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.

Joe Louis Greenway

The city of Detroit will be making a special announcement this soon. We expect it’ll involved the winning Framework Planning bid. That planning should get underway this year, so expect some announcements on public meetings. This planning along with acquiring about 8 miles of abandoned Conrail railroad land will bring the Joe Louis Greenway much closer to reality — and we couldn’t be happier.

MDOT Projects

With the exception of Belle Isle, MDOT has really been following its Complete Streets policy in Detroit. The big project for 2019 is Grand River between the Southfield Freeway and Berg Road (past Lahser). This is a major opportunity to redesign the roadway, reduce speeding, make it easier for pedestrians to cross, and add bike lanes. There has been push back on the latter, so we hope more local supporters can get involved in this discussion over the coming months. The project should be under construction this year. MDOT is looking for additional funding to extend this design from the Southfield to the existing bike lanes at I-94, creating a 12.3 mile separated/buffered bike lane.

MDOT will be announcing a draft preferred alternative for I-375 early this year that will involve removing the freeway. The design will include significant improvements for those who walk or bike in that area. It will also improve non-motorized access to Eastern Market from the south side.

The I-94 Modernization project also continues to progress. The Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Study (SEIS) could be completed this year. The SEIS is focusing on changes to the initial I-94 design that reduces new service drives, retains more existing bridges, and makes many of the bridges into more Complete Streets design. We a fully on-board with this. While the Cass and Second Avenue bridges were scheduled for replacement this year, they’ve been pushed back to 2020. It’ll be worth the wait as the designs looks great.

Hamilton Avenue

This is the year Highland Park gets in the game. We’ve partnered with them on a couple grants to design and largely construct separated bike lanes on Hamilton Avenue from Webb to McNichols. Those should be constructed this year. We’ve been coordinating with the city so that they can continue the these lanes north to Palmer Park.

Of course the Joe Louis Greenway goes through Highland Park and will be part of the Framework Planning effort, too.

Iron Belle Trail Loop

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will begin construction of a 6-mile shared-use path around the perimeter of Belle Isle this year. We expect this will be a popular alternative for runners, walkers, and casual bicycling rather than the current bike lanes. The DNR is also building an Iron Belle trail head at the Livingstone Memorial Lighthouse parking lot at the east end of the island.

Everything Else

• MoGo is expanding in Northwest Detroit and the nearby suburbs. This is going to be very interesting because, with the exception of Ferndale, these other suburbs have a spotty record for supporting biking. Will MoGo use pressure them to do more? We hope so.
• Also in Northwest Detroit is the Fitzgerald Greenway between Marygrove College and the University of Detroit Mercy campus. That should be under construction this year.
• A section of Bagley Street in Mexicantown is losing it’s curbs and getting a better pedestrian bridge connection. These changes might seem minor, but we think it’ll be a template for other projects across Metro Detroit.

We expect a number of policy issues to come before City Council in 2019 but we’ll discuss those at a later date.

Also expect to hear about a conference coming to Detroit later this year.

Lastly, the big burning question is will those two Eco-Totem bike counters get fully installed in 2019? They’d better be. It’s going on 27 months since they were partially installed.

(Want to know more about what happened last year? Here’s our article, Looking back at 2018.)