The first round of Metro Detroit’s transportation stimulus checks are in the mail and some are for major bike projects.

This funding is mostly from 3% transportation enhancements sub-allocation, which is $25.4 million for all of Michigan.

I-275 Bike Path (MDOT)

The original $10 million request to recontruct the bike path was reduced to two requests. The first is for $4 million. The second is for $5 million and will only be available if Michigan can recover unused road funds from other states.

Clinton River Trail Bridge (Pontiac)

This bridge at Telegraph and Orchard Lake Road has been long awaited. It will connect the two developed rail-trail segments on both sides of Telegraph. The funding amount is $2.1 million.

Midtown Loop (Detroit)

This $2.3 million in funding is going towards Phase I of the Midtown Loop, a 2-mile walking and (casual) biking loop through Wayne State and cultural center. It’s expected that this stimulus money will push previously secured funding into the second phase and possibly help fund the connector between this project and the Dequindre Cut.

Streetscaping

These projects are aimed at making a road more pedestrian and bicyclist friendly. For example, the Woodward project includes “sidewalks, tree planting, street lights, trash receptacles, bike racks.”

• Woodward in Detroit between I-94 and Euclid (MDOT)
• Monroe and Brush Streets in Greektown, Detroit
• Michigan Avenue in Detroit between Cass and Woodward
• Shelby Street in Detroit between State and Griswold

Transit-Related Projects

Both DDOT and SMART are receiving funds to improve/build bus shelters and related amenities. We’ll contact both to determine whether these projects include bike racks. DDOT has been pursuing bike racks for their bus shelters as well as their buses.

Other Detroit Road Work

We checked and none of MDOT’s Detroit stimulus road work coincides with the city’s non-motorized plan. However MDOT is replacing some bridge decks over I-96 which may coincide with the plan.

Wayne County is receiving funds to reconstruct sections of 7 Mile and Fenkel Roads. Both should have bike lanes. We will contact both Wayne County and the city officials to make sure this is known.

The city of Detroit is receiving over $14.4 million for major street repair. Once we learn which roads those involve we’ll cross check them with the non-motorized plan to see if they are scheduled for bike lanes.

This should clearly show the value of having non-motorized plans in place for cities.

All of MDOT’s Metro Region stimulus projects are available on-line. SEMCOG also has a list of all accepted project requests within their seven-county area.

If your state senator is on this list, it would be extra valuable for you to contact them regarding the below message. They are members of a new senate committee that will be reviewing the stimulus spending:

• Ron JELINEK (R-Three Oaks)
• Jud GILBERT (R-Algonac)
• John PAPPAGEORGE (R-Troy)
• Roger KAHN (R-Saginaw)
• Mark JANSEN (R-Gaines Twp.)
• Mickey SWITALSKI (D-Roseville)
• Deb CHERRY (D-Burton)
• Irma CLARK-COLEMAN (D-Detroit)

From Nancy Krupiarz:

As some of you know, the I-275 Pathway was listed on the MDOT list for federal stimulus dollars. Now that the federal stimulus package has passed, MDOT is wrestling with priorities. The Pathway does rise to the top in terms of priorities. However, there are already constituent letters to legislators from readers who have seen the Pathway on the list and have declared it a waste of money.

Since the final approval of projects will probably end up going through the legislature somehow someway, it is important that the legislators especially with districts along the pathway hear plenty of support from their constituents for this project. This would help a lot in getting these dollars on the ground on the Pathway. So, please contact your state Senator and Representative today. Let them know that:

• This is a major nonmotorized artery for Southeast Michigan, a 43+ mile trail linking up 3 counties and 14 communities. The trail will eventually link up to trails at both the north and south terminus and at several junctures along the way, including Huron Valley Trail, Hines Drive, Canton Township Trails and the Monroe trails.
• This trail is used for commuting to work and school, for recreation, and also serves as a greenbelt along the freeway that is valuable for aesthetics and wildlife habitat.
• It is needed as a framework for active living. As Richard Jackson from the US Center for Disease Control, has said, “It is dishonest to tell our citizens to walk, jog, or bicycle when there is no safe or welcoming place to pursue these life-saving activities.”
• The communities all along the way will be enhanced as they make nonmotorized linkages to this trail. Bikeable/walkable communities are noted as one of the top desired features listed by those seeking homes according the National Association of Homebuilders.

If you don’t know who your legislator is, you can go to http://www.michiganlegislature.org and click on Legislators on the left sidebar. At the bottom of that page, click on Find your representative and Find your senator and fill in your county and zip code and you will get all the information you need.

Thanks for giving your support to the I-275 Pathway!

Nancy Krupiarz
Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance

Mark your calendars. Next month MDOT is hosting an open house to discuss one phase of an I-275 bike path extension to the north from 13 mile to 14 mile.

The meeting is from 6pm until 8pm at the Novi Civic Center.

Here’s the official notice from MDOT with all the details.

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MDOT’s Project List

Crain’s Detroit has posted a list of the MDOT projects on their economic stimulus list. As we reported earlier, designing and re-constructing the entire I-275 Bike Path is on their list.

Also on their list is for Michigan Avenue: Milling and resurfacing from Livernois to Rosa Parks; $10 million. Will this project include bike lanes like those planned for Corktown, just to the east? We’ll find out.

DNR Project List

Given the large backlog in DNR capital repairs and improvements, it’s not surprising to see their list is quite long. Trail-related highlights include:

• Statewide: 600 miles rail-trail surface improvements
• Proud Lake: Floating boardwalk and bridge connection for equestrian trails and the canoe launch to the Powers Unit
• Sterling State Park: Surface improvements to connect internal trail system to City of Monroe’s trail system at Elm Street
• Lakelands Trail: Nine miles of asphalt paving/aggregate equestrian trail project, and two staging areas in Pinckney Township;?6 mile asphalt paving/aggregate equestrian trail project, trail head parking in Putnam Township
• Tri-Centennial State Park: Phase III, development of the mulit-use trail corridor. (This is would extend the Riverwalk through the park and provide connection to the Dequindre Cut.)

Clinton River Trail/MTGA

Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance submitted many trail projects including two for the Clinton River Trail:

• Construct a bicycle/pedestrian bridge over Telegraph Rd. to mitigate high-traffic crossing on rail-trail
• Construct a bike/pedestrian safety island on Orchard Lake Rd. and make trail alignment perpendicular to road to provide continuity and a safe crossing between West Bloomfield Trail and Clinton River trail

New Center Council

There are a slew of interesting projects requested for Detroit’s New Center, including the New Center Bike Lane Greenway Connector Project (along Second and Third Avenues, connecting New Center to Wayne State) and a skate/BMX park.

Other Stimulus Project Requests

There are far more requests than just MDOT’s.

In fact the state just created a special website that discusses this stimulus funding, now called Michigan’s Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

This new web site does have a list of all the requests they’ve received. Yes, there are over 17,000 requests.

That includes 167 projects from Detroit. All of Detroit’s construction-ready greenways are listed, including Conner Creek, Corktown/Mexicantown, Midtown Loop (and Canfield Connector), Southwest Detroit, and Dequindre Cut.

The entire Detroit Non-Motorized Transportation Plan implementation is on the list, which includes striping 400 miles of bike lanes. And similarly, bike lanes along Detroit’s east end of Jefferson are also listed.

A project to rebuild the City Airport hangers along Conner/Outer Drive is on the list. This is also required to make room for the Conner Creek Greenway.

Focus:HOPE has project requests, one of which calls for adding bike lanes to Oakman Boulevard in Highland Park.

The Hamtramck Trail is also on the list for Hamtramck.

Clearly not all these projects can be funded. Michigan is asking municipalities to prioritize their requests. While indications are some of these bike projects will receive funding, nothing yet is set in stone.

What other trail-related projects of interest in the list for Metro Detroit?

The differing House and Senate versions of the stimulus bill were resolved yesterday. It’s expected that the new bill will be voted on today and signed by the President on Monday.

This final bill allocates $29 billion in transportation funding. That’s about how much the federal government allocates during a normal year. How much of that goes to Michigan and how much could be spent on non-motorized facilities is apparently unknown as of now.

We do know that the MDOT Metro Region put reconstruction of the entire I-275 bikepath on their stimulus project list. How huge would that be?

The Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance and other advocates have been working with the City of Detroit to get non-motorized projects in the city’s stimulus list. Dan Cherrin, Mayor Cockrel’s spokesman told the the Michigan Messenger that the city wants to see “bike paths” built with stimulus money. Bike paths could include many of Detroit’s greenway projects as well as the non-motorized plan’s 400-mile bike lane network.

There are also other local bike and trail related projects in the stimulus wish list compiled by the Michigan Municipal League:

• Birmingham – Completion of a renovation of partially existing trail network, $2 million
• Canton – Construction of five pedestrian bridges over the Rouge River providing interconnection of community pathway, $700,000
• Madison Heights – Red Oaks Bikepath, $600,000
• Novi – Improvement of I-275 non-motorized pathway from I696 to Wayne Co, $ 467,000
• Novi – New bike path along M-5 from south of 12 Mile Rd to Pontiac Trail, $ 1,250,000
• Rochester – Paint Creek Trail, $ 300,000
• Royal Oak – Non-Motorized Tranportation Plan, $40,000

What’s not clear is how Novi’s two requests fit with MDOT’s for the I-275 bikepath.

We should know more about what gets funded as this process continues to lumber along.