Last Tuesday, the full Detroit City Council approved two resolutions relating to the Non-Motorized Transportation Master Plan.

Why a Master Plan?

Municipalities develop non-motorized master plans to look at their entire area and creates a vision for improved biking and walking facilities based on public input and various data sources.  Typically the plan calls for modifying existing road right-of-ways to better and more safely accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians.  It would also consider non-motorized trails needs as well as related amenities, such as bike racks.

And of course, a good plan would make recommendations on how to change city policies in order to make the planning vision a reality.

Having a good non-motorized plan helps municipalities implement them as road construction projects are planned.  Similarly, it obligates other road agencies (e.g. MDOT) to implement the plan on roads they own within the municipality.

And finally, having system-wide plans such as these improves the chances for grant funding to help implement the plan.

Detroit’s Plan

MDOT funded a non-motorized plan for Detroit.  Giffels-Webster along with other firms and the City of Detroit developed the plan.   The plan calls for various improvements for walking and biking in Detroit, including nearly 400 miles of bike lanes.

Link to Detroit Non-motorized Transportation Master Plan

City Council Resolutions

The plan was first presented to Council President Ken Cockrel Jr.’s Green Task Force.  We received a very favorable response and Mr. Cockrel got this on a council committee agenda.  With a solid showing of public support, the committee created resolutions to approve it.

Both resolutions are shown below: (more…)

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.

This video show families and kids biking and walking to school. It’s simply amazing to see such a high level of participation — and all of these kids developing a positive healthy lifestyle. It’s a huge contrast from schools in Metro Detroit which are often clogged with parents chauffeuring their children to school, causing area traffic congestion, and fostering a dependence on commuting by car rather than by biking or walking.

This video was taken by David Hembrow who adds “It’s important to realize that this is not an exceptional day, nor an exceptional school. Dutch children [are] everywhere, every day travel like this.”

Additional resources: National Center for Safe Routes to School, Michigan Safe Routes to School

The Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan brought Majora Carter to Detroit this week for a series of presentations on her Sustainable South Bronx work. There are a myriad of similar challenges in both the South Bronx and Detroit.

Majora’s efforts have resulted in the area’s first new riverfront park in 60 years, plans and funding for a major greenway/trail system, a green-collar training program, a green roof program, and much more. Her presentation was very inspiring.

Her presentation was similar to one she made in 2006 at TED. I highly recommend devoting 19 minutes to watching it. You will not be disappointed.

I sit on Royal Oak’s Traffic and Safety Committee. The most common issue that comes before our committee is speeding on residential streets. Child and pedestrian safety drive the issue, but so does noise. Residents often ask for additional stop signs, the committee lets them know about their ineffectiveness and that we have no other options for them. Occasionally we will recommend increased enforcement, but realistically the Royal Oak police are overburdened with these requests already.

While Royal Oak doesn’t have a solution today, Ann Arbor does. They have developed a traffic calming program where residents can petition for changes that slow down vehicles in their neighborhood.  From my perspective, it’s a very realistic approach to addressing residents’ concerns.

Of course it’s relatively easy for a local governments to commit to supporting something like this. It’s quite another for them to commit to funding it. Based on their completed projects list, it appears Ann Arbor has stepped up.