Tag: Joe Louis Greenway

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Greenways

Detroit’s TIGER strikes out… for now

The City of Detroit submitted an $18.285 million TIGER grant request last year to construct the Joe Louis Greenway (formerly known as the Inner Circle Greenway.) This $500 million US Department of Transportation grant program is super-competitive but we had high hopes given the value and scope of this great trail project.

However, we learned last Friday that Detroit’s grant wasn’t chosen.

Was this the end of TIGER funding? No one knows. These transportation grants began as part of President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package. They’ve been quite popular with Congress.

In many ways TIGER grants are a more transparent and competitive replacement for the old High Priority Projects (HPP). These project funds would get included in transportation bills in order to get votes in Congress. The Detroit RiverWalk got funding through this, but then so did the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska.

We certainly do hope that TIGER grants continue for the reason we gave in this recent People for Bikes article: “…there just aren’t very many funding opportunities unless you want to take a really long time to construct it over multiple grants.”

Regardless, progress on the Joe Louis Greenway continues. The city is doing its due diligence (e.g. environmental testing) of the Conrail railroad property. If all goes as expected, they should be purchasing the property this summer.

Once purchased, a Framework Plan will be created for the entire trail, including the portion within Highland Park. This will be a great opportunity for the community to provide their input on the trail’s design and operation.

It’s also a time to look at adjacent land uses and how those might complement the trail. Adding green stormwater infrastructure is a no brainer, as is affordable housing — a tool for mitigating residential displacement from rising property values.

Lastly, our new Joe Louis Greenway map is at the printers now and should be available by spring. A PDF of the map is available now. Thanks to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s Doppelt Family Fund for making this possible.

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Complete Streets Greenways Newsletter Policy

News from the Trail – February 2018

The trails and biking momentum from 2017 has continued into 2018…

Belle Isle Strategic Plan

If you haven’t already heard, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is updating the 10-year strategic master plan for Belle Isle. This plan will shape how the park is operated and developed for years to come. There are two public meetings today, February 1st from 2pm to 4pm and 6pm to 8pm at the Outdoor Adventure Center. At these meetings the DNR will present on the draft plan and give take your comments.

If you are unable to attend, the draft plan is online and comments can be submitted until February 12th.

Quick Updates

  • The Detroit Water and Sewage Department is looking to green up the medians on Oakman Boulevard while also adding stormwater management features. They’ve having  a public meeting about this project this Saturday, February 3rd from 10:30am to noon at the Detroit Police Department 2nd Precint (13530 Lesure Street). What they’re doing here could be a model for greening up other popular biking routes and greenways around Detroit. More details
  • The Michigan Trails Summit is February 6th. The last we heard, the event was very close to selling out. Whether you’re in the event or not, feel free to join us that morning at 6:30am for a casual 3K run from the Marriott Motor Lobby at the Renaissance Center.
  • The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy West Riverfront Park design competition is heating up. The four teams will be making their pitches on February 8th. You can register for that online. Afterwards, their display boards and models will be on display at West Riverfront Park Public Exhibition at 1001 Woodward from February 10 – February 22, with daily hours from 11am until 8pm.
  • Our Joe Louis Greenway map is in final draft form. We expect to have it completed and printed before too long.
  • Our Hamilton Avenue bike lane design project is over half complete. We will then continue to work with Highland Park to get grant funding for construction.
  • We’re working with the Detroit Fitness Foundation for a fundraising event at the new Lexus Velodrome. We hope to have a date in the coming weeks, but it’s looking like March.
  • We were approved by the Michigan State Police get bicyclist and pedestrian crash data and analyze what affects the city’s new public lighting improvements are having. (Hint: it’s positive.)
  • We caught a legislative typo that inadvertently made all local bicycle ordinances enforceable in Michigan without posted signs. Yes, you can now get ticketed for riding in Hamtramck without a bicycle registration or for riding in Highland Park without a bell. We’re working with State Representative Stephanie Chang to get this corrected.
  • Lastly we’re working with multiple parties on greenway along the Rouge River from Hines Drive to Eight Mile. Yes, that’s getting serious!

Special shout out to volunteers Paul Vial and Mark Hall who have been a big help tackling these projects and moving us forward!

Categories
Greenways

Thanks for all your work, Jose Abraham

Jose Abraham shows where the planned Wilkins Connector just off the Dequindre Cut Extension.

Most ride, run and walk the trails throughout the city of Detroit without knowing who helped create them.

One person you should know is our good friend, the recently-retired Deputy Director of the Department of Public Works, Jose Abraham.

Jose started as a Dequindre Cut skeptic. Why convert this decrepit, abandoned rail corridor into a trail? Will it get used?

However, once it was built, he saw its potential and fully bought in. He led efforts on the Dequindre Cut Extension, part of the Link Detroit project. One highlight was landing a major federal TIGER grant to help fund it. Though the city had requested $15 million, the feds only approved $10 million — still a substantial grant.

We’ll never forget an initial TIGER grant meeting with Federal Highway Administration officials where Jose asked if we could scale back the project since we didn’t get all the funding that was requested. The officials said no, the city needed to find another $5 million dollars elsewhere. After a bit of nervous laughter, the meeting continued — and Jose made it happen. (Fortunately the construction bids came in lower than anticipated, too.)

Even before the Extension was under construction, Jose was looking to do more. He picked up Coalition plans for an Inner Circle Greenway, a 26-mile trail encircling the city. “The mother of all non-motorized trails,” as he liked to say. Of course this trail was recently renamed as the Joe Louis Greenway.

We worked closely with him writing grants under his direction, including the successful $3.4 million Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and $1.2 million MDOT grants. These grants are now being used to acquire nearly 8 miles of abandoned Detroit Terminal Railroad property to close one of the biggest gaps in the Joe Louis Greenway.

We are certainly going to miss working with Jose on the numerous non-motorized projects happening all across Detroit, so many of which he played an instrumental role. This is especially true of the Joe Louis Greenway.

Thanks Jose for all you’ve done getting us to this point. You’re efforts will not be forgotten.

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Complete Streets Greenways History Newsletter Policy

News from the Trail – December 2017

Happy 149th Anniversary!

The first bicycle was ridden in Detroit 149 years ago. Ben Fletcher brought a 100-pound Hanlon bicycle to Detroit. It was mostly made of wood and iron — bicyclists hadn’t invented inflatable rubber tires yet. Fletcher crashed often as he tried riding it along Jefferson according to the Detroit Free Press. As much as the newspaper mocked the rider, they did believe bicycles would eventually be “as plenty as carriages in the streets.”

Year end donation

While it’s fun to look back, we need to keep focusing on moving things forward. To help us do that, we rely heavily on donations both big and small to cover our operating costs. It’s not too late to make a tax-deductible donation to the Detroit Greenways Coalition. We also have a montly support option if that’s more convenient. We appreciate any and all support!

Protected Bike Lanes (and Snow!)

People for Bikes just announced America’s best ten bikeways for 2017.  Though outside the top ten, Detroit did get honorable mention.

Every year, a handful of good projects narrowly miss our list.

One that stood out this year: the 3.5-mile protected bike lanes in Detroit’s Michigan Avenue, the latest in a series of massive projects that show the Motor City’s potential but have, so far, struggled with maintenance and poorly parked cars.

The City and MDOT have made rapid increases in new protected bike lanes — more than nearly all other U.S. cities — and there’s a learning curve for motorists and maintainence staff. The recent snow storm was a major challenge. The city has told us they are committed to maintaining them as well as the vehicle lanes. Once that happens, we can expect to see Detroit projects in that top ten.

Joe Louis Greenway Updates

  • Our new Joe Louis Greenway map is nearly complete. We should have copies to hand out by early next year.
  • Michigan Senator David Knezek has introduced Senate Resolution 115 “to support the city of Detroit’s efforts in the creation of the proposed Joe Louis Greenway.” We help craft this resolution with the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance.
  • We wrote supported three recent grants that would add bike lanes to Joseph Campau in Hamtramck, acquire land that would nearly double the length of the Dequindre Cut, and build much of the greenway with an $18.3 million TIGER grant. We also worked with 25 Detroit bike clubs and they agreed to sign on in support. We hope to hear the results of all these grants in early 2018.

Local Bicycle Ordinances

You may have heard about a recently passed state law that increased speed limits on some Michigan roads. Earlier this month we noticed an inadvertent mistake in the bill’s language that makes all local bicycle ordinances enforceable. It effectively removes the need for governments to post signs indicating what local bicycle ordinances exist. We are now working to get this corrected. (The mistake also makes local truck routes largely unenforceable.)

This is not a major concern in the city of Detroit since we’ve been working to clean up and remove outdated bicycle ordinances since 2008. However, we still have work to do in other cities such as Hamtramck.

Bicycle Network Strategy

If you’ve attended our recent Bike Trails & Cocktails event, you already know that Detroit is close to finishing a Bicycle Network Strategy with the Copenhagenize design firm. The latter recently mentioned in on their web site saying it is “… a forward-thinking protected bicycle network strategy for the greater downtown area, helping to set a standard for many American cities to follow.” We’re really looking forward to this becoming finalized and help standardize what our bicycle facilities look like.

Michigan Trails Summit

We’ve been working closely with mParks on their 2018 Michigan Trails Summit. This year it’s in Detroit on February 6th at the DNR Outdoor Adventure Center. Registration and conference details are now online.

Maybe we’ll see you there.

Until then, have a safe and happy holiday season!

Categories
Newsletter

News from the Trail – November 2017

Bike Trails and Cocktails

Thanks to everyone who attended our Bike Trails and Cocktails event last month. We hope everyone came away with a thorough overview of where we’re at and where we’re heading with respect to new trails, better biking, and so much more.

Thanks to presenters from both the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (on the Gordie Howe International Bridge) and the City of Detroit Planning Department. We are thrilled to be part of your big plans for moving the city and the region forward.

Thanks again to our sponsors who made this event possible: SmithGroup JJR, Hamilton Anderson, and LivingLAB.

Joe Louis Greenway

Last week the city moved forward with plans to rename the Inner Circle Greenway. With the Joe Louis Arena soon being demolished, Mayor Mike Duggan and others sought a worthy replacement. Naming the city’s longest trail after its greatest athlete lifts both. We are fully onboard with this as is the Joe Louis family. That’s not surprising since Joe Louis’ son is a Rails-to-Trails Conservancy board member.

We’ve written more about Louis, the origins of the original name and more on our web site. We’ve also updated our Joe Louis Greenway page with additional information and a timeline for the trail’s expected completion.

With our Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Doppelt Family Fund grant, we are updating our greenway trail map. We expect to have those available by the end of the year.

We are also working with the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance on a Michigan Senate Resolution in support of this greenway and its renaming.

Detroit 2017 Detroit Voter Guide

The Coalition is one of the original members of the Detroit Environmental Agenda. We recently published a Detroit Voter’s Guide where we asked all of the mayoral and council candidates their thoughts on environmental issues. If you’re a Detroit voter, this is for you!

Electric Bikes Legislation

Electric bikes (aka eBikes) are becoming more popular. Until this week, Michigan law was unclear on their classification and use in Michigan.

That’s all changed. Governor Snyder signed legislation this week to define and regulate electric bike use on roads and trails. There’s now a page on the Coalition web site that has more information on these changes.

In general, electric bicycles can operate on Detroit streets and bike lanes. Lower-powered pedal assist bikes can use paved linear paths like the Dequindre Cut, SW Greenlink, Conner Creek Greenway, and RiverWalk — though that could be changed by local authorities. These bikes are probably already operating on these trails.

We don’t expect many changes on the trails except that we may see more people using them. The state laws do give local authorities the ability to regulate (and de-regulate) electric bikes.

Categories
Greenways History In the Media

Goodbye, Inner Circle Greenway. Hello, Joe Louis Greenway.

Joe Louis Greenway MapThe 26-mile greenway that wraps around the cities of Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park has a new name.

Back in February 2017, Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley asked, “When Joe Louis Arena is gone, how do we honor Detroit legend?” Legend isn’t used lightly with Louis. He was so much more than a world champion boxer. From breaking color barriers to fighting fascism, Louis was an inspirational both inside and outside of the ring.

So when Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan proposed naming the Inner Circle Greenway in his honor, it also lifted the greenway. A conceptual asphalt trail around the city in 2008 was now being named after the city’s most impactful athlete. Riley’s followup column wrote, “Detroit cements honor for Joe Louis with a giant greenway around the city.”

Louis’s family approved of the naming. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise as his son is a bicyclist and is a board member for the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

“I am delighted that the (greenway) will be named after my father Joe Louis,” said Joe Louis Barrow, Jr. son of the famous boxer. “It is a fitting tribute to a person who had a positive impact on so many people.”

Mayor Duggan added, “It will unite neighborhoods from all corners of this city in a dedicated area for walking and jogging and biking.”

Before this announcement, we contacted retired city attorney Jim Edwards. Jim was an early champion of the trail and coined the original name. He was very supportive of the renaming.

One interesting coincidence with the original name was the this caricature of P.N. Jacobsen standing in an “inner circle”. Jacobsen led the creation of the Detroit Terminal Railroad — which makes up about 8 miles of the greenway — and was an active Detroit cyclist during the 1880s and 1890s.

He wrote an article called The Detroit Wheelmen for the Outing Magazine in 1891. It noted that a result of the city putting on asphalt on the streets, “Wheeling has attained a height of popularity in Detroit heretofore unknown.”

Of course this was years before Detroit was Motor City — and we’re not advocating relinquishing that title. We just suggest adding a new one.

Detroit, world heavyweight greenway champion.

More information on the Joe Louis Greenway