Newsletter – Page 12 – Detroit Greenways Coalition

Coalition Updates – December 2015

Welcome to December!

#GivingTuesday is nearly over, but there’s still an opportunity to make a tax-deductible contribution to the Coalition. By donating through the PayPal fund, service fees are waived and they’ll add an additional 1%.

We were recently featured in an NBC News article and video, Motor City to Bike City: Inside Detroit’s Bicycle Renaissance. It was a great opportunity to highlight all the work being done in Detroit and the impact it’s having in making the city more bike-friendly.

Digging Detroit also published a video, Rails-to-Tales: Detroit’s Inner CIrcle Greenway. It includes footage from the abandoned rail corridor as well as historic photos.

While much progress has been made on the Inner Circle Greenway recently, there has been some unfortunate news. Detroit’s $10.4 million federal TIGER grant was not selected. The TIGER program is hyper-competitive, so that’s not too much of a surprise. The Coalition is working with the city on alternative funding plans which may include another shot at TIGER.

We recently biked with Detroit’s Planning Director Maurice Cox and MDOT’s projects managers for the I-94 widening project. We rode along the I-94 corridor and discussed mostly negative impacts MDOT’s project will have on biking and walking. We’ve been highlighting these concerns for years now so having Maurice involved and being equally concerned is very welcomed. We can’t afford to lose pedestrian bridges and other key community connections across the freeways.

2016 Events

We are making plans for next year and expanding upon our successful Bike Trails & Cocktails event. Initial plans are to host these events quarterly. Some will include bike tours, guest speakers, and more.

Stay tuned as we expect to announce more details in the coming months.

Coalition Updates – End of Summer 2015

It’s hard to believe but Labor Day is almost here and summer is nearly passed.

As you may well know, much has changed in Detroit this year, especially with respect to biking and trails. We’ve decided to host an inaugural event Bike Trails and Cocktails on Thursday, September 17th to show off some of the work with a easy bike tour and a post-ride gathering. On-line registration is now open.

Inner Circle Greenway proposed routing We’ll give Coalition updates at the event regarding the Detroit RiverWalk, Inner Circle Greenway, Beltline Greenway, Complete Streets, and more.

If you’re not already a member, you can save $10 on a membership while registering for the event.

Protected Bike Lanes

Sample protected bike lane in Chicago We do want to share the exciting news that the East Jefferson protected bike lanes are scheduled for construction from mid-September through mid-November. These will be the first in Metro Detroit, but we believe they will set a standard for future bike lanes throughout Michigan.

While this is only a short example, we are working with Jefferson East Inc., the city of Detroit, and others to extend them from Alter Road to the bridge to Belle Isle.

With so much happening across the city, we hope you can join us at Bike Trails and Cocktails and help celebrate.

Upcoming Events

Bike Woodward
September 12th
A ride to help us get more bike lanes on Woodward
Registration

Bike Trails & Cocktails
September 17th
See and hear updates on trails and biking in Detroit
Registration

Tour de Troit
September 19th
Michigan’s largest ride!
Registration