The Free Press recently ran a article on the proposed 70-mile Macomb County Loop.

Joggers, bikers and walkers in Macomb County can anticipate a light at the end of the bike path, as nearly two-thirds of the Macomb Orchard Trail is completed this summer.

And no one’s looking more forward to progress on the 70-mile loop through Macomb County than business owners and officials in downtown Utica, anticipating a healthy bump in business from a soon-to-be-completed path that leads to their doorsteps.

“It’s exciting,” Carla Grider, manager of Muldoon’s restaurant in downtown. The restaurant already does a healthy business from April to October, when patrons can eat outside on the patio. And Grider expects traffic from the trail to build on that.

It’s a pretty aggressive construction schedule. It’ll be interesting to see how realistic is truly is.

We do have concerns with some of this loop. From what we’ve been told, parts of it are on sidepaths — notably the portion along County Line Road. Wide shoulders and/or bike lanes would be the safer (and perhaps less expensive) design choice.

The sidepath along the Metropolitan Parkway actually works since the access across the path is tightly controlled. There are very limited intersections, which makes this design work. Unfortunately many other communities believe they can replicate that design without concern for the number of intersections, their sight-lines, etc.

The Heritage Newspaper’s Press and Guide had a recent article on greenways in Metro Detroit.

It’s a good article with a focus more on the Dearborn, Detroit, and Downriver areas.

Still, we’re a little unclear about some statements.

Detroit is leading the way in the endeavor, and currently has more greenways than any other city in the country, quite a change for a city that built its reputation on the automobile. In Detroit’s favor, it is a city with many, many miles of unused railways, which advocates hope will eventually be converted totally to greenways.

We’re not sure the city of Detroit has more greenways than any other city, but it could very well be among the leaders from an investment perspective.

And this is a great quote from Tom Woiwode of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

“Ultimately, the goal of the GreenWays Initiative is to connect all the communities in southeast Michigan and to link the system with projects outside the region,” said Woiwode. “In the meantime, watching as greenways are embraced by a region known for the automobile continues to be a pleasure.”

The article does end on a flat note.

“Every day, we are a little closer to being able to travel the whole tri-county area without ever setting foot on a road.”

That’s neither true nor realistic — and not even desirable. Many of the planned greenways in Detroit are partially, if not 100% on the road.

Riding on roads is not a bad thing to be avoided. What we need to avoid is building roads that don’t safely accommodate bicyclists. We need Complete Streets.

Chances are we’re not building a greenway to your front door. Or your school. Or your work. We just need to fix the roads between your starting and ending points.

Please take 10 minutes to complete this survey on greenways, bike lanes, and more in Detroit. The survey only runs through Wednesday! For more information on this project, visit the Villages CDC web site.

Dear Friends,

Your participation in a survey is requested to assist in the planning of a network of greenways in the Greater Riverfront East District of Detroit. This area is also known as the Lower Eastside. Its boundaries are the Detroit River to the south, Mack Avenue to the north, the Dequindre Cut to the west, and Alter Road to the east.

The survey should take about 10 minutes to complete. The survey will run until September 1, 2010. Please feel free to share this survey with others whom you think would be interested.

Please click on following link to complete the survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/765DW9R

Thank you for your time and participation.

The Greater Riverfront East Environmental Network (GREEN) Task Force

P.S. If you would like to receive paper copies of this survey, or if you have a question, please contact:

Sheu-Jane Gallagher
The Villages CDC
theVillagesofDetroit@gmail.com

A trail fundraiser ride from our friends south of the border at Bike Friendly Windsor:

Essex Rotary club has paired up with the Essex Region Conservation Authority to raise money for developing the Chrysler Greenway between McGregor and Essex.

They are holding a Bike-a-thon at 10am Monday, September 6th with two route choices: CO-AN park to Harrow and back (25km) or CO-AN park to Kingsville and back (55km).

Registration forms can be picked up at any United Communities Credit Union branch in Essex County.

Co-An Park is located at 11071 11th Concession, McGregor in Ontario, Canada.

Earlier this month we attended a public meeting in Southwest Detroit to discuss the westward expansion of the Detroit RiverWalk. This would be the 2-mile segment of RiverWalk from Joe Louis to West Grand Boulevard/Riverside Park.

The interest was very high as the room quickly filled to standing room only.

The initial plans looked great to us. This portion of the RiverWalk would look more like Belle Isle than the often hard-surfaced RiverWalk East. This is due in part to the larger land holdings, including the old Free Press printing plant site and Riverside Park. Of course the railyard in between adds a significant challenge.

It was noted that being able to bike and walk under the Ambassador Bridge would be quite a sight and quite a unique draw. It was good to see Dan Stamper of the Detroit Bridge Company in attendance to show their apparent support of the RiverWalk West concept.

A recent Model D article also added:

Faye Alexander Nelson, president and CEO of the Conservancy, had to remind the audience on several occasions that the planning is beginning now and the community will be a big component of the process.

“This will be challenging,” [Conservancy Chair Matt] Cullen says. “But a real exciting opportunity.”

The Conservancy says they’ll continue to have public meetings as the process for the West Riverfront moves a long.

Raising the millions in funding for this project is a major task, but the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy has a track record of getting it done. We see no reason why this won’t come to fruition.