Another section of the Conner Creek Greenway was opened yesterday in Detroit on Arbor Day — a holiday for tree planting created by a J. Sterling Morton, a Michigan Wolverine from Monroe, Michigan.

The event at Maheras Gentry Park began with a parade, music, and a long line of kids from the Detroit Merit Charter Academy. The kids were dressed in frog costumes they had made earlier. The frog theme was a nod to the parks historic condition as marshland. It was an amazing site to see.

Following the parade, remarks were made by those who helped make this greenway possible (i.e. the funders): Karla Hall of the DTE Energy Foundation, Tony Kratofil of MDOT, and Tom Woiwode from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

During his remarks, Kratofil announced MDOT’s commitment to funding the next portion of the Conner Creek Greenway. That portion is along Conner Avenue from McNichols to Eight Mile. That project includes a new section of sidewalks, bike lanes, bike routes, and some landscape improvements.

Wayne County Commissioners Tim Killeen and Bernard Parker also presented a resolution from the commission as well.

The new sections of greenway had been mostly completed late last year. That included bike lanes from Jefferson to Maheras Gentry Park along Clairpointe and a shared-use path from the park entrance to the existing paths near the river. The bike lanes on St. Jean built earlier last year were also part of the opening celebration.

Crain’s Detroit Business and Model D has media coverage prior to the event, while TV20 News has post-event coverage.

Detroit’s loss of population is well documented. No matter where the recent census counts fall, the reality is Detroit has a million fewer residents since the 1950s.

And since the 1950s, Detroit lost its streetcar network while gaining one of America’s most extensive urban expressway networks.

This has resulted in roads like Forest just east of Dequindre. Five lanes one-way with limited hours of parking.

Despite its one-way design, the road’s recent repaving and lack of traffic makes this ideal for biking.

And from 2004 to 2009, there are no reported motor vehicle crashes involving bicyclists or pedestrians on this segment of Forest from Dequindre to Gratiot.

Marked in Red

However, the MDOT and SEMCOG bicycle maps say otherwise. Both bicycle maps show this road in red, which means it’s generally unfavorable for bicycling due to the heavy traffic.

Huh?

We looked at the SEMCOG traffic counts and did not find any relevant traffic counts near this section of Forest. There was one count from June 2006 taken on Forest west of Dequindre however Forest is now closed at Dequindre. Even still, that traffic count was only 6,823 vehicles during a 24-hour period. The MDOT map says over 15,000 cars a day use this section of Forest.  SEMCOG map says there are over 10,000 vehicles per day.

Unfortunately it appears Forest is not the exception on these maps. There are other super wide, one way Detroit roads with little to no traffic that are shown in red, including Rosa Parks and 14th from Warren to I-75. Second Avenue from Forest to Temple is red on SEMCOG’s map despite its lack of traffic.

This really just reinforces the idea that Detroit needs a good bike map that is designed for cyclists and provides recommended routes — like Forest.

Road Diet?

Does road dieting a road without cars make it more bike friendly? Is a road with so few cars a Complete Street? These are questions that don’t get asked in most cities but are very relevant in Detroit.

Perhaps it makes more sense to approach this with a financial perspective. Could a road diet reduce the road maintenance costs and storm water runoff? Could we convert those outside travel lanes to half bike lane, half pervious surface. The pervious surface (perhaps as bio swales) would provide some separation between the parking/vehicle travel lanes and the bike lane while also absorbing the road’s storm water runoff. Could the city maintain (e.g. sweep) a physically-separated cycle track?

Eliminating vehicle lanes on Federal aid roads (such as Forest) affects Michigan’s federal transportation funding formulas. The state would get the same amount of funding, but less would be distributed to counties and cities like Detroit. There is a financial incentive for not losing vehicle lanes on federal aid roads, but is it enough to justify the added cost?

Hopefully the answer to these questions will emerge over time from the Detroit Works Project and more analysis.

But until then, go bike on E. Forest and enjoy the wide open road.

The Detroit Free Press published an interesting story on a Lawrence Tech (LTU) project which looked at making Southwest Detroit energy self-sufficient.

That planning involved creating energy as well as reducing current usage by encouraging more energy efficient transportation. In other words, more public transit, more walkability, more greenways, and more bike lanes.

Other tactics suggested by the team include creating more public transit and more green infrastructure, like the planned extension of the RiverWalk west of downtown.

Still other aspects of the project include mapping sites where higher-density, mixed-used development might create a more walkable urban environment.

The LTU team is working with the Southwest Detroit Development Collaborative, a coalition of more than a dozen community nonprofit groups. Kathy Wendler, president of the Southwest Detroit Business Association, said the LTU project dovetails with other greening projects under way, like the bicycle lanes and energy-efficient street lights planned along West Vernor.

This project was funded by a grant from the Ford Motor Company Fund. According to the article, previous grants  “supported a bike-sharing program in Atlanta.”

Curb running trains and tracks aren't safe for bicyclists on Woodward

The city of Detroit is collecting comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed light rail project on Woodward. Those comments are due today, March 14th.

The DEIS is large, technical, and not always fun to read. It does provide three alternatives. One difference between the three is where the tracks would be located on Woodward south of Grand Boulevard: in the center or at the curbs.

We agree with the DEIS assessment that the curb-running alignment would have a negative impact on bicycling. For that and other reasons, we support Alternative A1 with median running light rail for the entire route.

This amazing video from Transport Michigan also supports median running. This video has gone viral as we’ve received it from a number of different sources.

Some other thoughts we had:

• Adding a two-way cycle track on the east side of Woodward that connected Ferndale’s existing Hilton bike lanes to the proposed park and ride just north of the State Fairgrounds.
• Adding bike lanes or cycle tracks on Woodward from McNichols to Eight Mile. Woodward is unnecessarily wide and could be road dieted.
• Adding sharrows where bike lanes cannot be added.
• Improve the parallel streets for bicycling (Second, Third, Brush, John R) by adding bike lanes/sharrows and by making them two-way for their entire length.
• Allowing bikes to roll on to the trains.
• Having bike parking (preferably covered) at the transit stations.
• Consider future implementation of a public bike sharing system located at the transit stops.

There’s been some very impressive planning underway that could eventually improve biking and walking in Detroit’s greater riverfront east.

Improve? Transform might be a better word.

This plan includes a little of everything from bike lanes to greenways to bicycle boulevards. The highlight might be a plan to extend the Detroit RiverWalk east to the Grosse Pointe Park border.

Want to learn more? On Saturday, March 5th from 10am until noon, everyone has the opportunity to review the current plan at the Northeast Guidance Center (2900 Conner at Charlevoix.) The meeting details are below.

We should also mention that a survey was completed prior to much of this planning.  The results clearly show an “if you build, they will use it” attitude from the area’s residents.:

• 85% of the respondents who do NOT walk regularly said they would be more inclined to do so if they had easy access to a greenway.
• 80% of the respondents who do NOT ride a bicycle regularly said they would be more inclined to do so if they had easy access to a greenway.
• 37% of respondents would be comfortable bicycling on a major roadway if a bike lane was present.

Given these very positive numbers, it seems one could readily justify the investment in building this walking and biking network.

So whether you live in this study area, ride through it, or are just interested, you should attend the meeting on the 5th.

More event details from the event flyer:

You are cordially invited to an open house to learn about the GREEN Task Force plan for a network of greenways throughout our lower eastside district (the Greater Riverfront East).

Greenways are paths (like the Dequindre Cut) designed for walkers, bicyclists, and others who want to get from here to there without using a car. Greenways can offer places for exercise; they can promote retail and other commercial growth along their routes; and they can forge healthy links between people and neighborhoods in different parts of the city.

In the Fall of 2010, many of you participated in surveys and conversations that helped us better understand how greenways could improve our community. Many of you also attended hands-on workshops that helped us map out where greenways could go throughout the lower eastside.

Now the GREEN Task Force is excited to be able to share with you the results of your input. We hope you will join us to view illustrations of the planned greenway routes and tell us which ones are your favorites. There will also be a short presentation that will give you an overview of the entire greenways planning project.

Outline

10:00 AM – 10:30 AM Registration and Mingle
10:30 AM – 10:45 AM Presentation
10:45 AM – 11:45 AM View route illustrations and pick your favorites
11:45 AM – 12:00 Noon Wrap-Up

Refreshments will be served. Please let us know by Thursday, March 3 if you will be attending. Contact us by phone (313 444-0062) or email (thevillagesofdetroit@gmail.com).