From Ferndale Planning Manager Justin Lyons:

As fellow Ferndale bicycling supporters, I wanted to let you know about some upcoming events and projects happening this summer.

May has nearly arrived, which means Ferndale Bike Month is right around the corner! This year, we are hosting more group bike rides (including a parks tour), a Bicycling 101 class, and the annual Downtown Bike Rodeo. All the details can be found on the City’s Bike Month page with final locations, routes, and start times to come.

The biggest road construction project of the summer is taking place on Livernois (between 9 Mile and 8 Mile). Aside from a freshly paved road (sans potholes), protected bike lanes, bike boxes, safer pedestrian crossings, a new traffic signal at 9/Livernois, and a new public plaza at 9/Livernois will be part of the project. Informational meetings will be held at the Kulick Community Center (1201 Livernois) today, April 26^th at 11am and 6pm and more details are posted at this link. If you’re free, we always appreciate bike lane supportive voices in the crowd.

Aside from those projects, Gainsboro/Paxton (between E. Nine Mile and Woodland) will be getting a bike lane this summer (July/August), which will better connect E. Nine Mile to Woodward Heights. Lastly, W. Nine Mile (between Pinecrest and Coolidge) will be restriped to 3 lanes and adding a buffered bike lane as part of a joint project with Oak Park (page on Ferndale Moves coming soon).

Looking forward to seeing you on the streets of Ferndale this summer.

Oops!

The state legislature recently enacted bills that raise speed limits in Michigan and decrease penalties for doing so. That wasn’t smart but that’s not all.

Many Michigan cities have bad local bicycling laws. We’ve documented them both here and here, though some may have been removed since these articles were written. Now fortunately nearly none of these are enforceable since current state law (MCL 257.606 Section 4) requires local authorities to post these local bicycle ordinances on signs.

That requirement goes away on January 5th, 2018.

Why? Because the that speeding bill we mentioned earlier incorrectly amended 257.606. It removed items from Section (1) and failed to update Section (4) which referenced those items. It appears to only affect the enforcement of local bicycle ordinances (posted signs are no longer required) and truck routes (posted signs are now required.)

The Detroit Greenways Coalition worked with Detroit City Council to remove its outdated local ordinances. Other cities have not. We expect the Coalition will help get this state law corrected. It would also be a good opportunity to remove local authorities from requiring bicycle registrations and licenses — and fees.

Not that you will, but you can potentially get tickets for the following bicycle violations starting January 5th: (more…)

The Woodward Complete Streets planning project has been underway for months, but now it’s time to engage with residents and stakeholders.

To accomplish this, a series of five 3-day open houses are being announced along Woodward. The first is April 17th through the 19th with a focus on Woodward from McNichols (6 Mile Road) north through Ferndale.

The meeting location is the St. James Catholic Church at 241 Pearson Street at Woodward in Ferndale.

A special focus group meeting for cyclists is scheduled for April 17th at noon. Yes, lunch will be provided. This is your best bet to giving feedback on how to make Woodward more bicycle friendly.

If you can’t make this meeting, there are drop in hours:

• April 17th from 9am until 5pm
• April 18th from 12pm until 8pm
• April 19th from 9am until 3pm

There’s also a walking audit with Dan Burden. We’ve been on many of his tours that are full of common sense traffic solutions. He strongly recommend you consider attending one of these.

More information is available on this Woodward Complete Streets flyer.

MDOT was resurfacing Northwestern Highway this year and did something quite unexpected. They converted the road’s 12 foot paved shoulders to buffered bike lanes.

Originally this road from Inkster to 14 Mile had a 12 foot asphalt shoulder. That shoulder is now a 7 foot bike lanes with a 5 foot painted buffer. Is it ideal for families? Of course not, but many cyclists will find it a comfortable and safe place to ride in spite of the road’s 50 MPH speed limit.

We’ve encouraged MDOT to pursue similar designs on other state roads, but especially in Detroit where there are lower vehicle traffic and under-utilized vehicle travel lanes.

Also, we submitted the new bike lane information to Google Maps for approval.

Why Northwestern Highway?

As we see it, these bike lanes came about for three reasons.

First, the state’s Complete Streets policy encourages MDOT to add biking facilities to its roads.

Second, area cyclists were riding this road segments and had written to MDOT asking for an improved signs to better accommodate cycling. Well, MDOT did better than that. The key was letting MDOT know cyclists were already using Northwestern Highway. This provided documented justification for making the improvement.

Third, there was already a wide, paved shoulder. That made this retrofit very cost effective. The total cost was $21,855 on what was likely a million-some dollar project.

News Coverage

MyFoxDetroit covered this story as part of a segment on bicycling safety. Their story includes a video showing the new lanes.

The Training Wheels program is an invaluable training that provides insight on how to redesign roads to better accommodate cyclists. It’s beneficial to the seasoned planner as well as the casual cyclist looking to make their city more bike friendly. The costs vary but are minimal (e.g. River Rouge is $15.)

Here is the press release from MDOT:

MDOT promotes on-road bicycling facilities

June 18, 2012 — The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is sponsoring “Training Wheels” courses around the state designed to educate communities interested in providing on-road bicycle facilities for their residents and visitors. The five-hour course includes both classroom and outdoor instruction. The courses will be offered in the following areas:

• July 16 in Alma
• July 17 in St. Ignace
• July 18 in Ferndale
• July 19 in River Rouge
• July 20 in Kalamazoo

“Training Wheels” shows communities how to integrate bike facilities into existing infrastructure to make bicycling safe and convenient, providing alternate transportation that makes roads more complete for everyone. Classroom instruction using a guide produced by the American Association for State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is followed by an on-road, on-bike portion. The outdoor segment provides participants a firsthand look at the benefits of providing an alternative mode of travel that does not require expensive facilities for communities to build or maintain.

The “Training Wheels” courses are intended for city, township or county managers; council members; engineers; and related design and planning staff. The course is eligible for five Professional Development hours for professional engineers. Advance registration only. A bicycle and helmet are required – please notify local host if needed, since limited equipment may be available. Registration deadline is June 28.

For details, contact Cynthia Krupp at 517-335-2923, or by e-mail at kruppc@michigan.gov.