Last night the Royal Oak City Commission approved a Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit proposals which would include a non-motorized transportation master plan. That plan’s creation would eventually be funded through the Energy Efficiency Community Block Grant (EECBG) program — part of the economic stimulus package.

The City of Royal Oak is interested in receiving proposals for technical consultant services to assist the city to develop and/or implement a strategy for… the development of a non-motorized transportation plan to site and install infrastructure such as bicycle routes, lanes, pathways, and signed shared roadways, as well as sidewalks and pedestrian walkways.

UPDATE: “The submission deadline for proposals is Wednesday, June 24, 2009, at 5:00 p.m. For more information, contact Doug Hedges or Joseph Murphy at (248) 246-3280.”?The proposal deadline is June 12th and the city expects to select the winning proposal(s) by sometime around June 25th.

This is a critical first step to improving the quality of travel for those who are providing their own motor.

And it’s great news for anyone who bikes, walks, or runs in Royal Oak.

Link: Royal Oak Request for Proposals

At Monday’s City Commission meeting, our Bicycle Task Force recommended the City allocate $40K to hire a firm to develop a non-motorized transportation master plan for the city.

Interim city manager Don Johnson has budgeted that expenditure using stimulus funding from Energy Block Grants. The city has received $543,400 in such funding.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), the purpose of these block grants are to:

• reduce fossil fuel emissions in a manner that is environmentally sustainable and, to the maximum extent practicable, maximizes benefits for local and regional communities;
• reduce the total energy use of the eligible entities; and
• improve energy efficiency in the building sector, the transportation sector, and other appropriate sectors.

The DOE notes the following activities are eligible for funding:

• Development of infrastructure such as bike lanes and pathways and pedestrian walkways;
• State/locals/regional integrated planning activities (i.e. transportation, housing, environmental, energy, land use) with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled;

So, it’s clearly appropriate for Royal Oak to allocate a portion of these funds to plan for improved biking and walking within the city.

Thanks to the City Commission and staff for allowing this to move forward.

Also, during Monday’s meeting Commissioner Carlo Ginotti moved that this project continue to move forward. It was passed unanimously.

At tonight’s Royal Oak City Commission meeting, city staff will recommend funding for a non-motorized transportation plan in the upcoming budget.

This is great news.

While everyone’s welcomed to provide public comment at tonight’s meeting, at this point it’s really not necessary — especially given the lengthy meeting agenda, the wintry weather, and some basketball game.

We will be sure to attend and provide an updates from the meeting.

Both the Detroit News and The Mirror have articles about tonight’s meeting.

Look at this map from West Bloomfield on the right.

The neighborhood streets are not in a traditional American grid pattern. Instead they are a maze of disconnected cul-de-sacs and roads to nowhere.

This design is embraced by communities where people drive everywhere and rarely walk or bike.

This design forces cyclists as well as motor vehicles to use the more busy arterials (such as Orchard Lake Road in this West Bloomfield example.) That often means less welcoming roads for many cyclists and plenty of traffic congestion.

Some cities (Charlotte, N.C., Portland, Ore., and Austin, Texas) and even states like Virginia are pulling the plug on cul-de-sacs.

According to the Washington Post:

The state has decided that all new subdivisions must have through streets linking them with neighboring subdivisions, schools and shopping areas. State officials say the new regulations will improve safety and accessibility and save money: No more single entrances and exits onto clogged secondary roads. Quicker responses by emergency vehicles. Lower road maintenance costs for governments.

But aren’t cul-de-sacs safer? Not really, according to William Lucy, co-author of the book Tomorrow’s Cities, Tomorrow’s Suburbs. Cul-de-sac communities have some of the highest rates of traffic accidents involving young children.

And these street patterns certainly aren’t safer for cyclists.

That’s one major reason why cycling in older cities like Detroit or Berkley is much more bike-friendly and convenient than places like West Bloomfield.

[There is additional cul-de-sac coverage at National Public Radio.]

Not much has been posted on m-bike this past week. Believe it or not, that’s a good thing. That means I’ve been spending more time doing bike advocacy and have no free time to blog about it.

So, now that it’s the weekend, there’s time to provide updates on some local non-motorized planning efforts.

Royal Oak Task Force

As we reported earlier, a group of cyclists went before Royal Oak’s City Commission to ask for improved biking and walking facilities. As a result, the Commission formed a Task Force to work with city staff to develop some proposals.

That has happened.

The Task Force has held many meetings and it seemed that near the beginning there was consensus that we needed to develop a non-motorized plan – a prerequisite for receiving construction grant funding for biking and walking facilities. We also concluded that such a plan would need to be developed by a planning firm that is experienced in developing such plans.

Of course means we would need money to pay for that planning. Most of our Task Force discussions revolved around finding money to pay for this planning. In fact, Royal Oak put this planning project on their economic stimulus request list. However, it did not make the final cut.

But, Royal Oak is getting economic stimulus money for road construction which frees up about $300K in road funds.

Our Task Force will be going before the City Commission on April 6^th to ask that $40K from that $300K be spent on hiring a planner to develop a non-motorized plan.

Troy Non-Motorized Plan

The city of Troy has hired two top-notch planning consultants, Hamilton-Anderson and The Greenway Collaboration. The city and consultants hosted a kickoff meeting on Wednesday. The proposed schedule promises prompt results, so stay tuned for updates over the next few months.