The Free Press is reporting that Harper Woods is considering blocking some roads with the thought that it may decrease crime.

Harper Woods has several major roads and sits along I-94. City officials said blocking off some streets might make escape more difficult for those who commit crimes in the city.

It might make it more difficult to bike around the city, too.

And while it likely isn’t anyones intention to block bicycle traffic flow, that’s certainly what an improperly design road closure does.

We shared those concerns with the city manager. A full road closure, as the example photo shows, forces bicycles onto sidewalks. In some places, like Catalpa between Southfield and Lathrup Village, there are no sidewalk connections.

Here is some of our letter to the Jim Leidlein, the Harper Woods City Manager (Admin@harperwoodsmi.net).

If you do decide to close roads, I would suggest you maintain an opening in the barrier to allow bicycles to pass through. The AASHTO bicycle facilities guidelines suggest a 10 foot opening with a single bollard to prevent motor vehicle access (attached). Having a removable bollard would also allow emergency vehicle access if needed. Also per AASHTO, it would not be appropriate routing bicycles to a sidewalk in order to get around the road closure.

You might also consider your snow removal policy. You would not want to pile snow in this barrier opening and block non-motorized travel through it.

These same suggestions have been shared with Detroit’s Traffic Engineering division for Palmer Wood’s proposed barriers.

There’s now a Wikipedia page about Cycling in Detroit — the city itself and not the entire Metro region.

This page is roughly based on what other cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City and Toronto have done.

This could be an invaluable resource for all, but especially visitors (including the U.S. Social Forum cyclists.)

Next up? A Greenways in Detroit Wikipedia article.

Copenhagenize recently highlighted snow removal from bike lanes and sidewalks in Copenhagen. It’s apparently a priority for both government and local business.

Snow removal and salting priorities in Metro Detroit are based on maximizing vehicle mobility.

For example, the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) based their winter maintenance priorities on motor vehicle travel volumes. According to RCOC spokesman Craig Bryson, this priority is for safety — or more specifically, the safety of motorists.

The photo on the right is from the city of Southfield, Michigan where snow has been piled near a crosswalk. The streets are well cleared. Judging by the condition of the snow pile, it’d been there a while.

In this case, Southfield might as well keep the Don’t Walk signal on 24/7.

WXYZ ran a tech piece on a powered bicycle wheel:

Detroit of course, is the car capitol of the world, but what if everyone started riding bicycles? That’s the vision of a group of MIT engineers.

The Copenhagen Wheel turns an ordinary bike into a smart electric hybrid. It’s a tiny motor designed to make cycling easier.

So powered wheels are what’s holding Detroit back from re-embracing the bicycle? Oh please.

A third of Copenhageners use bicycles as their primary transportation choice. It’s a flat city not unlike most of Metro Detroit. They don’t need powered wheels to make cycling easier.

What they do have is road infrastructure that encourages safe cycling — something nearly all of Metro Detroit lacks. We’ve built a metropolitan area that discourages healthy transportation choices.

WXZY should know that. They’re located on West 10 Mile in Southfield, which is a terrible road to bike on.

Powered bike wheels aren’t going to encourage anyone to ride roads designed only for powered car wheels.

We need Complete Streets and bike lanes — and that’s the real story.

Al Fields was the go-to guy in Mayor Kilpatrick’s office when it came to getting bike projects done in the city of Detroit.

He left his position in August 2008 to work for DTE.

While we struggled to fill the void, Council President then Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. stepped up in a major way. The passing of the Non-Motorized Transportation Plan really gave bicycling momentum within the city.

That has led to more bike/greenway projects scheduled for 2010. The Department of Public Works (DPW) also created both internal and external non-motorized transportation task forces to help push the plan’s implementation forward. And DPW has anointed Prasad Nannapaneni as the program manager.

Now, adding to this momentum is the great news that Al Fields is returning to the city of Detroit as Mayor Bing’s Group Executive of Planning.

It’s going to be a great 2010.