The above map is produced and maintained by Detroit’s Traffic Engineering Division. It shows existing and funded non-motorized projects. While construction of the Joe Louis (formerly the Inner Circle) Greenway is not yet fully funded, it’s affectionately called the “Mother of all non-motorized projects” and therefore deserves its place on the map. Note that the city’s Complete Street projects are not shown on the map unless they include on-road bike lanes or sharrow pavement markings.
Link: Detroit Project Map (PDF)
Map Update History
November 2019
- Various project updates, including City’s Complete Street projects
March 2019
- Updated portion of Trumbull bike lanes to protected
- Added planned Jos Campau bike lanes
September 2018
- Added/updated protected bike lanes on Conner, Warren, Jefferson, Cass
March 2018
- Protected bike lane updates for Cass and Grand River
November 2017
- Protected bike lane updates, including E. Jefferson and Grand River
- Does not show updated protected bike lane extension on Adams between Grand River and Brush
March 2017
- Includes the planned DDP Downtown bike lanes
September 6, 2016
- The latest routing for the Inner Circle Greenway based on TIGER grant, including proposed protected bike lanes on McNichols and Livernois. The City is still committed to acquiring the abandoned rail corridor through Highland Park and supporting its conversion to a trail.
- The bike lanes on Livernois between Grand River and W. Vernor are now protected.
- The bike lanes on Cass between Grand Boulevard and Lafayette are now protected.
- Linwood near Focus:HOPE is getting bike lanes.
The 2005 Detroit Non-Motorized Urban Transportation Plan is also available though it is clearly dated.
19 replies on “Detroit Project Map”
Excellent idea
I see the Midtown Greenway Loop designated as an off-road path for bikes. I can’t stress enough how dangerous this is. This is NOT a suitable path for bicycle traffic. It is a wide sidewalk with nice landscaping and colored concrete, and nothing more. The cross traffic and cars exiting and entering the busy hospitals and businesses along the path do not know this is a bike path. There are no signs or markings on the street to indicate this. They are not looking for bikes and they will pull out right in front of cyclists whether or not they have the right of way. This is a very poorly designed greenway. The path narrows at almost every cross street rendering the wide sidewalk useless at those points. There are numerous obstructions scattered about the path, including large concrete piers that are intended for wayfinding, i guess. No matter how tight the tolerances on concrete control joints, they will always pose some amount of risk to cyclists with narrow tires. A proper bike path would be a consistently wide asphalt path with a divider line for two way traffic and separate pedestrian traffic. There should be no obstructions on the path, and there should be clear signs/lights/markings for ALL cross traffic. The Midtown Loop Greenway is NOT a bike path, and it is dangerous to call it that.
The basic design for the Midtown Loop was hatched long ago. Had we been involved in that, we would have shared many of the same concerns that you have as it is largely a pedestrian-oriented path. It may work for some people who bike at pedestrian speeds.
We were more involved in later phases of the Loop (e.g. Eastern Market connector, Cass Avenue) and both have adjacent bikes lanes or will soon. We expect John R to eventually get bike lanes as well.
Thanks for the reply, Todd. I assumed that if you had been involved it would have turned out differently. I would be happy to see John R repaved and get bike lanes. Getting around the city by bike has become very important to me and my family, so I would welcome any opportunity to be involved in the process.
Unfortunately it’s not clear what the opportunities will be for discussions on John R at this time. There are multiple ongoing projects that could affect John R from Downtown to Highland Park (DDP’s non-motorized work, the city’s bike network planning project, MDOT’s I-94 project, North End Greenway planning, and Bus Rapid Transit.) In the meantime, I will make the city’s Planning Department aware of your comments.
Thanks, Todd. To clarify, I would be willing to participate in any transportation discussions, if possible. I am a Detroit Greenways Coalition Member, for whatever it’s worth.
These opportunities pop up on a per-project basis. We do our best to post them all on our Twitter and Facebook accounts.
I should add that we’ll listen to feedback at any time. It really helps shape what happens in Detroit.
Can someone explain to me the logic behind the curb side bike lanes? I’m talking about the car lanes, parking lane, bike lane curb and sidewalk as in going on East Jefferson. I’m a serous cyclist who rides anywhere between 18 and 23 mph and I will not be using those lanes. Between the passenger doors opening, trash and glass and lack of cleaning and the road dirt accumulation, not to mention the fact that people park in the lane, these lanes are not safe for the speeds I cycle at. There is no bail out space! Plus I use East Jefferson as my main commuting route to work in downtown and taking away a car lane is going to jam up traffic bad.
Please provide links to the studies that tell me I’m wrong!
I see this as an enormous mistake!
This design is to accommodate bicyclists who are slower and less experienced than yourself. You are certainly not required to use them, but you’re right. You will likely have to share a vehicle travel lane with more cars. However, road diets such as this slow speeding cars which makes sharing a little easier. The buffer space on these new lanes will be wide enough (3′) so that passenger doors won’t encroach on the bike lane. The city has purchased specialized equipment to keep these new lanes clear. We’re looking forward to seeing how well that works. Also, a traffic study was performed before this project began that showed the road diet would not cause traffic jams.
I’d like to make it clear that I’m happy cycling is being considered in future planning and I’ll be happy with whatever happens. That being said…
The bike lane between the curb and parked cars doesn’t work well, cars park close to the curb anyway, debris collects there and cross traffic has to pull into and block the bike lane when trying to look around parked cars in order to pull out safely. Why not save money on the fancy pole things that stick up, signs instructing drivers how to park and other ‘fancy’ stuff and just make the right most driving lane (not the parking lane) about 3′-5′ wider to accommodate bikes and traffic. I like the green markings on the path (as long as they don’t get too slippery when wet) to show drivers where not to drive. Spend money on keeping the bike portions of the road (and sidewalks) clean of tire puncturing debris that is also tough to safely ride over.
I hope EVERYONE who has design ideas rides a bike on the roads to see first hand what it’s like to ‘share’ the road with motorized vehicles; it seems tough enough to do it in a car, driver education and awareness needs to be implemented from a young age and experienced drivers alike.
Again, I’ll be happy with whatever improvements happen but don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be…all I want is a clean space to ride on with plenty of room for us to share with cars. Bike lanes are sort of new to the area and there will be a learning curve, I’m happy it’s finally starting! Thanks for allowing me to throw in my two cents. 🙂 By the way, I bike to Detroit from Michigan/Beech Daly area so access from that direction is what I’m most familiar with.
Please continue the Cass and 3rd street lanes north up 2nd and down 3rd. Both streets are 4-5 lanes wide all the way to Highland Park and are lightly traveled currently. Making a couple of these lanes bike lanes would really help these neighborhoods connect to downtown and midtown. Us Boston Edison residents appreciate it!
There are plans to do just that. I don’t know what the timing is. We are also working with Highland Park to get bike lanes on Hamilton from just north of Boston Edison to Palmer Park.
northbound conner bike lanes need repair from chandler park drive to harper avenue
Thanks, Walter. What sort of repair is needed? We can pass that information along to DPW maintenance staff.
We were riding from downtown to Belle Isle a week ago, and the bike lane was remarkably free of gravel and glass. Then we saw why. We passed a golf cart with a huge vacuum attachment, cleaning the roadway. We all were amazed at the difference from a couple of weeks earlier!
These racists white bike lanes are not for black people who live in DETROIT and we pay higher car insurance and know we SHARE the road with these white people ridding riding bike no way
My heart is sad that who ever gave these white people the go ahead to put these pleasure bike up to please these white people who don’t pay taxes in DETROIT that is a stupid move we DETROIT catchers the bus take wasted money and spend it on bus shelters for the black hard workers who catch the bus to work every day ran,snow, all types of weather what about us that right I forgot don’t nobody gives a DAMN about us only satisfy the white people this wrong if Kwame would have okay an gave this to a white person omg Dugan needs to be invested wake up black DETROIT
Bike lanes improve safety for bicyclists. Since 2005, 79% of all bicyclist deaths were Black Detroiters. We agree that good public transit and bus shelters are critically important, but bike lanes aren’t built using transit funds. They are funded separately.