Categories
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.

 

Categories
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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Categories
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.

Categories
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”
Categories
Greenways Newsletter

News from the Trail – January 2019

Joe Louis Greenway meetings this Saturday

First, we want to thank all those that contributed to our successful Fall Fundraising campaign. This funding is critical to our organization’s effort to help create greenways like the Joe Louis. (Can we start calling it “The Joe” yet?)

Exciting News! Two community insight meetings are planned for this Saturday, January 19th from 11am to 1pm and again from 2pm to 4pm. This is an great opportunity for residents to get more involved in the greenway planning process for this 31.5 mile biking and walking trail that touches Detroit, Ferndale, Dearborn, Hamtramck, and Highland Park.

According to the City of Detroit web site:

At the meeting, residents will also have a chance to meet the two finalists on the short list of consultants that will be chosen to complete the planning, view the Greenway’s total footprint, discuss phases of construction, and share insights and opinions. The finalists, Spackman Mossop and Michaels, LLC and SmithGroup, Inc., will be in attendance to present their plans for the Greenway and answer questions from residents.”

We’ve also updated our Joe Louis Greenway page with up to date information.

Milliken State Park meeting this Wednesday

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is holding a second public meeting about the Milliken State Park & Harbor Master Plan Update. That meeting is January 16, 2019 from 6:00pm – 8:00pm at Orleans Landing (1568 Franklin Street).

Saving Athens Avenue at Conner Playfield

We regularly scan the Detroit City Council agendas. Now and then this tedious work pays off — and it just did. An eastside company had asked the City of Detroit to close Athens Avenue, the street that runs along the west side of the Conner Playfield, north of Harper Avenue. The onstreet parking on Athens is the only vehicle parking for the Playfield, which is home to the Titan football teams as well as a portion of the Conner Creek Greenway and Iron Belle Trail. We alerted Council member Scott Benson, who quickly contacted all parties and brokered an agreement to not close Athens. This is great news for those who use the park.

Survey says…

As part of the Gordie Howe International Bridge project’s Community Benefit Plan, $10 million will be invested on each side of the border. Before they finalize the Community Benefits Plan, they are seeking community feedback on the final selection of initiatives through this survey.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) also has a survey for their State Long Range Transportation Plan. PLEASE TAKE THIS WHEN YOU CAN. We need to continue pushing MDOT to a more realistic, human-focused transportation system.

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Uncategorized

Top Bike/Trail Projects for 2019

Detroit bike and trail progress is moving at a pace we never could have imagined when we started over a decade again. Back then we celebrated sharrows. Now Motown has leapfrogged other US cities to become a leader in building non-motorized infrastructure.

This doesn’t appear to be slowing down in 2019 and we’ve picked out a number of projects that illustrate this progress.

Detroit RiverWalk

It’s exciting every time a new piece of the RiverWalk puzzle is completed and a gap is closed. Soon the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy will have more construction ongoing that ever before.

  • Atwater Beach near Jos Campau is under construction now and is expected to be opened in September. This is going to be a very unique and popular gathering place along the Riverfront with its bridge and sandy beach (but no water access.)
  • The groundbreaking for the Uniroyal site should occur this year. This is the major gap between Mt. Elliott Park, Gabriel Richard Park, and the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle.
  • The city of Detroit expects the Jos Campau Greenway will be under construction this year. This will provide access from the RiverWalk to E. Vernor along Jos Campau Avenue and on the existing public pathway. A pathway between Larned and E. Jefferson will be added as well.
  • On the West Riverfront, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park received $50 million in October, $40 million of which is for construction. While work continues on the park, it is not scheduled to be open until Fall 2022.
  • The Riverfront Connector between the Joe Louis Arena and Centennial Park was recommended for a $3 million Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant. Additional funding is required to build this trail segment along the river.
  • Planning continues on the Southwest Greenway between Centennial park and Roosevelt Park. This should get quite interesting with Ford Motor Company renovating the train station and now owning some of the property required for the trail. Their community benefits agreement includes verbal support for the greenway.
  • Last but not least, the city of Detroit said they would be repaving W. Jefferson between Centennial Park and Riverside Park. This would be a major park connector. Currently the road appears war torn. This could be the most underrated project on this list.
Continue reading “Top Bike/Trail Projects for 2019”