To continue on the bad economic news front, we learned today that Oakland County Parks will not be hiring a replacement for the Trails Network Coordinator position — at least not right now.

Melissa Prowse, the former coordinator has transitioned into a parks planning position.  The intent was to hire a replacement.  The Oakland County Parks Commission decided not to at this time “given recent economic uncertainty and the current status of our structural reorganization.”

Jon Noyes, Oakland County Parks Planning Supervisor says they’ll ensure staff can continue to support the Oakland Trails Advisory Council (OTAC).  That’s great news.

There is a hope that the coordinator position could be re-posted in fiscal 2010 (October 2009.)

Until then, we’ll have to make do with less just as everyone else is right now.

There’s a lot going on in Windsor, Ontario with respect to biking.  Despite being just across the Detroit River, there hasn’t been much interaction and exchange between bike advocates and even bicyclists — that should change in the future.

But first, lets begin by highlighting some Windsor stories on biking that have come up during the past couple months.

To begin with, a recent Windsor Star newspaper article spoke of efforts to improve biking on Riverside Drive:

Windsor has rolled a little closer to the longtime but controversial goal of having a bike path stretch from the Ambassador Bridge to the east end’s Ganatchio Trail.

A recent ruling by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment allows the city to widen parts of Riverside Drive — against the wishes of some residents — in order to create an unbroken bike path along 16 kilometres of waterfront.

The Windsor Star even printed an opinion piece in support.

One of the biggest supporters for biking in Windsor right now is Councilor Alan Halberstadt.

Mr. Halberstadt was also involved in a flap over ticketing cyclists that ride on sidewalks (and endanger pedestrians.)  One problem is some streets are not properly designed for bicyclists and high-speed, high-vehicular traffic counts. As a result, many cyclists feel forced to use sidewalks.

One such example is Windsor’s Tecumseh Road.  A cyclist challenged him to ride Tecumseh during rush hour to eyewitness the problem and he did.

Their two-wheeled adventure took about 15 minutes. More than once the much faster motorists were hitting the brakes as they slowed behind the cycling duo. Some impatient drivers farther down the line even hit the horn before darting out into the other lane. Graber said he wanted the councillor to experience what cyclists go through every day.

“So he could have more insight when he’s making decisions,” said Graber, who rides 15 kilometres to work each day. “I gotta take my hat off to him. He really stepped up. He was out there and a city bus came within two feet of him, so I really have to give him credit.”

Halberstadt said his ride, while hair-rising at times, hasn’t changed his outlook.

“Not really,” said Halberstadt. “I’ve been saying for 10 or 12 years, since I’ve been council, that we need to improve our cycling network. If the attention this has brought helps move this along, then I’m thrilled.”

And if you’re really interested, there’s a video of this ride as well.

Windsor Star also ran an editorial Bike Paths would Boost our Quality of Life.  It was great to read except it didn’t mention Detroit and our biking efforts.

Expect that to change.

NEXT UP: Getting bicyclists across the border

These photos are from the Michigan DNR and were taken last week. Phase II of Tri-Centennial State Park is coming along.  It’s going to be a great addition to the Detroit Riverwalk.

According to the DNR, this construction is very dependent on the weather, but they are hoping to get many of the key elements completed before winter really hits.

You can see in some of the photos where sand is being placed along the bottom of the wetland area.  This will be the base for the clay liner, which should hopefully be installed soon.  A layer of top soil will be placed on top of the clay liner, preferably before winter really sets in.

The state park construction is expected to be completed by Fall 2009.

Although they’re not required at Tri-Centennial, keep in mind that buying motor vehicle passes does support our state parks — and they make great gifts.

The Hamtramck Trail project is moving forward once again.

This is due in part to Hamtramck resident Dick Kaleski and the new Hamtramck Community and Economic Development Director Jason Friedmann.  On Monday, both Dick and Jason were on Detroit Today with Craig Fahle.  If you missed it, there is an MP3 of the show.

Jason was also highlighted last week in a Model D article.

Here’s a brief description of the Hamtramck Trail from the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance web site:

The Hamtramck Greenway is a planned 1.5-mile that will eventually connect Downtown Hamtramck with the Dequindre Cut and the Detroit Riverfront.  The trail also passes through historic Veterans’ Memorial Park and a diverse community of Polish, Bengali, and Arabic residents.  The Trail is a project of Preserve Our Parks, a 10-year old non-profit community organization in Hamtramck, Michigan.

And actually that is just Phase I of the trail.  There are tentative plans to expand it further and hopefully integrate it with Hamtramck’s Safe Routes to Schools project.

Of course not all the funding is in place for Phase I, but that is being worked on.

The Detroit News ran an article a couple weeks ago about Oakland County Parks completing a Trails Master Plan:

It’s always been a vision in Oakland County: a continuous, linked outdoor trail system that connects communities, downtowns and schools.

But gaps in the system — much of it built on top of old railroad lines — continue.

Bridging those gaps is a major focus of Oakland County’s first Trails Master Plan developed and released by county parks officials last month.

The Trails Master Plan is a beautiful and very professional document.  Electronic copies are available from the Oakland County web site.

And speaking of the Oakland County web site, it has been updated.  If you haven’t checked out their trails web page lately, you should.

It doesn’t seem all that long ago that a group of us were called together by Oakland County Parks in the late 90s.  While they had traditionally limited their involvement to fenced parks, they did note the momentum of trail development across the county.  Our group pushed them in that direction.  They’ve come a long way since then, which is great news for anyone who rides a horse, a bike, or simply walks.

Link: Oakland works to link trails, Detroit News