While giving public comment to the Road Commission for Oakland County about building bike lanes, one Road Commissioner kept his head cocked with a look of confusion that said, “Why are you here?”

The comments that the Road Commission wasn’t following best practices for bicycle design and that there were no excuses fell on deaf ears. There was no response.

Bike lanes are an easily dismissed request among the Metro Detroit’s three main counties. At one time all three county road agencies had unwritten policies against providing bike lanes.

But that has to change eventually. The cities of Detroit, Ferndale, and others are setting the example locally while the federal government is providing reinforcement from above.

And just last month Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood celebrated the opening of bike lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.

It was hot, sizzling hot, and summertime-in-DC humid. But I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

I’m talking about yesterday’s dedication festivities to inaugurate Washington, DC’s newest bicycle lanes. And these are not just any bike lanes. These lanes run right down the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue–America’s Main Street–from the White House to the U.S. Capitol.

For too long, walking and biking have been overlooked as important forms of transportation. Now we see local governments answering that call by creating new opportunities for people to take advantage of streetcars, transit, walking, and bike lanes. They’re taking the needs of pedestrians and cyclists into account like never before.

Building bike lanes on county roads is inevitable. When will the Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties stop resisting and start building them?

When will Secretary LaHood celebrate bike lanes opening on county roads in Metro Detroit?

First the good news. MDOT recently made the following Transportation Enhancement (TE) awards that should improve bicycling in Metro Detroit.

From MDOT’s press release:

Macomb County

The city of Utica will construct a nonmotorized bridge over the Clinton River to provide accessibility and connectivity to the city of Utica’s portion of the bike trail that will connect the Huron Clinton Metroparks at Metro Beach and Stoney Creek. The project is part of the Macomb County Bike/Hike Master Plan and will allow bicyclists to connect to the Macomb Orchard Trail as well as the Clinton River Trail in Oakland County. The project cost is $452,525, including $303,192 in federal TE funds and $149,333 in matching funds from the city.

Macomb, Oakland, Wayne counties

SMART, in coordination with its community partners, will purchase and install bike racks at several locations in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. The intent is to provide communities with secure bike racks at locations away from bus routes for the convenience of SMART riders who also ride bikes. The project cost is $20,016, including $16,013 in federal TE funds and $4,003 in matching funds from SMART.

Clawson is also getting bike racks installed along 14 Mile Road. Unfortunately they only seem willing to make mild improvements to walkability and even milder ones for bike-ability. Their conceptual plans for their Main Street road diet included bike lanes. Their final plans and implementation did not.

MDOT Five-year plan

MDOT recently released their five-year spending plan. With reduced revenue from people driving less, Michigan cannot provide the full 20% match for federal transportation funding.

This does affect the Transportation Enhancements program. Normally MDOT would provide $12 million in match for TE projects on their roads. That may be reduced to $1 million per year, which means MDOT will undertake fewer TE projects like paved shoulders, bike lanes, and streetscaping on MDOT state trunklines.

However, it also means that local governments will received more TE funding since they provide the match and not MDOT.

It’s also worth highlight this language within MDOT’s plan. This provides useful quote for cycling advocates in Michigan.

Pedestrian and bicycle transportation are on the rise due to increased fuel costs. Injury and fatality statistics are humbling reminders of the importance to design and build safe facilities for multiple modes of transportation and of the importance of education and enforcement.

It may be surprising to some that in Michigan, one pedestrian is injured every three hours and 59 minutes and one bicyclist is injured every five hours and 13 minutes.

In addition, in 2006, 17.9 percent of the 1,002 traffic fatalities in Michigan were bicyclists or pedestrians, whereas nationally, 11.6 percent of the 42,642 traffic fatalities were bicyclists or pedestrians. A reduced [Transportation Enhancements] program would severely jeopardize MDOT’s ability to provide safer pedestrian and bicycle facilities.

This does raise one question.

If 17.9% of road fatalities are non-motorized users, why did the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning only allocate 0.36% for non-motorized safety under the State and Community Highway Safety Grant Program in 2009?

First Lady Michelle Obama has kicked off a national campaign to fight childhood obesity which helps tie sprawl to unhealthy living.

In my home, we weren’t rich. The foods we ate weren’t fancy. But there was always a vegetable on the plate. And we managed to lead a pretty healthy life.

Many kids today aren’t so fortunate. Urban sprawl and fears about safety often mean the only walking they do is out their front door to a bus or a car. Cuts in recess and gym mean a lot less running around during the school day, and lunchtime may mean a school lunch heavy on calories and fat. For many kids, those afternoons spent riding bikes and playing ball until dusk have been replaced by afternoons inside with TV, the Internet, and video games.

Similarly, the U.S. Surgeon General released a report stating:

The car-dependent design of our communities has made it much harder for our children to walk to school and much harder for us to shop and do other errands entirely on foot or by bicycle.

Recommendations include:

• Build or enhance infrastructures to support more walking and bicycling.
• Support locating schools within easy walking distance of residential areas.

Now contrast that with Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson’s archaic position on sprawl:

Well, let me state it unequivocally: I love sprawl. I need it. I promote it. Oakland County can’t get enough of it. Are you getting the picture?

Then in his 2010 state of the county address, Patterson said he’d allocate $50K per year from the Brooksie Way run to healthy living mini-grants:

I want Oakland County to be the healthiest county in the United States and I want my residents to enjoy a healthy quality of life.

So, mayors, supervisors, community leaders, there is $50,000 available to you for programs which have as their sole purpose the improvement of the health of your residents.

Patterson clearly doesn’t understand the connection between sprawl, obesity and unhealthy living.

In the first such national study, health researchers found that people who live in counties marked by sprawl-style development tend to weigh more, are more likely to be obese and are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure

As for his $50,000 program, keep in mind that Oakland County gives $1 million a year to the Road Commission for Oakland County to build and expand roads.

Improving Oakland County’s quality of life is clearly in the backseat, if not the trunk.

And we are getting the picture.

The Detroit Free Press recently ran this article on trail development throughout Metro Detroit.

“Look at this. There’s so much potential,” Royal Oak City Commissioner Jim Rasor said, as he strode Wednesday in Royal Oak beside railroad tracks where he envisions a hiking-biking trail.

Tonight, the Royal Oak City Commission is to discuss Rasor’s hope to turn 8.5 miles of unused land next to the Canadian National Railway tracks — from Royal Oak to Bloomfield Township — into a public trail, tying south Oakland’s bike lanes to north Oakland’s wooded paths.

I recently gave the following public comment on the rail-with-trail concept at Monday’s City Commission meeting:

I encourage the City Commission to explore a rail with trail along the Grand Trunk right-of-way.

Originally this rail line headed northwest out of Royal Oak following Sherman before meeting up with and paralleling Woodward. When the state of Michigan wanted to widen Woodward, they bought land and re-routed the railroad to its current location.

The plan was to build four parallel rail lines, but only two were ever built. The result is there is unused space along the right-of-way which is now a two-track dirt path.

It seems that unused space could accommodate a non-motorized trail.

And wouldn’t this be a great way to bring people into our Downtown?

This would not be the first rail-with-trail. They exist throughout the United States, including ones in Ann Arbor and Traverse City. Nationwide, rails-with-Trails have a perfect safety record. They have a much better safety record than roads and sidewalks.

As someone who lives within eyesight of the railroad and who has had their home appraised, I know how it reduces my property value. Creating a rail-with-trail would increase property values throughout the city, but especially for those of us living close to the rail line.

The response from the commission was mixed. Some wanted to punt this to the county. In fact, Commissioner Drinkwine said the Paint Creek Trail had been spearheaded by the county — it wasn’t. It was spearheaded by grassroots efforts and local governments. The county does not provide leadership on trail projects outside of their own parks.

Nonetheless, I am meeting with Royal Oak city staff this week to provide more information on next steps, especially as it relates to the non-motorized planning process which is expected to begin in February or March.

The following was posted during a discussion on living car-free in Detroit on bikeforums.net (emphasis ours):

Ahh, the myth that the metro area is all Detroit. I live in a very nice suburb that is quiet and safe. The only reason I feel the need to leave here is just so I can depend less upon a motorized vehicle and more upon my own power. The car culture here is strong and the roads are just not safe for riding everywhere I would like to be able to go.

So which is it? The suburb is safe but the roads are not safe?

From a cyclist perspective, if the roads aren’t safe, your community isn’t safe. Cycling advocates shouldn’t let local governments view safety only from behind a windshield.

But surely suburbs do have lower reported crime rates compared with Detroit. Then again, having a motor vehicle on their horn and passing unsafely is?assault with a deadly weapon, though it’s rarely reported.

It does seem Detroit’s streets are safer for cycling — a conclusion supported by the average yearly bicycle crashes per 100K residents from 2004 through 2009.

Also, Detroit has the lowest bicycle crash rate despite having a highest bike to work rate.

And as for living car-free, it would be tough to beat Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood.