The Spinal Column is reporting on new trail signs for the Milford Trail through the village of Milford. According to the article, these signs include a will “post a speed limit of 10 miles per hour.”

Apparently they are only follow the same rules set forth by the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority.

Whenever a usable and designated path has been provided near a roadway, cyclists, hikers, joggers, runners and in-line skaters shall use that path and shall not use the roadway. However, the speed limit on the hike-bike trails is 10 miles per hour, so cyclists riding at faster speeds shall use the roadway.

It’s doubtful many people will observe 10 MPH limit since it’s unreasonably low and many bicycles don’t have speedometers.

So what is the better answer?

It’s probably to not set a speed limit at all. The trail signs would require bicyclists to yield to pedestrians, stay to the right, and avoid recklessness. That should cover everything.

Besides, the trail should meet the AASHTO standards which calls for a minimum design speed of 20 MPH.

Shared use paths should be designed for a selected speed that is at least as high as the preferred speed of the faster bicyclists. In general, a minimum design speed of 20 MPH should be used. Although bicyclists can travel faster that this, to do so would be inappropriate in a mixed-use setting. Design and traffic controls can be used to deter excessive speed and faster cyclists can be encouraged to use the roadway system. Lower design speeds should not be selected to artificially lower user speeds. When a downgrade exceeds 4%, or where strong prevailing tailwinds exist, a design speed of 30 MPH or more is advisable.

If the trail is designed for safe travel at 20 MPH then it doesn’t make sense posting a speed limit at half that.

It is expected that Senate bills 388 and 389 for the Recreation Passport will be voted on by the Michigan Senate and House this Thursday, November 12th, 2009.

There is a summary analysis on-line as well. This analysis provides all the details of what these bills would do if passed and signed into law. There’s also additional information (as well as media coverage links) on the Citizen’s Committee for Michigan State Parks web site.

We urge you to please contact your state senator and state representative and ask that they support these bills to help fund our state parks.

This funding is absolutely critical as the state parks have been kept afloat for years by relying on previous fund balances. Those fund balances are now drained. We should also note that since 2004, no state taxpayer money has gone towards our state parks.

This funding would also be a huge boost to Michigan trails, not only in state parks, but in state forests as well. Those trails are significantly unfunded.

Detroit City Council has been quite supportive of biking, walking, and greenway efforts within the city. And we’ve been quite fortunate to have a cycling advocate in Ken Cockrel Jr. as Council President to lead the way.

With the recent Detroit elections, the nine-person council will welcome five new members. Will there be the same support for our issues, especially with Cockrel no longer serving as president?

Prior to Tuesday’s election, Model D interviewed the candidates. One question in particular provided a gauge for where the candidates stood on biking and walking.

Many thriving cities in the U.S. have a reputation for sustainability via recycling, green building incentives, complete streets that promote biking and walking, and robust mass transit. Discuss your thoughts and priorities on these matters.

Here are excerpts from responses given by some candidates who won a seat on the council.

Charles Pugh

“We should look at re-zoning certain sparsely used parts of the city for bike trails and park use. The Dequindre Cut is very encouraging and should be used as a model for how we transform future plots of land.”

Gary Brown

“Public-private partnerships have been instrumental in building greenways in Detroit, such as the RiverWalk, Dequindre Cut and Conner Creek.”

Saunteel Jenkins

“The Dequindre Cut is a great example of one of the things we’ve done right here in Detroit to promote walking and biking. Now we need to amend that concept to create the same kind of walking and biking trails in city parks like River Rouge and Palmer Park. I would like to see a project like this funded and implemented through partnerships with businesses and non-profits.”

Ken Cockrel Jr.

“This has been a major focus of mine. As Council President, I sponsored and passed a resolution urging the city to implement a ‘non-motorized plan’ for the development more bike and walking paths. “

Kwame Kenyatta

“The young, talented, best and brightest usually leave Detroit for major cities that boast a commitment to biking, walking, robust mass transit and green building initiatives… Biking and walking paths must be developed in concert with this.”

Jo Ann Watson

“Detroit must become one of those cities.”

Mayor Dave Bing also responded to the survey by adding, “Detroit certainly needs to become more of a ‘green’ city.”

Throughout the entire Metro Detroit Tri-County area, there probably isn’t another elected body that better recognizes the importance of biking, walking, and greenways. That’s exciting.

One poster on a popular Detroit forum was concerned that the city saw biking as just a white urban hipster activity. These responses should allay those fears.

The Mid-America Trails and Greenways Conference is underway in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It’s a well-attended event and a great chance to hear how others are developing trails throughout the Midwest.

Yesterday’s sessions included one very interesting topic: Rails-with-Trails (RWT).

Rails-to-Trails are more common. A railroad abandons a rail line, the tracks are removed, a public agency purchases the rail corridor, and resurfaces it for trail use.

But sometimes it’s feasible having a trail alongside an active rail line. Sometimes it’s the only option.

There isn’t a one-sized solution for implementing RWT. The variables include how wide the right-of-way is and the speed/frequency of the trains.

One possible RWT in Southest Michigan would be the Grand Trunk/CN line between downtown Royal Oak and Bloomfield Hills. Two parallel tracks were built with plans to add two more. The Great Depression stopped plans for the latter (as well as plans for an overhead expressway built on top of the railline for autos.)

While there is spare room alongside the Grand Trunk line, it’s not clear how one would propose separating the rail from the trail. Some RWT examples use walls and fences.

Of course the big issue is getting the railroad to grant an easement. Putting people near an active line takes convincing, especially with respect to safety. But RWTs have a great safety record across the U.S. And one also has to consider the alternative. RWTs have a greater safety record than riding on roads.

We’ve tried pushing this issue in the past with no success. With the non-motorized planning for both Royal Oak and the Woodward Corridor, it’s probably worth revisiting.

For those unfamiliar with Google Maps, they have a Street View option which lets users explore a city at street level. Not all roads have Street View, but much of the city of Detroit does.

Now they are adding non-roads to Street View using a pedal-powered trike with the Google imaging system.

They’re also taking suggestions on where they should take the trike. We hope you consider voting for Detroit Greenways. Voting is simple and painless.

Imagine Street View for the Dequindre Cut.

Also, the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance is looking into submitting Detroit greenway GPS coordinates to Google. This means the greenways would be shown on Google Maps just as it shows roads.