We created this graphic to highlight Detroit’s progress towards a more bikeable and walkable city — as well as our role.
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2020 Snapshot
Mayor Mike Duggan led a community meeting to discuss four streetscape options for W. McNichols just west of Livernois. The first was to rebuild what already existed, a two-lane road with on-street parking on both sides. The second and third options added landscaping and bumpouts. The fourth converted one side of the on-street parking into a two-way bicycle lane.
After a couple hours of community input and discussion, the group voted. It came down to options 3 and 4. While business owners preferred the additional parking in option 3, the city had created an off street parking lot for 88 vehicles — and could add more.
The vote was 39 to 12 in favor of adding the bike lanes. Project construction will begin later this year.
Approaches to Advocacy
Some bicycle and Complete Streets advocates take more adversarial approach (e.g. the War on Cars.). Some bring an intellectual elitism that is willing to belittle local decision making in communities they know little about. We don’t partner with these groups.
We have confidence that Complete Streets can help solve existing community issues like speeding, pedestrian safety, blight removal, access to parks, economic development, etc. The key is to bring all the information to a pragmatic discussion and let the community decide. They may not always support bike lanes and other Complete Streets designs — and advocates may have to live with that.
Certainly there are voices opposing Complete Street designs. While there are valid concerns, most aren’t well support by data. We’ve heard bike lanes emphatically called “the most dangerous thing in Detroit.” We’ve heard bike lanes blamed for causing one persons car crash. (They didn’t. We pulled the police report.) We heard our electronic bike counters on E. Jefferson were wrong because some only saw about three bicyclists in a month. We’ve heard that bike lanes being built for white suburbanites despite the very visible, growing Detroit #bikelife movement.
What have we not heard many say publicly (at least not directly)? That they want to continue driving faster than the speed limit and be able to pass traffic in the curb lane. Bike lanes help curb those unsafe practices. It’s one of the major benefits to bike lanes. They reduce speeding and reduce crashes among everyone: motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Bike lanes are not just for bicyclists’ benefit. They especially improve pedestrian safety in a city with one of the nation’s highest pedestrian fatality rates. They’re like speed humps for major roads.
There will nearly always be opposition any time changes are proposed. There was opposition to the Dequindre Cut before it was built. Once it was a success, the change was embraced, which helped open the door for future greenways in Detroit.
Successful Complete Streets can do the same.
Additional Reading
- Community Streetscape presentation, City of Detroit, January 7th, 2020.
- Streetscape updates set for McNichols Road in Detroit, Detroit News, January 2020.
- Streetscape improvements announced for West McNichols in the Bagley and Fitzgerald neighborhoods, Model D, January 2020.
#GivingTuesday
Tuesday, December 5th is #GivingTuesday. We could use your support to help us continue our work into 2020. Any donation would be appreciated.
There are two ways to give:
- We have a fundraiser on Facebook. Facebook is waiving all transaction fees. They are matching the first $7 million in all donations starting on #GivingTuesday at 8 AM.
- We also have a donation page on our website with payments handled through PayPal.
Our vision is for a citywide network of safe, convenient, and fun pathways for biking and walking. We’re clearly not there yet despite all the progress made since we began in 2007. The Joe Louis Greenway — a project we helped mature and wrote grants for $4.5 million — is a big start, but there are others. We:
- Proposed a greenway along the Rouge River and now the intial portions of that are being designed.
- Advocated to upgrade existing projects, such as the Conner Creek Greenway and the Iron Belle Trail.
- Helped start the Detroit Complete Streets push years ago and now there are Complete Streets staff at city working on projects across the Detroit.
- Led advocacy efforts to get a biking and walking trail on the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which will now be connected to the Joe Louis Greenway.
- Partnered with Highland Park to ensure they are not forgotten in these improvements and wrote a couple grants to design and build their first Complete Street on Hamilton.
- Have even been involved in freeway projects like I-94 and I-375 to ensure their new designs improve walking and biking in Detroit while reconnecting neighborhoods.
And since 2007, we’ve helped advocate and educate city staff, elected officials, and the public on the value in Complete Streets, bike lanes, parks, and green stormwater management. We need to continue this work and your donation helps. Thank you!
Joe Louis Greenway
The City of Detroit is hosting two public sessions titled “Joe Louis Greenway – Cocoa and Conversation”:
- Wednesday, December 4th from 6-8pm at the Lexus Velodrome, 601 Mack Avenue (near I-75). Doors open at 5:30pm. The indoor walking track will be open and you can watch bicyclists riding on the track, too.
- Tuesday, December 10th from 6-8pm at the Unity Baptist Church, 7500 Tireman Street. Doors open at 5:30pm.
It is expected that a updated draft of the Joe Louis Greenway Framework Plan will be presented.
This will be the third and final set of community input sessions the City of Detroit and its design team are organizing. During the first and second set of community input sessions participants discussed and voted on greenway design elements such as surface, buffers, landscaping, fencing and special features. The Framework Planning will be completed by February 2020.
Here is the City of Detroit’s most recent routing plan.
Detroit Stormwater Hub
The Nature Conservancy and the Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DWSD) led efforts to design, create, and launch the Detroit Stormwater Hub. We were part of the 25-member advisory team that helped shape, design, test, and market the final product.
What is the Stormwater Hub? It’s a website that shows Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) projects across Detroit — 172 projects as of now!
Greenways and green Complete Streets provide an excellent opportunity to manage stormwater through GSI. Doing this can reduce flooding, improve water quality, and create beautiful natural areas. We expect this website will spur greater interest in building more GSI while complementing our work on Complete Streets and greenways.
Upcoming Events
A Grant Parklet Community Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 3rd at 6pm at the Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation (19800 Grand River). The new parklet will be located just across the street. As you may recall, Grand River is being reconstructed as a Complete Street with improved sidewalks, crosswalks, and bike lanes.- The first community meeting for the Gratiot/7 Mile Neighborhood Framework Plan is Thursday, December 12th. The meeting will be held at The Matrix Center, 13560 E. McNichols. Doors open at 5p. Dinner will be served at 5:30p. The program will begin promptly at 6p. All ages welcome!
- Free Bikes 4 Kids is seeking volunteers for their bike giveaway days — Saturday, December 14th and Sunday, December 15th. This is when restored bicycles will be distributed to kids in the community. Visit their volunteer signup page to learn more.
Framework Plan Public Meetings
The City of Detroit is hosting two sessions titled “Joe Louis Greenway – Cocoa and Conversation”:
- Wednesday, December 4th from 6-8pm at the Lexus Velodrome, 601 Mack Avenue (near I-75). Doors open at 5:30pm. The indoor walking track will be open and you can watch bicyclists riding on the track, too.
- Tuesday, December 10th from 6-8pm at the Unity Baptist Church, 7500 Tireman Street. Doors open at 5:30pm.
It is expected that a updated draft of the Joe Louis Greenway Framework Plan will be presented.
This will be the third and final set of community input sessions the City of Detroit and its design team are organizing. During the first and second set of community input sessions participants discussed and voted on greenway design elements such as surface, buffers, landscaping, fencing and special features. The Framework Planning will be completed by February 2020.
The planned Joe Louis Greenway is 32 miles and will be constructed in phases. Here is the City of Detroit’s most recent routing plan.
What’s Under Construction
The Joe Louis Greenway includes other trail and streetscape projects. Three of those are currently under construction.
- Livernois Streetscape — There is a offshoot of the Greenway that heads north along Livernois and connects to Ferndale. Livernois between Margareta and Eight Mile is being completely reconstucted. Wider sidewalks and sidewalk-level bike lanes are included. Most of the construction will be completed this year. The Livernois businesses have suffered a bit during construction, so we’re encouraging everyone to patronize them whenever possible.
- Bagley Streetscape — This is a short segment of the proposed Greenway route between I-75 and 24th Street in Mexicantown. The reconstruction is making this street look and feel more like a pedestrian plaza (that happens to be lined with great Mexican food!) Depending on the weather, this project should be completed this year.
- Riverfront Extension — This is a portion of the RiverWalk that connects the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park (formerly West Riverfront Park) with the RiverWalk near the former Joe Louis Arena site. Concrete has been poured on portions of this segment. We expect this to be open sometime next year.
Detroit Bike Life
One feature that makes Detroit so unique is its bike club culture, collectively referred to as Bike Life. We’ve yet to find another U.S. city — or any city — with the same number of bike clubs. If you’re in one of the clubs or just ride with them at events like Slow Roll, you know how unique they are from their vests to their bikes. They’re more than clubs. They’re family and they are one of the main reasons why more Detroiters are biking now.
We’ve made it a priority to help them share their story with a worldwide audience and inspire others. We’ve connected them with media such as the Guardian, NBC News, and now, DetroitIsIt. The latter made this great video highlighting the Lanebangerz Westside Wednesday ride. It talks about how it’s not just about the bike. It’s about being apart of something bigger and giving back to the community.
Most all of the clubs give back. Many volunteer for the Free Bikes 4 Kidz program, Gleaner’s Community Food Bank, soup kitchens, and more. The North End Bandits just donated 55 winter coats. Grown Men on Bikes (GMOB) and Grown Women on Wheels (GLOW) have partnered with the George Washington Carver Academy in Highland Park for numerous giveaways and fundraisers.
As much as we highlight the latest infrastructure investments, it’s the bike club investments in other Detroiters and especially the youth that are such a critical part of Detroit’s revitalization.
DetroitIsIt also created this related article, Ready to Ride Detroit? Get Moving With Detroit Greenways Coalition.
I-375 Alternatives
The bridges over I-375 are at the end of their lifespan. As a result, MDOT took this opportunity to determine if I-375 should be rebuilt as is or convert it to a more typical city boulevard. After a series of public meetings and evaluation, the latter is the preferred alternative.
We’re on the Local Advisory Committee since this is a chance to improve bikability and walkability both along the current I-375 corridor and across it. A summary of the most recent committee meeting is now online and it includes some preliminary designs. One design shown here includes a new east-west road that would connect Ford Field to Eastern Market. We really like this so long as it’s also designed for those on foot and bikes.
All alternatives include sidewalks and a two-way separated cycletrack from Gratiot to the RiverWalk.
Stay tuned for public meetings where you can provide feedback on some further refined designs.
Henry Ford Hospital Campus
Have you seen the new bike lanes under construction south of the main hospital on W. Grand Boulevard? These really are a step up from what we typically see on road retrofits. The streetscaping looks great. Some of the road re-alignments should also improve mobility.
We’ve recently participated in some streetscape design work for Holden. W. Grand Boulevard should also see some improvements in the near future. We’ve been pushing to get some of these features included in the I-94 Modernization project, too.
All of these changes will make it easier to use healthier transportation options in this area.
Quick Updates
The Joe Louis Greenway was 26 miles. With the new routing, it’s over 39 miles. This includes the connection on Livernois up to Ferndale. The City expects to host another round of Framework Planning public meetings next month.- We were just in NYC as guests of the High Line Network. The High Line is an amazing greenway but we also loved the Hudson River Greenway. It’s a separated two-way cycletrack that seems to be a good model for the high-priority onroad segments of the Joe Louis and other greenways
- Clear Water: Detroit’s River Revivial documentary has an exclusive showing at the Redford Theatre on November 14th. Buy your tickets now!
- Please keep supporting the local businesses on Livernois (Avenue of Fashion), Grand River (Grandmont-Rosedale), and Bagley (Mexicantown.) The associated road construction projects are causing a decline in sales.
Also In the News
- Detroit residents fight to remove blight, bring back services by giving tours
- RiverWalk, other urban parks choosing active programming over quiet oasis
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Detroit Bike Life
Originally published by DetroitIsIt.com:
Detroit’s bike scene has been covered around the world. Bikes have been photographed for British Newspapers, flown into Berlin art galleries, and brought to nationwide bike gatherings in Las Vegas, Nevada – one in particular called “One Big Club.” It’s captivated people beyond the City of Detroit with lights, streetwise style and strong community elements that are all proof the bike scene is here to stay in the revitalization of Detroit.
Don’t miss this DetroitIsIt.com story, Ready to Ride Detroit? Get Moving With Detroit Greenways Coalition.