The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy has an active page on Facebook.
Their Dequindre Cut trail opening photo gallery is full of great shots, including this one to the right. It certainly shows Detroit knows how to open a trail will style and enthusiasm.
But there are other Detroit trail- or bike-related groups on Facebook, including these:
Mark your calendars for October 25th through the 28th. The 2009 Mid-America Trails and Greenways Conference is coming to Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Here are more details from Nancy Krupiarz of MTGA.
Just wanted to let everyone know that the Mid-America Trails and Greenways Conference program topics and plenary speakers are up on the MTGA website. Hope you are making plans to attend this wonderful networking and inspiring educational event.
The pre-conference field trips are also coming together. They include the following options:
Prices and details will all be in the conference brochure which will be out in July.
And the post-conference sessions are shaping up for Wednesday, October 27th. They include:
Likewise, prices and details will be in the conference brochure.
Hope to see you there!
Traffic engineer Ian Lockwood from Glatting Jackson has been to Detroit a few times now for planning efforts to spur redevelopment and revitalization.
He’s highlighted a key concept for bicycle, pedestrian, and transit advocates. Current U.S. traffic engineering culture pursues greater mobility, i.e. how fast someone can get between places. That’s often why they are stuck thinking primarily about cars, wider roads, higher speeds, and interstate expressways.
Lockwood says we should all focus on accessibility instead. In doing so, we’d try to rein in sprawl, increase density, and improve transportation options.
Perhaps given our automotive heritage, Detroit seems particulary focused on mobility. A recent Brookings Institute report found Metro Detroit led the nation in job sprawl. Seventy-seven percent of our jobs are more than 10 miles from the city center.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“From transportation to workforce development to regional innovation and the provision of social services, the spatial distribution of a metro area’s jobs can ultimately influence its economic productivity, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion and equity,” wrote Elizabeth Kneebone, a senior research analyst at Brookings and author of the 23-page report.
Is there any wonder why we can’t find enough money to repair our roads?
At a recent traffic engineering meeting, Jonathon Levine, a researcher from the University of Michigan gave a presentation about accessibility versus mobility. Fortunately it’s on-line but be forewarned: it’s a little traffic geeky. Even so, the first couple minutes really nail the point about accessibility versus mobility.
And for those that can’t make it through the entire video, this slide really captures the main thrust that accessibility should be the ends. The means includes mobility, proximity (how close things are together) and connectivity (can you access them remotely, e.g. through the Internet).
This needs to be the transportation paradigm for Metro Detroit, and if it were, it’d make bicycling a viable transportation option for more people more often.
Despite all the depressing news of late swirling around the city of Detroit, one bright spot remains — the Dequindre Cut.
Let’s start with an excerpt from Jeff Gerritt’s Freep blog:
The cut is one more reason to feel good about Detroit’s future, if we can start looking at things differently. The city’s population is less than half of its 1950s peak, and it continues to lose more than 10,000 people a year. But its land mass streets, sewers, lighting and the like are still spread over the same 140 square miles geared to accommodate a city of nearly 2 million. Roughly a third of the city is now vacant. To survive and thrive, Detroit must creatively downsize. The Dequindre Cut Greenway shows us how.
The Cut was also mentioned during last Sunday’s Blessing of the Bikes ceremony at the Spirit of Hope Church in North Corktown. Here too is an excerpt from the Blessing:
Shower your blessing on cyclists across Detroit, from the Riverfront to Belle Isle, from Rouge Park to the Dequindre Cut, from downtown to Eight Mile, across Michigan, and all around the world. Amen!
And finally, Model D Media published an article highlighting the big ten greenway efforts in Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck.
So despite all the doom and gloom from GM to Chrysler and now to Old Tiger Stadium, we still can celebrate having one of America’s most unique and beautiful urban trails right here at home.
The League of American Bicyclists (LAB) released their 2009 rankings and Michigan fell 3 spots to 15th.
According to Josh DeBruyn, our MDOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, it appears the drop was primarily due to other states improving their scores.
These overall rankings are based on scores in six different areas. Here is how Michigan ranked within those areas:
Obviously Michigan scored most poorly in the legislative area. According to DeBruyn, this is perhaps due to other states having passed Complete Streets Policies; banning cell phones and texting while driving; having 3′ passing laws; and allowing photo enforcement of moving violations.
We did notice the state ranking application asked about mandatory helmet laws. We contacted the LAB and those answers are only for data collection and are not used in the rankings.
Here is the complete state ranking list: