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Complete Streets Greenways Newsletter

News from the Trail – December 2018

East Jefferson Meeting Postponed

The East Jefferson Improvements public meeting intially planned for this Wednesday, December 12th has been postponed.  The City of Detroit is revising their plan and schedule for community outreach. We’ll let you know the new date as soon as it’s announced.

Joe Louis Greenway Senate Resolution

Photo by Pattrick Yockey, Senate Majority PhotographerWe worked with the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance (MTGA) on a Michigan Senate Resolution in support of Joe Louis, the Joe Louis Greenway and Detroit trails in general. Sponsored by Senator David Knezek, Senate Resolution 115 went before the Senate Committee on Outdoor Recreation and Tourism on November 28th. We thought this was a great opportunity to testify before state legislators and share all that is happening with trails and biking in Detroit.

We brought three Detroit bike club officers to testify with us. With their help, it went very well. The resolution passed unanimously. Additionally, it stirred interest in bringing legislators to Detroit next May for a bike event on Detroit’s trails. We’re working on that event now with MTGA.

We’ve written more about our trip to Lansing on our web site.

Grand River Road Diet Meeting

There is a public meeting at the Crowell Community Center (16630 Lahser Road) this Thusday, December 13th from 5:30pm to 7:30pm to discuss redesigning Grand River between the Southfield Freeway and Berg Road (just west of Lahser.) There will be a brief presentation at 6pm.

From the flyer:

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the City of Detroit will host an open house-style public meeting to provide an overview of the M-5 (Grand River Avenue) project that includes a road diet between M-39 (Southfield Freeway) and Berg Road, east of US-24 (Telegraph Road). This project will convert seven lanes to five lanes with defined on-street parking and possible bike lanes. There will be an opportunity for the community and residents to review project details and locations, provide comments and concerns, and ask questions.

We really want bike lanes incorporated. We’ve included Grand River bike lanes as part of our Detroit Greenways Network Vision. They would also fit with our Envision Detroit Project.

Grand River is a great bicycling connection between Northwest Detroit, Downtown, and everything in between. Also, MDOT has said that they are looking for additional funding to extend this road design between the Southfield and I-94. This would then include an intersection with the Joe Louis Greenway and lay the groundwork for a future U.S. Bicycle Route 30.

We hope to see you on Thursday!

Donations

Thanks to everyone who made a donation to help us launch our Friends of the Joe Louis Greenway. There’s still time to donate through our web site or our Facebook fundraiser page. We hope you agree that we’re helping make some significant progress towards Detroit becoming a great place to walk and bike.

Photo by Pattrick Yockey, Senate Majority Photographer

Photos by Pattrick Yockey, Senate Majority Photographer

Categories
Greenways Policy

Detroit Bike Clubs in Lansing to support trails

Photo by Pattrick Yockey, Senate Majority Photographer

We worked with the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance (MTGA) on a Michigan Senate Resolution in support of Joe Louis, the Joe Louis Greenway and Detroit trails in general. Sponsored by Senator David Knezek, Senate Resolution 115 went before the Senate Committee on Outdoor Recreation and Tourism last week. We thought this was a great opportunity to testify before state legislators and share all that is happening with trails and biking in Detroit.

To do that effectively, we invited Detroit bike club officers to join us. Their organizations and club rides are really helping move things forward in Detroit. We rented a van, bought them lunch, and drove them to Lansing to tell that story.

Continue reading “Detroit Bike Clubs in Lansing to support trails”
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Greenways History

An Equestrian Center along the Joe Louis Greenway?

Detroit Horse Power mission is to “teach urban youth to ride and care for horses as a way to develop critical skills that will set them up for future success.” To help them better meet that mission they are trying to get an urban equestrian center built in the city of Detroit for year-round youth programming.

Through some initial planning work, a viable location has been identified along the Joe Louis Greenway near Salsinger Playfield (Fenkell at Linwood). If that does get built, it would make sense to try getting a rustic natural surface bridle path parallel to the main asphalt bike/walk greenway path. The Kal-Haven Trail in Western Michigan has such a feature.

Continue reading “An Equestrian Center along the Joe Louis Greenway?”
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Complete Streets

NoMo-vember: Detroit Bike & Trail Project updates

  • Bike lanes were removed from recent safety funding projects: Warren & Mack
  • Downtown Bike Network implementation on hold due to downtown construction. Focusing on east-west connectors now.
  • Equipment breakdowns have affected bike lane maintenance
  • Caitlin Marcon is the Deputy DPW Director of Complete Streets

Detroit’s quarterly non-motorized facilities meeting was last week and there were many updates we want to pass along.

Safety Projects

Grant funding is available in the federal transportation bill to redesign streets with high crash rates. Detroit has many high crash roads and has been successfully receiving this funding through MDOT. Traffic Engineering does Complete Streets designs on these high crash roads, which always includes better walking facilities (e.g. crosswalks, countdown Walk/Don’t Walk timers) and often bike facilities (e.g. bike lanes). These projects typically receive minimal community engagement — usually a public meeting.

In 2017, Warren Avenue from the city of Dearborn (near Central) to Dequindre received funding. The plan included protected bike lanes. Given Mayor Duggan’s concern about removing vehicle lanes to add bike lanes without more public discussion, these have been pulled from the project. The two-way conversion of Warren in Woodbridge was completed. We are advocating that the city does add quality bike lanes on Warren from Trumbull to Dequindre. They would be a great connection between Woodbridge, Wayne State, and Eastern Market.

In 2018, Mack Avenue from the Dequindre Cut to Alter was funded. Bike lanes were not included except for the bridge between St. Aubin and Conner Avenue.

Harper Avenue was selected for 2019. With more community engagement, bike lanes can and should be included in these projects as they are a key design element for building safer streets.

Downtown Bike Lane Network

An earlier revision of the Downtown Bike Network Plan

Downtown has long lacked bike lanes. With MoGo and now motorized scooters, the need for a good bike network is greater than ever. The Downtown Detroit Partnership (DDP) has been working on a plan, received funding from MDOT and the Erb Family Foundation, but didn’t have enough. With the added mobility staff in both the planning and public works departments, the city has taken a large role in the project.

We learned at the recent meeting that with all of the ongoing downtown construction, it wasn’t realistic to build the entire network now. What the DDP and City are looking to do is build two major east-west connectors through downtown. Those are Adams from Beacon Park to Brush and Michigan Avenue-to-E. Lafayette connector.

Bike Lane Maintenance

Recent equipment breakdowns have affected the city’s ability to sweep the bike lanes. They have been using blowers until they can get the sweepers repaired, or better still, get specialized bike lane maintenance equipment. The latter really is the best solution in the long run and we’re pushing city to make this happen.

Detroit’s Complete Streets Deputy Director

Caitlin Marcon had been leading  mobility planning within the Planning and Development Department. She’s now a Deputy Director at the Public Works Department and in charge of Complete Streets. This is a big deal and should help build collaboration between the two city departments.

It’s a bit hard to believe this has happened. It doesn’t seem that long ago that we started pushing the city to consider building Complete Streets.

Congratulations, Caitlin.

Categories
Greenways Newsletter

News from the Trail – November 2018

Please Vote

Trails like the Joe Louis Greenway are not on the ballot today, but the politicians making trail funding decisions are. We’re members of the Detroit Environmental Agenda and they have more voting information including Detroit Charter Revision Commissioners.

To make getting to the polls a bit easier, Lime scooters are offering free 30-minute rides today with the promo code LIME2VOTE2018.

Joe Louis Greenway

Framework Planning Proposals are due this week. With this being such a critical greenway planning process, we put together this brief article on what we think a winning proposal should include. First and foremost is community engagement. It’s a long trail and we want to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to participate in the design process. This is much more than just a trail project.

The city expects to review the proposals and award a contract by the end of the year.

$100 million for the RiverWalk and other Trails

You likely heard the great news that the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation pledged $100 million towards Detroit trails and the RiverWalk.

$40 million of that goes to the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy’s West Riverfront Park project. As a result, the park was renamed to the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park. An additional $10 million goes into an endowment to fund the park’s long-term sustainability.

Another $40 million is for building regional, connecting trails in Southeast Michigan, including the Iron Belle Trail. We imagine the Joe Louis Greenway could potentially receive some of this funding. The last $10 million is also an endowment to help operate and maintain the these trails.

At the announcement ceremony, we had the opportunity to personally thank Mary Wilson and share some stories on how trails and bicycling are benefitting Detroiters in the neighborhoods. It’s more profound than most realize and it’s our role to share these stories.

Bike lanes: Planning, Building, Maintaining

Detroit has approved $125 million in road bonds to revitalize commerical corridors. About $80 million of that targets major infrastructure improvements on key corridors, which includes Complete Streets and stormwater designs. The following should be under construction next year:

  • Livernois (Puritan to Eight Mile Road). The last we heard the infamous median will be removed, the sidewalks widened, and bike lanes added.
  • W. McNichols (Marygrove College to UDM). This includes both an sidepath trail segment and bike lanes. The Fitzgerald Greenway just south of McNichols will also be under construction next year.

E. Jefferson will also get this road funding. We recently attended the initial stakeholder planning meeting. A public meeting is tentatively planned for December 12th. We’ll share more information as we get it. In the meantime, the city is offering office hours at the Elmwood Park Public Library on Tuesdays from 5 to 7pm on Nov. 20th, Dec. 4th, and December 18th. if you would like to learn more.

Our Hamilton Avenue bike lane project in Highland Park continues to move forward. If all goes as planned, we are expect that project to be constructed next year.

MDOT has also started planning for a major streetscape project on Grand River Avenue from the Southfield freeway to Berg Road. At a recent community meeting, most of the resident and business concerns focused on speeding cars and pedestrian safety. Bike lanes are also being discussed and MDOT is trying to find additional funding to continue this design from the Southfield to I-94.

One would expect news to slow as the weather turns chilly, but that’s certainly not the case.

Donate today to help us continue our work making Detroit a great place for biking, walking, and trails.

Categories
Greenways

Ingredients for a great greenway framework plan proposal

A request for proposals (RFP) was released by Detroit’s Planning and Development Department last month to develop a Framework Plan for the Joe Louis Greenway. Many teams will be applying for this project. Proposals are due November 8th.

The Coalition has a long history with the greenway but we purposely chose not to be on any given team. We’re not on the proposal review team either.

Instead we’re offering these suggestions on what we would to see in the Joe Louis Greenway Framework Design proposals.

An effective, inclusive community engagement strategy.
This is a lengthy greenway that passes through many diverse neighborhoods. It’s critical that the public outreach covers the geography and diversity of the residents, businesses, and other stakeholders along the entire corridor. We’re not aware of any local project that has faced such a challenge and we’re not sure if there’s a national example. We would expect a winning team would have a substantial, successful background of similar community engagement and be able to define a viable strategy for this project. The strategy should define the expected levels of participation by various stakeholders, the methods and resources to be employed to ensure expected and engaged participation, and how processes will be measured to determine outreach success and whether improvement is needed along the way.

A design team that can handle the constrained sections.
The greenway needs a family-friendly design. That shouldn’t be too challenging for much of the trail that travels along the former railroad property. However, there are segments in Southwest Detroit and Hamtramck that primarily use constrained road right-of-way where options become limited. For a more specific example, consider the current bike lane route on W. Vernor intersects with Dix and Waterman. It’s a non-motorized nightmare. Does the design team have the experience to design these areas?

We’re also interested in seeing how the teams plan to address the culture and history along the greenway. How can the greenway honor the legacy of Joe Louis?

Lastly, since it is a green way, we’re wanting to see a team capable of creative, sustainable design strategies for green stormwater infrastructure and other landscaping – and how to maintain them. The Joe Louis Greenway is a great opportunity to improve the lives of Detroiters while also improving the natural environment.