The Clinton_River_Trail is routed away from the downtown Pontiac businesses -- and on sidewalks

How can the city of Pontiac’s transportation network be improved so that it brings more business and life to the downtown?

A public meeting is scheduled for this Saturday, March 17th from 10am until noon at the Crofoot Ballroom to discuss that.

This Oakland Press article has more information:

Oakland County planners are trying to figure out ways to attract traffic into downtown Pontiac, rather than have traffic diverted around the downtown district.

The public is invited to attend a meeting with local government officials, planners, residents and business owners to discuss how to fix what many argue has become a barrier for the neighborhoods and surrounding communities.

The group also has been examining the city’s transportation links, assets and past planning documents.

The data, along with input from residents, will create an action plan for the Woodward Loop and to improve the city’s streets, sidewalks and bike path system.

Here’s one obvious suggestion: Stop routing the Clinton River Trail around the downtown. The trail should go through the main downtown business area using the roads.

It shouldn’t be routed on sidewalks. Besides ignoring the downtown businesses, the trail design ignores best practices.

Related Posts

• Clinton River Trail bridge under construction
• MDOT to finish Clinton River Trail bridge in Pontiac
• Opposition to the Clinton River Trail bridge funding

According to the Friends site, “Progress is being made on the bridge, with the ramps set and the first steel spans in place… Engineers say they are on track to have the bridge open by sometime in June!”

For more information and many more construction photos, visit the Friends of the Clinton River Trail blog site.

Related Posts

• How to make Pontiac more walkable and bike-able
• MDOT to finish Clinton River Trail bridge in Pontiac
• Opposition to the Clinton River Trail bridge funding

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                            TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2011

CONTACT: Rob Morosi, MDOT Office of Communications, 248-483-5127

Bridging the gap! Clinton River Trail pedestrian overpass construction begins Monday, Feb. 28, in Oakland County

February 22, 2011 – The first phase of a $2 million investment to construct a pedestrian overpass above US-24 (Telegraph Road) may begin as early as Monday, Feb. 28, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). The new bridge will be constructed just north of the Orchard Lake Road overpass located at the Sylvan Lake/Pontiac border.

Due to the space limitations, lane closures will be needed on both directions of US-24 until mid-March. Weather permitting, crews will implement single and double-lane closures starting Monday, Feb.28 and lasting until Monday, March 14. Lane closures will begin on southbound US-24 and proceed to northbound US-24 during the latter part of the week.

For southbound US-24, a single lane may be closed weekdays between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. As needed, crews may close an additional southbound lane outside of those peak travel times.

For northbound US-24, a single lane may be closed weekdays from 2 p.m. until 7 p.m. Two-lane closures are permitted outside of the peak afternoon time period.

In order to safely install steel beams above US-24, full closures are expected on the first two Saturdays in March. On Saturday, March 5, southbound Telegraph Road will be closed, while on Saturday, March 12, northbound US-24 will be closed. The full closures will begin at 7 a.m. and end by 3 p.m. on both days. Detours will direct traffic to Old Telegraph Road.

Pedestrians can expect to enjoy the newly constructed overpass by mid-June. This project is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Related Posts

• Opposition to the Clinton River Trail bridge funding
• Metro Detroit Trail Updates for August 2010
• Clinton River Trail bridge ready for construction

There were 1,000 applications asking for a total of $19 billion, so this was very competitive.

The good news is the city of Pontiac received a planning grant.

U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Carl Levin (D-MI) today announced that the City of Flint will receive $1,570,233, Grand Traverse County will receive $395,000, and the City of Pontiac will receive $300,000 to promote economic development. The grants were announced as part of a joint funding collaboration between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The funding will boost local economic development by increasing access to affordable housing, redeveloping land, and investing in transportation infrastructure.

“This funding is critical to helping Flint, Grand Traverse County, and Pontiac create new jobs,” said Stabenow. “These grants will help our local communities increase access to affordable housing, redevelop land, and make important transportation improvements which will foster greater economic development.”

The City of Pontiac will use the TIGER II Planning Grant to help connect downtown, the Pontiac Transportation Center, regional trail system, and surrounding neighborhoods.

It’s important that bicycling advocates get involved in this planning process. Previous work with MDOT and Pontiac to extend the Clinton River Trail into downtown was poorly conceived. It signed a bicycle route on sidewalks in clear disregard of best practices and the AASHTO design guidelines.

Instead, they should be planning for Complete Streets, bike parking, and much more. We need to make sure they get that message.

The bad news is Detroit’s TIGER II grant application for the Inner Circle Greenway did not get funded. The request was on the high-side of $30 million and would have basically extended the Dequindre Cut around the city of Detroit. It included connections with Hamtramck and Highland Park. While portions would have used bike lanes, much of the route would be on an abandoned Conrail corridor.

But all hope for this project is not lost. MTGA is continuing discussions with the Conrail about converting this approximately 12-mile corridor into a trail. There are other funding sources that could pay for portions of this project, albeit in a more incremental fashion.

And there may be a TIGER III.

But it’s also a positive sign that in a city with so many infrastructure needs, they to chose to seek funding for this greenway project.

With the ongoing Complete Streets project, many miles of new greenways and bike lanes, the city has never been more in lockstep with the efforts of area non-profits to make Detroit more walkable and more bike friendly.

Related Posts

• More Detroit progress: Bus racks and the Cut
• Trails, Baby, Trails!
• Metro Detroit Trails in the Media

Locally, the Oakland Press has been covering public opposition to the Clinton River Trail bridge in Pontiac. Unfortunately the newspaper seems more interested in being a soapbox for the uninformed.

“They could have awarded that $2 million as a tax credit for a developer,” he said, maybe enticing a department store to take over the massive empty space. “That would create permanent jobs.”

No, they couldn’t. This is federal transportation dollars with very specific strings attached. To think MDOT could convert this to a tax credit for a Wallmart is asinine. It’s media stories such as this that help give life to these unrealistic opinions — not once, but twice.

(In fact in their first article, the Oakland Press incorrectly reported that there is no trail on the east side of the bridge. We spoke with an attendee at Arts, Beats, and Eats who called this the bridge to nowhere, an impression that they could have gotten from reading this initial article.)

“The trail could have gone straight along sidewalks on the south side of Orchard  Lake Road,” she said, “and (stimulus) money could have improved the aesthetics on the Orchard Lake Road corridor and people would still have had a bike trail.”

No, it couldn’t. This transportation stimulus funding was for “shovel ready” projects. Neither of those mentioned were even planned. Besides, it would be against best practices and the national design guidelines to put cyclists on a sidewalk because it’s unsafe.

“Why didn’t stimulus money go toward cutting dead trees?”

Apparently the dead tree cutting lobby in DC just ain’t what it used to be. They didn’t bring home the bacon.

Dear Oakland Press,  If you want to publish articles about whether economic stimulus funding is philosophically good or bad, that’s fine. But, don’t hold the Clinton River Trail bridge hostage by publishing unworkable, unrealistic, if not impossible alternatives without letting your readers know why these aren’t alternatives at all. The true alternative to the bridge is for MDOT to have spent this money on a non-motorized transportation somewhere else.

Is it really about race?

There was significant opposition to the Clinton River Trail in Sylvan Lake when it was first proposed.

From what we saw first hand, that opposition was largely based on race.  Sylvan Lake had closed roads and created barriers between itself and their pre-dominantly black Pontiac neighbors to the east. The trail threatened to create a non-motorized path that would connect those two communities.

At one Sylvan Lake city council meeting a resident said “those people” would use the trail to break into their garage and steal their snowblower.

A Pontiac resident smartly responded by asking the question: Why would anyone walk more than a mile, take your snowblower, then push it another mile back? Why wouldn’t they just drive?

And now that the Clinton River Trail bridge is being built — the final connection between these two communities — we can’t help but wonder if this race issue is at least partially to blame to fueling this discussion.

Of course, we’re not counting on the local media to look into it.

Related Posts

• MDOT to finish Clinton River Trail bridge in Pontiac
• Clinton River Trail bridge ready for construction
• How to make Pontiac more walkable and bike-able

MDOT and the city of Pontiac are hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for the new trail bridge over Telegraph. The ceremony is August 12th at 10AM on the eastern edge of the bridge near Old Telegraph.

This bridge will connect two important pieces of the Clinton River Trail that are currently very difficult to connect using surface streets. A rendering of the bridge is shown on the right. This project is being funded primarily with ARRA (a.k.a. stimulus) money. The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund is also contributing.

This still leaves one major gap in the Clinton River Trail for Pontiac: from Bagley Street west of Downtown to the Auburn Hills border at Opdyke.

We are clearly ignoring the trail’s improper signed routing of the Clinton River Trail through Downtown Pontiac on sidewalks. Yes, a newly signed bicycle route on sidewalks.

We’re not sure how such obvious mistake could have been funded by MDOT given the AASHTO bicycle guidelines clear instructions against it — especially within a central business district. It’s unsafe for cyclists and pedestrians.

Macomb Orchard Trail: More Asphalt

The Detroit News is reporting that nine more miles of the Macomb Orchard Trail will be paved.

Officials recently authorized the county to seek a low-interest loan to pay for paving those parts of the trail.

“We’ve already submitted our application and it’s being reviewed,” said Bob Hoepfner, the county’s chief highway engineer. “Hopefully we’ll know if it’s approved in about a month. We’d like to get it paved this year if we can.”

There were many complaints about the existing pea gravel surface, so this is certainly good news for cyclists and pedestrians.

Milford Village: Seeking Sidepaths

Another Oakland County government with its DDA was looking to build a side paths for bicyclists (calling them “safety” paths) in spite of the AASHTO bicycle guidelines against it. This sidepath would include 18 intersections in less than one-third of a mile: 2 sidewalks, 3 roads, and 13 residential driveways.

“We asked how can we do this economically,” [Village Manager Arthur] Shufflebarger said. “The DDA went through the options, and said this one was the least expensive.”

They apparently didn’t go through the AASHTO bicycle design guidelines for options. The least expensive option would be an safe, on-road connection.

That said, the?sidepath project was stopped within the same month due to other reasons.

I-275 Metro Trail: Open House

MDOT is scheduling another 5.5 miles of trail reconstruction along I-275 for next spring. This includes rehabilitating “six bridges and two boardwalks, install a pedestrian signal at Ecorse Road and upgrade signs.”

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is hosting an open house-style meeting to provide an overview on the 2011 construction work on the I-275 Metro Trail in Wayne County. The project includes reconstruction of the bike path between US-12 (Michigan Avenue) and I-94. Interested stakeholders will have the opportunity to learn details and provide feedback regarding this project.

The open house is August 10th, from 5pm until 7pm at the Fellows Creek Golf Club (2936 South Lotz Road in Canton.)

Related Posts

• Metro Detroit trail construction updates
• Our Economic Stimulus Bike Projects
• Trust Fund Grants for Metro Detroit

• Construction on the Clinton River Trail bridge over Telegraph in Pontiac is expected to begin in a month and be completed this year.
• The bridge construction which is causing weekday closures of the Dequindre Cut is apparently on schedule and should be completed by September.
• Atwater Street is also under construction between Rivard and Orleans in Detroit. When completed, we heard it will have bike lanes from the Ren Cen to Jos Campau.
• The city of Detroit is updating the bike lanes on Belle Isle and adding more on some of the internal roads thanks to some unexpected, but much welcomed grant funding.
• The contract for Wayne State University’s bike lane/streetscape project on Anthony Wayne Drive shows the project being completed by November.
• MTGA and others are still working with MDOT to try and get bike lanes on Michigan Avenue from Livernois to Rosa Parks in Corktown.
• Construction of the new MDOT trail along M-5 between 13 Mile and 14 Mile is underway — and it looks like the trail will be an awesome ride once completed.

And some non-construction updates:

• The city of Royal Oak has received their federal funding for their non-motorized planning efforts. We can expect them to start soon.
• The city of Novi has issued a Request for Proposals to develop a non-motorized plan.
• Wayne County has submitted an MDOT grant application which would extend the Conner Creek Greenway from the Mt. Olivet Cemetery to Eight Mile. This project is a mix of shared-use path and bike lanes.

Related Posts

• Metro Detroit trail construction updates
• Economic Stimulus + Biking in Michigan
• A cycling perspective on the Detroit Consent Agreement

Bids were expected Thursday on the project with construction starting in late May and early June.

The bridge should be completed by Nov. 15, according to officials.

Mayor Leon Jukowski said the bridge would provide a safe place for people to enjoy the natural beauty of the parks and river trail.

“It’s a great opportunity for the city and it will connect us with our neighboring communities,” he said.

This project is being paid for through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) also know as the stimulus funding.

Related Posts

• MDOT to finish Clinton River Trail bridge in Pontiac
• Opposition to the Clinton River Trail bridge funding
• Metro Detroit Trail Updates for August 2010

Now imagine that in Royal Oak.

Impossible?

No, not at all. It used to happen in Royal Oak According to historical accounts. At least two tributaries of the Red Run passed through Royal Oak with the more prominent one being along Vinsetta Boulevard.

Those bridges crossing over Vinsetta used to be bridges over the creek as shown in this photo.

Then in the 1920s and 1930s, Red Run was buried in a large drain.

Other Michigan cities such as Detroit and Pontiac have also buried rivers.

The city of Pontiac has discussed daylighting the Clinton River through the downtown area.

In Detroit, on planning expert suggested daylighting creeks in the more vacant parts of the city, damming them, and creating lakes surrounded by forests. Imagine biking past around that in Detroit. Perhaps the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority could create a Metropark within the city boundaries.

But this discussion is occuring beyond Michigan. The New York Times published an article about river daylighting both inside and outside of the U.S.

Certainly it costs money. Everything does. But there are benefits to doing this besides creating more recreational opportunities.

How much would home values along Vinsetta increase if the Red Run was restored? Would that justify the cost?

Related Posts

• Metro Detroit Bike Shorts: Construction time
• Detroit Bike to Work Day is May 20th
• Sidewalks, bicycles, and… unicycles

The Detroit News is reporting on a 1.2 mile extension of Shelby Township’s trail which would eventually connect with the Metro Parkway trail via Utica. This extension is part of the 70-mile Macomb Country Trail Loop.

What this trail really needs is a safe crossing of Avon Road near the Yates Cider Mill and a bridge over the Clinton River. This would create a great connection to the Clinton River and Macomb Orchard Trails.

Clinton River Trail in Pontiac

The Oakland Press provided an updated on two Clinton River Trail projects on the west side of downtown Pontiac.

• A connection from downtown to the rail-trail segment of the Clinton River Trail near Bagley
• A bridge over Telegraph near Orchard Lake Road

The latter will be especially appreciated and is a critical connection along the Clinton River Trail. It should be under-construction sometime next year.

Related Posts

• How to make Pontiac more walkable and bike-able
• Clinton River Trail bridge under construction
• MDOT to finish Clinton River Trail bridge in Pontiac