Today was a big day. Another greenway in Detroit — the Midtown Loop — was officially under construction starting this week and there was a celebration on the lawn of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

From this UCCA/CFSEM press release:

Construction is underway on the Midtown Greenway, a four phase, two-mile greenway trail that will circle through Detroit’s University Cultural Center, Wayne State University and Medical Center and Brush Park districts.

Today at a press conference held at the Detroit Institute of the Arts, organizers officially broke ground to signify the start of the first of four phases of construction. When completed, the linked trails will provide eight miles of continuous greenways, enabling people to go from Wayne State University through the Eastern Market to the Detroit Riverfront.

“One of our main goals with the development of the Midtown Greenway is to reclaim the rights-of-way for pedestrians by creating a widened walkway, improving ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) crosswalks, and adding pedestrian traffic signals,” said University Cultural Center Association President Susan Mosey. “By adding such amenities along the route as outdoor seating, pocket parks and pet-friendly features, this trail will contribute to the quality of life and the lifestyle of the community.”

Mosey noted that only the first phase (Kirby and John R) is under construction and should be completed this year. She expects the Canfield segment construction will begin this fall with the Cass section beginning in 2011. The entire loop should be ready to go by the end of next year.

But that’s not all. The UCCA is also working on non-motorized connections to the Dequindre Cut.

And as we’ve noted before, this greenway is geared towards pedestrians and slower cycling. Commuters and faster cyclists may prefer sticking to the streets. This is similar to the current RiverWalk vs. Atwater tradeoff.

TellUsDetroit.com did some excellent interviews which are now on-line.

One highlight? Sunny Jacob from Traffic Engineering explaining this project’s focus on Complete Streets and livable communities — something the city of Detroit is now pushing.

This project is all about making the street safe and walkable for all uses… and its the new concept called Complete Streets. We are pushing forward with the city of Detroit to make new communities and make them user friendly for all the uses.

Secretary LaHood — Detroit’s talking the talk and would make an excellent candidate for the next round of federal TIGER (as well as ACT) funding.

We’ve uploaded a video of Al Fields speech. Al is Mayor Bing’s Group Executive for Planning, a very active cyclist, and the one you should thank for Detroit’s first bike lanes (on Belle Isle.)

Last week, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan brought in Ian Lockwood, a traffic engineer from Glatting Jackson.  Ian was here to lead a multi-disciplinary team of experts to look at how we can improve the built environment on Detroit’s lower eastside.

One of the biggest benefits of these sessions is Ian provides the terminology and solutions to familiar urban design issues, e.g. super blocks, a city’s bone structure, etc.  He also emphasizes that cities exist to promote exchange.  That increasing transportation speeds limits exchange.  And when making decisions, we need to err on the side of place.

So, if you missed these sessions, you’re in luck because Ian has a video from an earlier presentation on-line (see below.)

He also has a PDF document that covers many of the same topics covered last week.  It’s called Transportation Prescription for Healthy Cities.

Photo by Marvin Shaouni

Tom Woiwode knows greenways. ?He’s been at the forefront of the movement in Metro Detroit since 2001 when he led development of the GreenWays Initiative.

At the end of August, Tom wrote a series of guest blogs covering topics from the Dequindre Cut to the Riverwalk to other trails and greenways in Metro Detroit. ?The resulting blog entries are some of the best you’ll read on trails and what they mean to the people and communities that build and use them.

Thanks to Metromode and Model D for putting these on-line. ?The photo was taken by Marvin Shaouni.

Crain’s Detroit Business has reported that the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan (CFSEM) awarded over $4 million in grants to help revitalize Detroit neighborhoods from the riverfront to the near east side.

Two of these grants are of special interest to those following trail development in Detroit.

The first is a $500,000 grant to the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy to help create recreational, fitness, cultural and educational programming.  This programming will be developed by working with local community groups, churches, schools and businesses.  It will likely be located or involve the Riverwalk and Dequindre Cut, both of which are managed by the Conservancy.

The second grant is $100,000 for the City of Detroit to begin planning a connection for “direct and safe” pedestrian access between the Dequindre Cut and Eastern Market.

From MDOT’s press release:

Milford Trail

The village of Milford, in partnership with the Charter Township of Milford, the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority, and the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan, will construct 2.9 miles of non-motorized trail. The trail will go from north of General Motors Road at the Milford Dam, then south across General Motors Road into Kensington Metropark, and continue south toward the intersection of Milford Road and Huron River Parkway. It will be an integral part of a much larger planned system within the county and region. A portion of the non-motorized network has been constructed, including the Kensington Metropark loop, a connection under I-96 and into Island Lake State Recreation Area, and the Huron Valley Trail that leads southwest into South Lyon and east toward Wixom.
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