Rosa Parks Streetscape – Detroit Greenways Coalition

2023 in Review

Greenway Openings

Southwest Greenway – This 0.6-mile rail-trail sibling of the Dequindre Cut opened in May and provides a very convenient connection between Corktown and the RiverWalk. This also includes the 15th Street pedestrian/bicycle connection to renovated Michigan Central and Roosevelt Park.

RiverWalk Uniroyal Site – The long anticipated segment between the Mt. Elliott and Gabriel Richard Parks opened in October. Thousands of people came out for the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy‘s celebration. This closed the biggest gap on the East RiverWalk.

Joe Louis Greenway – The City of Detroit officially opened the Warren Gateway trailhead on Halloween. Calling it a trailhead doesn’t do it justice. It’s a great community gathering and play space. It’ll be a major destination along the JLG. The Meade Cut-Thru north of Hamtramck opened this year as well and provides another neighborhood connection to the greenway.

Complete Streets

East Warren saw some of its separated bike lanes upgraded with concrete curbs, landscaping, and much more from 3 Mile Drive to Cadieux. We’re advocating for extending the East Warren separated bike lanes west of St. Jean to the (future) Joe Louis Greenway, WSU, Woodbridge and more — especially since we expect this to be part of the Iron Belle Trail route.

Rosa Parks streetscape is a newly opened cycletrack from West Grand Boulevard (near the Motown Museum) to Gordon Park (near the Congregration). This project also removed a couple unnecessary vehicle lanes, which reduces stormwater runoff and nearly doubles the size of the adjacent MLK Jr. Memorial Park.

Map of Detroit showing streets that would get safety improvements by either rapid implementation or enhanced protection

Road Safety

Safe Streets for All funding – In February, the City of Detroit received $24.8 million in federal funding to improve its most unsafe streets. The city reapplied for additional funding from the same program and received another $24.8 million grant to address 56 high-crash intersections served by DDOT. This latter grant will also “conduct a Level of Traffic Stress analysis to address gaps in bicyclist/pedestrian networks, update the City’s Comprehensive Safety Action Plan, and pilot training for DDOT bus operators to ensure safe operations around people walking and biking.” This funding will lead to some community meetings and major street improvements in 2024.

Under state law, nearly all residential streets in Detroit have a default 25 MPH speed limit. No speed limit signs are required. During an earlier state legislative session, changes were made to this section of state law that would remove this default on January 1st, 2024. We supported a bill to keep the current residential speed limits, and when it got held up in the House, we worked to get it unstuck. It passed the Senate and was signed by the Governor.

Closed Spruce Street pedestrian bridge over the Lodge

(Dis)connecting Communities

Pedestrian Bridges – Freeways divide Detroit neighborhoods, so when they were first constructed, pedestrian bridges were added to help reduce this disconnection. Through the years, MDOT has not maintained these bridges and many of them are now closed. We’re involved at the local, state, and federal levels to address the lack of maintenance, non-compliant ADA designs, and their outright closures, most recently with the Canfield Bridge. We are expect to have more updates in 2024 as we stay on top of this.

I-375 Reconnecting Communities – We are pleasantly surprised that there’s been more vocal opposition to the overbuilt replacement boulevard than the freeway removal itself this year. This continued pressure along with new post-COVID traffic counts could lead to a tighter boulevard design that’s better for bicyclists and pedestrians. It’s much less expensive to do a road diet before you build it. Stay tuned for updates and more public meetings in 2024.

Miles of Bike Infrastructure (Centerline)	New for 2023	Total
Trails	1.3	24.8
Bike Routes (sharrows)	0	42.4
Bike Lanes (includes 0.25 miles removed on 14th Street in Corktown)	2.5	93.2

Detroit Greenways Coalition infrastructure database

News from the Trail – February 2021

Joe Louis Greenway

This is going to be a banner year for trail construction in Detroit — and here’s proof. There’s now an actual banner announcing the future of the Joe Louis Greenway. The banner is located on the north side of Grand River just east of Oakman Boulevard.

The Phase 1 construction start is still pending some final environmental approvals. When those are complete, you can expect the City of Detroit to make an announcement.

You may have read the recent Crain’s Detroit Business article ($) about a local company encroaching on the city’s trail property — and the resulting lawsuit. The land in question is along Dexter, north of Oakman. While this segment is not part of Phase 1, it is a critical trail connection. We are hopeful this lawsuit doesn’t delay future trail construction.

Speaking of land, the Detroit Land Bank Authority (DLBA) is hosting a virtual public meeting on Tuesday, February 16th from 6-8 PM to discuss their Neighborhood Improvement Plan for land disposition.

The DLBA owns a significant number of properties across the city. Much of the land along the greenway route has been held to restrict outside speculators. Recently, some of this land was transferred to the city for Phase 1 greenway amenities, such as neighborhood connecting trails. Additional properties are available to neighbors along the greenway and this meeting will discuss those options.

This land strategy is one method the city is using to mitigate gentrification — the displacement of local residents along the greenway. Other greenway developments around the country have shared their regrets of not addressing this issue before their trails were built. We’re glad to see the City of Detroit tackling this issue from the start.

Planet Detroit recently published an article on this topic, Can Detroit’s Joe Louis Greenway avoid gentrification? Second Wave Media also touches on this issue with this article, Connecting Detroiters with the Joe Louis Greenway. Both articles include a wealth of great photos, too.

Rail bridge over Woodward in Highland Park. A Planet Detroit photo by Doug Coombe

Speed Limits

Last year we supported state legislation that clarified the modest flexibility that local governments have when setting speed limits based on factors other than just the 85th fastest motorist traveling under ideal conditions. Among many safety factors, it would allow the consideration of the road crash history, adjacent land use (e.g. parks), and the presence of pedestrians. This is aligns with recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board and others.

Unfortunately that bill died in the House Ways and Means committee, but it has been re-introduced (HB 4014) and is before the House Transportation committee scheduled for Tuesday, February 16th at 10:30 AM.

We’re working to bring more support to the table from local governments to local experts, especially since we expect the Michigan State Police will oppose the bill. Individuals can email their thoughts to the committee clerk, Dakota Soda.

Other Updates

Rendering of proposed Rosa Parks Streetscape

The construction contract for the Rosa Parks Streetscape project has been delayed in response to comments at City Council. DPW has agreed to do additional community outreach. While a few residents spoke against the proposed bike lanes, there were more concerns shared about a tree nursery project which was unrelated to this contract. There was also uncertainty about whether the construction would repair the sidewalks — it would. If you live near Rosa Parks (between the Boulevard and Clairmount) and want to learn how to get involved, please email us.
The City of Detroit is updating their Parks and Recreaton Strategic Plan. They are hosting a virtual public meeting about this on Monday, February 15th at 5pm. Attend via Zoom or call in at 312-626-6799 (webinar ID: 363 140 9738).
Don’t forget! I-375 Environmental Assessment comments are due on Friday, February 19th.
America Walks is seeking 30 Walking College fellows who want “to be part of bringing about transformative change to their neighborhoods.” Applications are open through February 28th.
MoGo is hiring! They recently received a grant from the Better Bike Share Partnership to understand certain barriers to bike and bus transit and develop solutions to improve the connections between them. MoGo is also seeking an executive director after founder Lisa Nuszkowski announced she’s stepping down. Lisa’s done an amazing job taking the idea of bike share and making it a reality in Detroit and Southeast Oakland County. We especially appreciate system’s equity and accessibility aspects which are a model for other bike share systems around the country. We’re sad to see her leave but look forward to see where she lands.
Speaking of bike-transit connections, Amtrak and MDOT are improving the bike carrying options for the the Wolverine route out of Detroit. They are testing new passenger coach class cars, each of which include three bike racks conveniently located across from the luggage storage area. We can’t wait to see (and use) them in the near future.