Royal Oak’s non-motorized planning efforts should be underway soon.

The Active Transportation Alliance, the Chicago-based group responsible for creating the biking and walking plan is on the Planning Commission agenda for their August 10th meeting (7:30pm at City Council Chambers, City Hall). That should be an hour presentation and it would be great if we could get many interested cyclists at that meeting.

That date is still tentative. The presentation may get moved to a later date, and if it does, we’ll let you know.

But for now, Royal Oak cyclists can add August 10th to their calendar.

Corktown/Mexicantown Greenlink

The Greater Corktown Development Corporation spearheaded this Greenlink plan that would make Detroit’s Corktown and Mexicantown neighborhoods some of the most bike friendly places in Michigan. Among other bike facilities, the plans include about 20 miles of bike lanes. The Tour-de-Troit has been raising money for this project for some time as well.

However, the Greater Corktown Development Corporation has suffered financial issues as reported by Crain’s Detroit Business, but the project is moving forward.

To continue work on the Corktown-Mexicantown Greenlink project to connect those communities to Detroit’s west riverfront, Greater Corktown has secured an agreement from Southwest Detroit Business Association to serve as the new fiduciary for the greenlink, a project it’s worked on for over five years.

SDBA is working with Greater Corktown, the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan to combine as one project the greenlink, the Southwest Detroit/East Dearborn Greenway it’s been shepherding, and other walkway and bike path work the city has planned for west Vernor, said Kathleen Wendler, president of the business association.

“I like to think of it as SDBA adopting the infant we took care of for some time but are currently unable to raise,” said Kavanaugh, a freelance writer and co-owner of Wheelhouse Detroit Bike Shop.

Yesterday at Councilmember Ken Cockrel’s Green Task Force, Detroit Traffic Engineering said they still hope this project can begin by the end of this construction season. Detroit’s W. Vernor project (from Waterman to Lansing Street) is expected to be done this year — which also includes bike lanes and improvements to that unlit (and nearly unpaved!) railroad underpass west of Livernois.

Once these three projects are completed, there will be bike lanes all along W. Vernor. This will greatly improve access to the amazing restaurants and bakeries in Southwest Detroit — an unbeatable fueling station for cyclists.

Villages CDC Planning & Bike Ambassadors

Model D is reporting on a recent grant awarded to the Villages CDC which include non-motorized planning.

The Villages CDC has been awarded $215,000 from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan for greenways and bike lane planning and design. The money will also be used for community outreach and construction documents. Villages board member Kim Clayson hopes to complete this pre-development phase by February of next year.

While details are yet to be worked out, The Villages hopes to link its community up with other existing and planned greenways in Detroit, including the Dequindre Cut, Detroit RiverWalk and Conner Creek Greenway. Partners will include the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative, Detroit RiverFront Conservancy, Creekside CDC, Jefferson East Business Association and Gleaners, since the agency is preliminarily planning a connection from its food bank to the Riverwalk.

Regarding the Gleaner’s Food Bank, they too received a grant for a feasibility study. That study will look at converting the abandoned railroad east of Beaufait into a trail. That railroad property runs from the Uniroyal site on the Detroit River (just west of the bridge) to Gratiot. This potential trail would also connect with the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and their Earthworks Farm.

The Villages CDC grant is also funding the development of a bike ambassador strategy for Detroit. The Active Transportation Alliance out of Chicago will be working with local stakeholders to develop this strategy based upon their successful program in Chicago: Mayor Daley’s Bicycling Ambassadors.

Mayor Daley’s Bicycling Ambassadors work toward the following objectives:

• to increase the number of trips made by bicycle
• to reduce the number of bicycle-related injuries
• to help all users – bike riders, motorists, and pedestrians – better share roads and off-street trails.

To accomplish these goals, the Ambassadors appear at events throughout Chicago to reach as many Chicagoans as possible with bicycle safety education. Ambassadors talk face-to-face with Chicagoans and give presentations to kids, teens, and adults by participating in community events.

There are also Junior Ambassadors who “work with the Bicycling Ambassadors to deliver bicycle safety messages to their peers.”

There would certainly be many benefits having a similar program in Detroit, and thankfully the Villages CDC and the Community Foundation are planting that seed.

The city of Highland Park is currently updating their recreation master plan.

Surprisingly enough, their 1999 plan “promotes the implementation of bike lanes throughout the city in an effort to promote both a linked park and school system as well as non-motorized traffic” (according to the city’s master plan.) We’re trying to find a copy of the original 1999 plan which supposedly have greater details.

Even still, we do have proposed bike lane map, which is fairly good. Our only thoughts are:

• McNichols needs bike lanes. They are specified in the Detroit plan.
• It’s too bad there’s no clear continuing route for Glendale over to Oakland, which is a fairly minor issue.
• We’re not sure why Midland was chosen rather than continuing on Puritan.
• It might be wise adding a connection between Second and Third at the southern city boundary. That would tie together the two Detroit routes. McNichols would tied them together on the northern boundary.
• The railroad should be highlighted as a future shared-use pathway called the Inner Circle Greenway.

What is odd about the city’s master plan is they recommend a single bike lane on the east side of Hamilton. That is not a safe or proper design.

Of course, none of this has been implemented to date. Highland Park has been through some tumultuous times of late. Still, these plans certainly open the door for the future.

Two bills were introduced in the Michigan House yesterday which would require all Michigan road agencies to adopt Complete Streets policies within two years as a condition for receiving transportation dollars.

An excerpt from House Bill 6151

SEC. 10P. (1) AS USED IN THIS SECTION:

(A) “COMPLETE STREET” MEANS A ROADWAY OR AN INTERCONNECTED NETWORK OF TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES THAT ACCOMMODATES ALL USERS OF ALL AGES AND ABILITIES, AND THAT ENABLES ALL USERS TO USE THE ROADWAY SAFELY AND EFFICIENTLY.

(B) “COMPLETE STREETS POLICY” MEANS A STATE OR LOCAL LAW, ORDINANCE, OR POLICY THAT ENSURES BOTH OF THE FOLLOWING:

(i) THE ADEQUATE ACCOMMODATION, IN ALL PHASES OF PROJECT PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT, CONSTRUCTION, MAINTENANCE, AND OPERATION OF ALL USERS OF THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PEDESTRIANS, BICYCLISTS, PUBLIC TRANSIT USERS, CHILDREN, OLDER INDIVIDUALS, MOTORISTS, AND INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES.

(ii) THE CONSIDERATION OF THE SAFETY AND CONVENIENCE OF ALL USERS IN ALL PHASES OF PROJECT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT. THE DEPARTMENT SHALL PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO AND COORDINATE WITH LOCAL ROAD AGENCIES AND METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS IN DEVELOPING COMPLETE STREETS POLICIES.

(2) EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE PROVIDED IN THIS SECTION, THE DEPARTMENT, LOCAL ROAD AGENCIES, AND MUNICIPALITIES THAT RECEIVE APPROPRIATIONS UNDER THIS ACT SHALL ADOPT COMPLETE STREETS POLICIES. THE DEPARTMENT AND LOCAL ROAD AGENCIES SHALL ADOPT COMPLETE STREETS POLICIES NO LATER THAN 2 YEARS AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE AMENDATORY ACT THAT ADDED THIS SECTION. THE DEPARTMENT AND LOCAL ROAD AGENCIES AND MUNICIPALITIES SHALL ADHERE TO THE ADOPTED COMPLETE STREETS POLICY OF THE POLITICAL JURISDICTION WITHIN WHICH THE PROJECT IS LOCATED IN ALL PHASES OF PROJECT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT.

The bill does carve exceptions, but they seem to be based on the same reasonable exceptions listed in the U.S. DOT recommended bicycle and walking policy statement.

Also, the bill does create a Complete Streets Advisory Council at the state level to “assist local road agencies and municipalities with implementation of Complete Streets Policies.”

House Bill 6152 would update Michigan’s planning enabling act by adding non-motorized transportation, Complete Streets, traffic calming and more as required elements of a municipal master plan.

If passed, this sweeping and profound legislation would clearly put Michigan on the right track by supporting active transportation and building livable communities.

What action can you take? The Michigan Complete Streets Coalition will likely have some recommend plan in the near future and we’ll be sure to pass it along.

Novi Councilmember Andrew Mutch passed along this information.

MDOT is conducting a transportation study of the I-96/12 Mile/Grand River corridors through the Novi and Wixom areas. For those interested in sharing your thoughts related to transportation-related issues, there’s an online survey to complete on the web site. Quite a few questions are related to non-motorized transportation concerns.

According to the site, the survey only takes 15 minutes to complete. This is a good opportunity to express your concerns with respect to non-motorized transportation options within the study area.