Niles, Michigan, which was their home town.

In 1894 they went to Windsor, Ontario, where they became machinists for the Dominion Typograph Company. Their ability to produce excellent machine work and tools brought them to the attention of Fred S. Evans, a Detroit manufacturer.

About this time the brothers invented the first ball bearing bicycle, and after this accomplishment they joined Mr. Evans in organizing the Evans & Dodge Bicycle Company in 1897 and leased the plant of the Dominion Typograph Company at Windsor, carried on the business for two years, then sold out to a Canadian bicycle concern.

With their plant equipment, the machinery and the cash received in the deal, they came to Detroit and in 1901 opened a machine shop in the Boydell Building on Beaubien Street.

When, in 1903, Henry Ford began the manufacture of his motor car, he asked the Dodge brothers to undertake the manufacture of engines, transmissions and steering gears in quantity production. This they did and so rapidly did their business grow in connection with the development of the Ford car, that when they abandoned the Hastings Street plant in 1910 it was the largest and best equipped machine plant in Detroit.

Continue reading about the Dodge Brothers…

Much has changed since last summer.  Al Fields, our main go-to guy for bike issues within the May0r’s Office left for a job at DTE.   We struggled to find a friendly ear to help us move things forward.

The change in Mayors solved that problem.  Not only is Mayor Cockrel pushing a green agenda, he’s a cyclist.

And near the end of last year he created the Office of Energy and Sustainability.  One of their key initiatives?

Promote implementation of the city of Detroit’s master plan, which will include the non-motorized plan, and many other pedestrian friendly initiatives, bike paths, parks, etc.

And more positive news?  The City of Detroit has completed the grant application for 16 miles of bike lanes and trails for Corktown.

With the upcoming mayoral primary election this month, the Metro Times has interviewed many of the candidates.  It was somewhat of a surprise seeing biking mentioned by a couple candidates.

• Before November, candidate Nicholas Hood III promises to “establish a series of free ‘healthy activities’ for the city such as city wide bike ride / walk with the mayor.”
• To reduce our dependence on foreign oil, candidate Sharon McPhail proposes “bike Lanes on all main roads with a system of high level fines for anyone found driving in them.”

Much has changed.

Yesterday Mayor Cockrel signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Act.  He joins a growing list of other Metro Detroit signees that have done the same, including:

• John Hieftje (Ann Arbor)
• Marilyn Stephan (Berkley)
• Daniel Paletko (Dearborn Heights)
• Robert Porter (Ferndale)
• James Ellison (Royal Oak)
• Gretchen Driskell (Saline)
• Brenda Lawrence (Southfield)
• Norma Wurmlinger (Southgate)
• Cameron Priebe (Taylor)
• David Flaisher (Township of West Bloomfield)
• Mark Steenbergh (Warren)
• Paul Schreiber (Ypsilanti)

Part of this agreement includes the following:

We will strive to meet or exceed Kyoto Protocol targets for reducing global warming pollution by taking actions in our own operations and communities such as:

2. Adopt and enforce land-use policies that reduce sprawl, preserve open space, and create compact, walkable urban communities;
3. Promote transportation options such as bicycle trails, commute trip reduction programs, incentives for car pooling and public transit;

There’s no surprise that many of these Michigan cities have taken the lead on bicycle facility development.  Some have not.  For those communities that have not seen the light — or made the commitment to improve biking — this may be another justification to help push them along.

Today (Monday, January 26th) at noon I’ll be on CJAM radio (95.1 FM) to discuss biking in Detroit.

The program is called Scaledown Radio and it hails from Windsor.  The program hosts also have a web site call Scaledown with a vision to “connect every Windsorite to their own walkable neighborhood that has its own public spaces, local independent businesses and artists.”

Though the CJAM  listening area is limited to Windsor and Southwest Detroit, you can listen to it as an audio stream on the Internet.  Just visit the CJAM web site to lean more.