Author: Todd Scott, Executive Director

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Greenways Newsletter

News from the Trail – April 2019

Fundraiser at the Velodrome this Saturday

This Saturday, April 20th will be more than just another exciting evening of bicycle track racing at the Lexus Velodrome. It’s also a fundraiser for the Detroit Greenways Coalition. If you not yet seen high-speed track bike racing at Detroit’s newest sports venue, this is a great opportunity to do so. It’s the Spring Track Classic and will attract top racers from across the region. Doors open at 6:30pm and the racing begins at 7:30pm. Tickets are available in advance and start at just $10.

Of course Saturday is also Earth Day and the Detroit City Council Green Task Force is hosting its Awards Breakfast. The event runs from 10am until noon, is free and open to the public. It’s being held at JBEW Local 58 (1358 Abbott). RVSP if you plan on attending.

One more event to put on your calendar is Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 17th. Make you pledge to ride that day to receive an event shirt and commemorative patch. More details are on our website.

FCA Expansion to impact greenways & trails

You may have read the news of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) planning to expand their Jefferson North manufacturing in the city of Detroit. They need more land for this and the city has offered to give them St. Jean Street which currently has bike lanes for the Conner Creek Greenway and the Iron Belle Trail. We’ve discussed options with our partners and developed ideas for alternative routings. We’ve also asked that we not lose the existing protected bike lanes on Conner and East Jefferson, which both border the FCA footprint. We’ve shared our proposals with elected officials, city staff, FCA officials, and our partners. Our entire proposal with maps is on our website.

Ultimately, we’d love to see the local community, city of Detroit, and FCA all arrive at a mutually beneficial solution that also improves green transportation options throughout the lower eastside. This project is moving quickly so we’ll be sure to stay on top.

Joe Louis Greenway Updates

Last month, the City of Detroit announced that the SmithGroup and its team had been selected to complete the Joe Louis Greenway Framework Plan. The SmithGroup has extensive greenway experience which includes designing the Dequindre Cut and Detroit Riverwalk. The City also announced that “an advisory council has been created, comprised of community members from each Detroit City Council District impacted by the route.”

We have three Joe Louis Greenway bike tours in the works. The first is our 24-mile fundraiser ride scheduled for June 23rd. We’re also working with the Wheelhouse Detroit on two shorter 16-mile tours on August 24th and September 28th.

Visit Detroit celebrates bicycling

You may already know how fun and cool bicycling in Detroit is. Others don’t, but that will be changing a bit with the Spring-Summer 2019 Visit Detroit magazine published by the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The cover photo itself really shows how Detroiters are redefining American bicycling with customized, stylish bikes, matching attire, lights, and tunes. We couldn’t be happier seeing our friend Tracy (on the left) with her one-of-a-kind ride (BAM!). On her right are riders visiting from Ohio, not unlike the many other riders coming here from across the region to be a part of this movement.

And that’s not all. They also made this exciting video about Slow Roll that will get you ready for the summer of riding ahead of us.

Additional Reading

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Uncategorized

Measuring Detroit’s “Bike Friendliness”

  • The current “bike friendly” city measurements and rankings are largely based on heavily flawed and inaccurate bike commuting data.
  • Bike commuting data does not represent actual biking levels in cities like Detroit where a majority of workers travel to the suburbs for their jobs.
  • Relying on bike commuting data ignores the majority of other bicycle trips made within cities.
  • Other Detroit data sources can be a more accurate measure of bicycle friendliness.

We’ve been working with the Detroit Office of Sustainability on how bicycling, walking, micro-mobility, bike lanes and greenways fit within their planning efforts. They want to measure Detroit’s progress in these areas. Initially they’d suggesting using ratings from national bicycling organizations, but those are highly inaccurate and rate Detroit poorly. Those ratings clearly do not reflect the reality of Detroit’s diverse bicycle culture that includes the largest weekly bike ride, the most bike clubs, and the second largest protected bike lane network in the U.S. This article explains why these ratings don’t work and provides better data options for measuring progress.

Measuring Detroit’s “Bike Friendliness”

There is no U.S. standard for measuring the bike friendliness of the city. One could expect the number of people bicycling in a city to be a good reflection of its bike friendliness. However, such data does not exist.

Despite this, many national organizations receive grant and private funding to rate U.S. city bicycle friendliness. They rely on heavily flawed data that impacts Detroit’s measure to a much greater extent than other cities.

Continue reading “Measuring Detroit’s “Bike Friendliness””
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Greenways

FCA Expansion and the nearby greenways and trails

  • The FCA Expansion at Jefferson North will have major impacts on the surrounding greenways and trails.
  • Vacating St. Jean Street removes a critical segment of the Conner Creek Greenway and Iron Belle Trail. Fortunately both can be re-routed.
  • Improved greenways and trails, green space, green stormwater infrastructure, and public access to the riverfront should all be included as part of this expansion.

Below is our letter to city officials, the neighborhood advisory council, and FCA that details the impacts and proposed solutions to the FCA Expansion impacts.

The Detroit Greenways Coalition (DGC) supports the City’s effort to bring more manufacturing jobs to Detroit through the proposed Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Mack Avenue Assembly Complex on the city’s east side.  Our organizations focus is to encourage and protect a network of greenways, green spaces for non-motorized transportation for community use. As this plan is further developed we are concerned about losing the existing non-motorized infrastructure around the proposed plant, including portions of the Conner Creek Greenway and Iron Belle Trail.

We would like to see that the development plans are aware of these existing features and that they be either protected or reconfigured to meet community needs.  We also see this project as an opportunity to replace the lost “green spaces” and add even more “green” to the area through additional trees and appropriate green storm water infrastructure (GSI).

Mitigating the loss of St. Jean

Currently both the Conner Creek Greenway (CCG) and Iron Belle Trail (IBT) use the existing bike lanes and bike sharrows on St. Jean from Kercheval to Warren. The CCG master plan used both St. Jean and Conner Street. It made St. Jean the primary route due to it having less truck traffic, fewer curb cuts, and more greenery compared with Conner St. The CCG has less flexibility in using other routes since it follows the historic route of the Conner Creek, must cross I-94 at Conner Avenue, and terminates at Maheras-Gentry Park.

Any changes to the CCG should be discussed with the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative (DECC), the CDC that developed and implemented this greenway.

The IBT joins the CCG at Kercheval and heads north with it beyond Eight Mile Road. We believe the IBT could be routed differently to avoid St. Jean. However, bringing the IBT to the plant would be a great opportunity to highlight Detroit’s automotive heritage.

DGC Recommendations

FCA and the City of Detroit should:

  1. Work with the DGC and DECC to move the CCG primary routing from St. Jean (and a portion of Shoemaker) to Conner. This would also require the city make improvements to existing protected bike lanes so that they are continuous on both sides of the E. Warren intersection. It would also require updates to existing CCG wayfinding.
  2. Improve the existing Conner bike lanes by replacing the posts with curbs and GSI infrastructure. Improve access management along the corridor to consolidate curb cuts.
  3. Work with the DGC to propose routing of the IBT preferably along a new shared-use path along the western boundary of the FCA footprint. This could be a good opportunity to highlight the Dodge Brothers history with bicycle design, racing, and manufacturing.
  4. Support ongoing efforts with the E. Jefferson streetscape project.
  5. Maintain and/or improve the existing buffered bike lanes on the Mack Avenue Bridge.
  6. Plan and implement a non-motorized route around the boundaries of the FCA footprint. Such a route would be approximately 5K (3.2 miles) when Mack is used and could be incorporated into future FCA wellness and community programing.
  7. Incorporate more trees and GSI into all of the above recommendations. An Alliance for the Great Lakes/DGC study has already identified potential green storm water infrastructure site along this corridor and should be used.
  8. Preserve green space and public access to the river at the location of the DTE Conner Creek Power Plant. The 2012 Visions of Greenways plan for the Greater Riverfront East District called for an extension of the RiverWalk adjacent to, if not through these parcels. The DTE-FCA land transfer should not jeopardize that vision for a publicly accessible non-motorized greenway along the riverfront.
  9. Coordinate all infrastructure efforts with Great Lakes Water Authority’s plans for a new water line from Waterworks Park to their Northeast Water Treatment Plant.
  10. Manage truck traffic through street design to ensure it remains on the designated truck routes and minimizes conflicts with bicyclists and pedestrians.
  11. Provide funding and support for educational materials letting motorists and bicyclists how to drive or ride safely around the neighboring streets.

 

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Complete Streets Greenways Newsletter Policy

News from the Trail – March 2019

Streetscape Projects

Many streetscape improvement projects will be under construction this year as part of Detroit’s $80 million Commercial Corridor Program. Per the City, “These streetscape improvements support the City’s neighborhood planning efforts to improve safety and quality of life for Detroit residents. Streetscape improvements might include a variety of amenities including expanded sidewalks, bicycle lanes, improved lighting, plantings, neighborhood branding, and more.” (More on Crain’s Detroit)

Prior emails have encouraged everyone to attend community meetings for Grand River. Those are ongoing with additional information on the city website. As a result of previous meetings and feedback, the preferred design is for a vastly improved pedestrian, bike, and transit experience along this state trunkline while retaining onstreet parking (see below). The city recognizes the need for motorist and bicyclist education with a 2-way cycletrack. Construction is scheduled to begin this year.

There is a community meeting on Tuesday, March 19th from 6-8pm for the Kercheval Avenue Street Design between E. Grand Boulevard and Parker Street. The meeting is at the Solanus Casey Center, 1780 Mt. Elliott Street. (flyer)

Also this month is the East Jefferson Corridor Improvements Community Meeting. It will be held Thursday, March 21st from 6-7:30pm at the Hope Community Church, 14456 E. Jefferson. (flyer)

This Crain’s Detroit Business article covers many of the other exciting projects.

FCA Community Benefits Agreement

The City of Detroit is moving quickly to try landing a new Fiat Chrysler plant near the the existing E. Jefferson plant. There are already bike lanes on all four sides of that facility, including the Conner Creek Greenway and Iron Belle Trail along the St. Jean. Mayor Mike Duggan has proposed vacating St. Jean to gain the needed acreage for the plant. An initial community benefits meeting is this Wednesday, March 13th from 6:30-8pm at the UAW, 2600 Conner Avenue. We’ll be there to ensure the bike lanes and trails remain and propose that they get improved.

Bike Lane Ordinance

Council President Brenda Jones has asked the Law Department to draft an ordinance that requires all new bike lanes to be approved by City Council. We strongly oppose this. As we said recently in public comment before Council, bike lanes are a safety design that improves mobility for bicyclists, pedestrians, scooter users, and those in motorized mobility devices. Current city ordinance gives the Department of Public Works the ability to design safe roads based on national standards. City Council has approved the non-motorized plan that calls for these bike lanes. As one might imagine, there is a wide variety of opinions among city council members as this video from a recent Public Health & Safety Committee meeting shows.

We will keep everyone updated on this proposal and how you can share your thoughts with City Council.

Upcoming Events

Additional Reading & Listening

Ambassador Opportunities

  • MoGo Neighborhood Ambassador applications are due this Friday, March 15th
  • The Detroit Health Department is hiring temporary Safe Routes Ambassadors “to work on safety education with school children and community groups with an emphasis on the recent and upcoming Complete Streets work and Safe Routes to School efforts.”

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Policy

Time to Fix Michigan’s CMAQ Problem

  • Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) is federal funding that Michigan receives, some of which is allocated to SEMCOG.
  • Michigan has nearly $90 million in unspent CMAQ and the federal government is projected to take back nearly $86 million of it in June 2020.
  • CMAQ is a major funding source for bicycle and trail projects in places like Chicago, but not in Metro Detroit.
  • MDOT and SEMCOG should change their CMAQ formulas to invest in more greener modes of travel such as biking, walking, and public transit.

Haven’t heard of CMAQ? It’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funding in the federal transportation bills since 1991. Some of this funding is controlled by MDOT while a portion is allocated to SEMCOG.

The CMAQ program provides a flexible funding source to State and local governments for transportation projects and programs to help meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act. Funding is available to reduce congestion and improve air quality for areas that do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone, carbon monoxide, or particulate matter (nonattainment areas) and for former nonattainment areas that are now in compliance (maintenance areas).

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) web site

The State of Michigan currently has nearly $90 million in unspent CMAQ. Under current law, the federal government is projected to take back nearly $86 million of it in June of 2020.

There are calls for Congress to remove the rescission. That’s fine, but we think the bigger question is why does Michigan have such a large unobligated CMAQ funding balance.

A related issue is MDOT’s and SEMCOG’s antiquated CMAQ project ranking process. It favors traffic signal work since there’s no local match requirement. While these projects may reduce idle times, they don’t take into account how this encourages more driving and negates air quality improvements. They don’t take into account that idling electric, hybrid, and cars with start/stop technology aren’t affecting air quality.

In Chicago, CMAQ largely pays for their bicycle and pedestrian improvements that has shifted travel to greener modes. No CMAQ funding has gone for such improvements through SEMCOG. Zero. (MDOT did fund some Metro I-275 Trail improvements in the past.)

Our bottom line:

  • MDOT should not have such a large unobligated CMAQ balance especially since it’s subject to future rescission.
  • SEMCOG and MDOT should change their CMAQ funding priorities in Southeast Michigan to encourage greener modes of travel that improve air quality.

We certainly would support more CMAQ funding going towards public transit rather than the arbitrary 50% transit/road split that SEMCOG has adopted. 

The Detroit Greenways Coalition is working with elected officials and government staff to address this issue. We want cleaner air and shifting travel to green modes is one guaranteed way to achieve that.

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Complete Streets Greenways

Our thoughts: Milliken State Park Master Planning

One preliminary concept rendering

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is creating a master plan for the Milliken State Park and Harbor. Besides being a key piece of the RiverWalk, it also includes the lower end of the Dequindre Cut. Both of these trails are part of the Joe Louis Greenway as well.

Below are our comments that have a major focus on improvements to Atwater for bicyclists and scooterists, as well as the Dequindre Cut connection to the RiverWalk.

Continue reading “Our thoughts: Milliken State Park Master Planning”