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Bike Lanes and Pathways Proposed for Redford
According to this Detroit News article, “Wayne County Parks has allocated a $200,000 grant for a seven-mile bike trail. The trail will encompass central business district, several county and local parks, a golf course and schools and is expected to be completed by the end of this year.”
A little digging at the Redford Township web site revealed these proposed plans:
- Streetscaping along 5 Mile at Beech-Daly showing bike lanes and a pedestrian refuge island.
- Conceptual trail plan - a mix of on road and off-road bicycle facilities.
In most cases, bike trails that parallel roads are a major safety issue. Safety paths are usually a misnomer. However, in this case the adjoining parks and golf course means there will not be a significant number of driveway and road intersections. This could work. Also, some of these roads are not paved and are a muddy mess in wet weather. A paved trail would be a benefit.
One addition note is that I’ve seen much resistance from counties, cities, and townships to propose much less build on-road bicycling facilities. The one group that could help cyclists overcome this resistance are the Downtown Development Authorities (DDA). DDA’s seem more willing to look beyond the status quo. They’re not into the bike lane debate for the politics. They just want to bring people and business downtown. Cyclists and pedestrians tend to shop (and snack) locally. They’re an indicator species for a healthy community.
If we want vibrant, cool downtowns, there really isn’t a choice. It’s inevitable.
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Tags: bike lanes, DDA, Redford, Wayne County Parks
February 20th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I was wondering some tell me if there are any bicycle facilities in that cross Woodward Avenue between Grand Boulevard and 8 Mile Road. If so could you please tell where they crosses it and the name of the facility? Please e-mail me at gavin_poindexter @ urscorp.com
February 20th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
There are only roads and crosswalks between the Boulevard and 8 Mile. However, there are plans for a Midtown bike loop that would cross Woodward twice. I don’t know at this point what they plans are for crossing facilities, but I would guess they’ll be wider crosswalks. Here’s a map (albeit small) of the loop. http://www.m-bike.org/gallery/m-bike/index.php?g2_itemId=1323&thumbIndex=0
March 4th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Gavin, are you by any chance referring to the abandoned Detroit Terminal Railroad bridge that crosses Woodward? That would make a great trail crossing, depending on what happens to the rest of the RR ROW. Your coworkers at URS probably know more about it.
March 4th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
This Redford plan is exciting. I can’t wait until the day one can ride the Upper Rouge from Walled Lake to the Detroit River. These projects look they can connect to Eliza Howell Park, which could connect to Rouge Park. To the North, this could connect to what Southfield is working on.
March 5th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Good point, Chris. There are some great trail connection possibilities along the Rouge tributaries.