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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Oakland County Parks is in the final stages of developing a Strategic Master Plan.

It is expected that this Plan will be approved by the Parks Commission in May. The Strategic Master Plan Summary Report should be posted on parks website sometime after May 7th.

On Wednesday I attended the public forum, which included a brief overview of the Plan and a chance for feedback. I was impressed with the Plan’s thoroughness.

The main concern brought up by three of us was this is great but when is the Road Commission of Oakland County going to make the roads safer to bike on? We want it to be easier and safer to ride to Oakland County Parks rather than rely on motor vehicles.

In fact I happened to ride to the meeting out in Waterford and was forced to use some unsafe county roads to get there. I had no choice — a point I raised at the meeting.

To their credit Oakland County Parks did meet earlier this year with the Road Commission to discuss trails and on-road bike facilities. It’s a start, but more needs to be done.

As you know, the state collects a fuel tax. That money gets divided among various groups, including counties, cities, and villages (but not townships.) Of this money, not less than 1% must be spent on non-motorized transportation. The City of Ferndale used their 1% to pay for their bike lanes, but not all communities spend their money that well.

One reason is the law considers the paving of gravel roads as a non-motorized project. This is where the Road Commission of Oakland County spends their 1%. They were surprised to hear that cyclists often prefer gravel roads.

In Lansing, HB 4555 was signed by the Governor yesterday. It removes the paving of gravel roads from the 1%, but allows the paving of shoulders. It also explicitly allows sidewalks in cities and villages, which the City of Royal Oak and others were already doing.

Another problem is MDOT doesn’t have the resources to audit this 1% requirement. Communities are required to submit 5-year programs, but there’s no enforcement or oversight.

I made the suggestion that the 1% expenditures be posted on the MDOT web site so cyclists can audit their local agencies. Unfortunately that did not make it into the bill, though it still could be done by either MDOT or a group like the League of Michigan Bicyclists (LMB). All the 1% expenditures are public, it’s just a matter of collecting them and making them readable.