I fully support the idea of an Ann Arbor Greenway from the Huron River to State Street (or beyond), but it seems to have been stalled for quite some time. The effort to date seems to have been focused on the "downtown area", specifically the three parcels of city-owned land. With this focus, the "greenway" seems more likely to create 3 new parks than to really create a corridor for non-motorized transportation. For example, recent news reports have focused on 415 West Washington. While I think 415 West Washington would be a nice park (and is actually near my house and something I would use), it seems like that's the wrong focus if the goal is to create useful non-motorized paths through the city that significantly improve the safety and speed of cyclists and pedestrians. There are just too many mid-block streets to cross downtown for the central component of the greenway to have much impact on non-motorized transportation.
I would much prefer that the city focus on the northern and southern ends of the proposed greenway, as they seem far more impactful on non-motorized transportation and far more doable in a reasonable timeframe.
1) If the city were to pave a "rail with trail" from Madison to State Street, it would only require 2 mid-block street crossings (Hill and Hoover) and it would provide a significant time and safety savings for non-motorized commuters and folks seeking exercise in the south central district of the city. (This would be fantastic if it was extended south of State/Stimson to Ellsworth to create a connection with Pittsfield Township's emerging network of non-motorized trails.)
2) If the city were to create a rail with trail / bridge link from West Summit Street to Bandemer Park, it would make a huge safety impact for folks attempting to reach the network of trails along the river from Ann Arbor's west side. I'm sure it would cost a lot of money to create such a connection, but fixing North Main Street to be safe for non-motorized transportation seems to be an even bigger proposition and is apparently outside the city's control.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Friday, September 24, 2010
Border-to-Border Trail
Time to resurrect this blog.
I find myself continually fascinated with biking in Ann Arbor and the surrounding region (possibly spending more time dreaming than I do in the saddle). This leads me to dig into all manner of non-motorized plans for Ann Arbor, the surrounding communities, Washtenaw County, and surrounding counties.
My latest obsession has been trying to figure out the current status of the Washtenaw County Border-to-Border Trail. I wrote up what I could find in the form of a wikipedia page, since no such page existed for this hike-bike trail, but many other trails have a corresponding page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border-to-Border_Trail
After a lot of reading, I would characterize my understanding as follows:
1) Very little, if any thought has been given about how to connect the Border-to-Border Trail to Livingston County (segments A & B). I'll do another post on what I've learned about the Lakelands Trail sometime (Hamburg Township to Stockton), but it would be very valuable to Ann Arbor bikers if the Border-to-Border Trail could eventually be extended up to Pinkney. It's hard to figure out, but it looks like the bulk of the route could go through land owned by Hudson Mills Metropark or University of Michigan-owned http://www.snre.umich.edu/facilities/properties
2) The Dexter area (North Territorial to Delhi Metropark) seems to be coming along nicely in the next 2 years. The section from North Territorial to the Hudson Mills golf course is done. That section should be linked to Dexter in the next year or so. Likewise, Dexter to Dexter-Huron Metropark is planned, and continuing on to Delhi Mills seems to also be feasible in the near future.
3) The west of Ann Arbor area (Delhi Mills to Bandemer Park) seems to be largely ignored for now. I suspect that there is some land assembly going on (Osborne Nature Preserve, Burns-Stokes Nature Preserve), but that a lot more needs to be done. Also, Ann Arbor has to finally make the funds available for the Bandemer tunnel under the train tracks to open up the path westward.
4) Within the city, there is a complete route in hand, but parts of it could be significantly improved. Specifically, it will be interesting to see if the city actually makes a paved path along the millrace, and whether it actually builds the Fuller Park area paths and bridges called for in the PROs plan. At least the Bandemer and Gallup Park areas are well done.
5) Ypsilanti is a mixed bag, with much of the route taking surface streets rather than the proposed riverfront route. The key issues seem to be developing a path along Railroad Street, building the bridge under Michigan Avenue, paving the Water Street area, and figuring out an alternate route across 94. (Can the new Visteon plant owners be convinced to give a rightaway through their property?)
6) Ypsilanti Township seems to be doing great, with the remaining pieces to the Wayne County border being completed this summer. The only disappointing news I saw was relying on bike lanes for the rest of Bridge Road, rather than a non-motorized path and bridge winding through North and South Hydro Parks.
I find myself continually fascinated with biking in Ann Arbor and the surrounding region (possibly spending more time dreaming than I do in the saddle). This leads me to dig into all manner of non-motorized plans for Ann Arbor, the surrounding communities, Washtenaw County, and surrounding counties.
My latest obsession has been trying to figure out the current status of the Washtenaw County Border-to-Border Trail. I wrote up what I could find in the form of a wikipedia page, since no such page existed for this hike-bike trail, but many other trails have a corresponding page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border-to-Border_Trail
After a lot of reading, I would characterize my understanding as follows:
1) Very little, if any thought has been given about how to connect the Border-to-Border Trail to Livingston County (segments A & B). I'll do another post on what I've learned about the Lakelands Trail sometime (Hamburg Township to Stockton), but it would be very valuable to Ann Arbor bikers if the Border-to-Border Trail could eventually be extended up to Pinkney. It's hard to figure out, but it looks like the bulk of the route could go through land owned by Hudson Mills Metropark or University of Michigan-owned http://www.snre.umich.edu/facilities/properties
2) The Dexter area (North Territorial to Delhi Metropark) seems to be coming along nicely in the next 2 years. The section from North Territorial to the Hudson Mills golf course is done. That section should be linked to Dexter in the next year or so. Likewise, Dexter to Dexter-Huron Metropark is planned, and continuing on to Delhi Mills seems to also be feasible in the near future.
3) The west of Ann Arbor area (Delhi Mills to Bandemer Park) seems to be largely ignored for now. I suspect that there is some land assembly going on (Osborne Nature Preserve, Burns-Stokes Nature Preserve), but that a lot more needs to be done. Also, Ann Arbor has to finally make the funds available for the Bandemer tunnel under the train tracks to open up the path westward.
4) Within the city, there is a complete route in hand, but parts of it could be significantly improved. Specifically, it will be interesting to see if the city actually makes a paved path along the millrace, and whether it actually builds the Fuller Park area paths and bridges called for in the PROs plan. At least the Bandemer and Gallup Park areas are well done.
5) Ypsilanti is a mixed bag, with much of the route taking surface streets rather than the proposed riverfront route. The key issues seem to be developing a path along Railroad Street, building the bridge under Michigan Avenue, paving the Water Street area, and figuring out an alternate route across 94. (Can the new Visteon plant owners be convinced to give a rightaway through their property?)
6) Ypsilanti Township seems to be doing great, with the remaining pieces to the Wayne County border being completed this summer. The only disappointing news I saw was relying on bike lanes for the rest of Bridge Road, rather than a non-motorized path and bridge winding through North and South Hydro Parks.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
ARRA Funds in Washtenaw County
There's a lot of info on potential stimulus funding for Washtenaw County from the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study (WATS).
The high level breakdown is:
AATA bus service: $6.5 million
Urban: $8.3 million
Rural: $900k
Highways: $50.3 million
Of this, I think you could count the AATA bus service money and some fraction of the Urban stimulus money as contributing to sustainable transportation (e.g. new buses, new bus stations, and a fraction of road rebuilding that's likely to create bike lanes as well).
While it's a small amount, I'm particular curious about an item under Urban stimulus that calls out $250k for "Non-motorized system improve/expand -A2".
Probably the most important point is the following: "Comment period closes April 24, 2009. Comments may be made in person in the WATS office or by email to bomberye@miwats.org."
It's not really clear to me what the context the comments are being solicited for. Is the allocation of projects still open for discussion? Could we spend less on the highway resurfacing and fix the Stadium bridges? Could we spend less on the highway resurfacing and more on bike lanes?
The high level breakdown is:
AATA bus service: $6.5 million
Urban: $8.3 million
Rural: $900k
Highways: $50.3 million
Of this, I think you could count the AATA bus service money and some fraction of the Urban stimulus money as contributing to sustainable transportation (e.g. new buses, new bus stations, and a fraction of road rebuilding that's likely to create bike lanes as well).
While it's a small amount, I'm particular curious about an item under Urban stimulus that calls out $250k for "Non-motorized system improve/expand -A2".
Probably the most important point is the following: "Comment period closes April 24, 2009. Comments may be made in person in the WATS office or by email to bomberye@miwats.org."
It's not really clear to me what the context the comments are being solicited for. Is the allocation of projects still open for discussion? Could we spend less on the highway resurfacing and fix the Stadium bridges? Could we spend less on the highway resurfacing and more on bike lanes?
Monday, March 30, 2009
Bicyling in Ann Arbor UPDATED!
The Bicyling in Ann Arbor page has been updated.
Updates include:
1) They now explicitly identify "pothole to be repaired" as the place to put bike lane requests.
2) Still no online bike registration form on the linked-to City Clerk's website.
3) They've included the number of bike lanes added each year, starting in 2007. This is great. Unfortunately, 2008 added a total of 0.2 miles of bike lanes (along Ann Street). Nontheless, increased transparency might eventually lead to more action in this space.
4) The page promises 2009 bike line additions "coming soon". If they only do them when reconstructing streets, then my guess is that 2009 will only see a few hundred feet when they reconstruct the Stadium / Pauline intersection. If the DDA redoes Division in 2009, then that might be a lot more. I heard rumors of stimulus funding, so perhaps more will happen.
Updates include:
1) They now explicitly identify "pothole to be repaired" as the place to put bike lane requests.
2) Still no online bike registration form on the linked-to City Clerk's website.
3) They've included the number of bike lanes added each year, starting in 2007. This is great. Unfortunately, 2008 added a total of 0.2 miles of bike lanes (along Ann Street). Nontheless, increased transparency might eventually lead to more action in this space.
4) The page promises 2009 bike line additions "coming soon". If they only do them when reconstructing streets, then my guess is that 2009 will only see a few hundred feet when they reconstruct the Stadium / Pauline intersection. If the DDA redoes Division in 2009, then that might be a lot more. I heard rumors of stimulus funding, so perhaps more will happen.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Bicycling in Ann Arbor
There's a new page up on the city website about bicycling in Ann Arbor.
It looks like a promising start. As I noted here, I think it could be improved in several ways.
1) The online citizen request system does not include an obvious category for asking the city to remove broken glass or similar trash from a bike lane. (I tried this recently, and the closest category I could find was “pothole to be repaired.” Needless to say, the request is still listed as “open” 4 days later.)
2) The bicycle registration section links to the City Clerk’s site, but the City Clerk’s site barely mentions bicycles. (There’s one brief mention, but the bike registration form is not online.) I would think folks might be much more likely to actually register their bikes if it did not require a trip to city hall.
3) The page talks about how many miles of bike lanes were added in 2007. It would be nice to see an updated number for 2008, plus a graph or chart showing the change on a per year basis.
4) It would be nice to see a link to what's planned for 2009 in terms of bike infrastructure for Ann Arbor.
It looks like a promising start. As I noted here, I think it could be improved in several ways.
1) The online citizen request system does not include an obvious category for asking the city to remove broken glass or similar trash from a bike lane. (I tried this recently, and the closest category I could find was “pothole to be repaired.” Needless to say, the request is still listed as “open” 4 days later.)
2) The bicycle registration section links to the City Clerk’s site, but the City Clerk’s site barely mentions bicycles. (There’s one brief mention, but the bike registration form is not online.) I would think folks might be much more likely to actually register their bikes if it did not require a trip to city hall.
3) The page talks about how many miles of bike lanes were added in 2007. It would be nice to see an updated number for 2008, plus a graph or chart showing the change on a per year basis.
4) It would be nice to see a link to what's planned for 2009 in terms of bike infrastructure for Ann Arbor.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
WALLY
The AATA site has a new page charting the progress of WALLY, the proposed commuter line from northern AA (Plymouth/Barton) to Howell. (Hat tip: getDowntown) So far the content includes a press release, plus a PDF of the presentation and the summary of each of the first two monthly meetings. Next meeting is January 26th. Interestingly, these meetings are being held at Whitmore Lake, which shouldn't have surprised me as this is really focused on the commuters north of Ann Arbor getting into the city, not intra-city transit. Skimming through the presentations, it seems like the major points include the fact that AATA is now the designated authority, that the AATA has identified a staff member to work on this project, that the work has begun, that there is now a placeholder for Livingston County to contribute in return for federal matching funds, and that the consultant-generated estimate of $32 million to get the project up and going does not include costs for ADA compliance.
As suggested during the Ann Arbor Transportation Plan overview in September, it looks like they are going to focus on getting the service up and running and not worry about extending it into downtown (or south to the stadium) yet.
I still think this is a mistake, but I think I understand the reasons. My concern is that you really only get "one introduction" to a new service and I suspect the resistance to switching from "car/walk" to "car/train/bus/walk" will be too much for many potential commuters. I'd much prefer to see folks switch from "car/walk" to "car/train/walk", as that strikes me as a much easier transition.
That said, I do have a very personal bias here. I'd really love to be able to hop on a commuter rail at the Washington Street overpass and hop off at the intersection of State and Stimson, but I suspect that will be a long time coming. (Even the optimistic projections of extending the line into AA seem to have it stopping near the Stadium, rather than continuing SSE to State Street and Georgetown.
Regardless, it's great to see a designated site for all your WALLY needs. It would be nice if they eventually included links to the consultant information (or migrated it to this site), currently found here.
As suggested during the Ann Arbor Transportation Plan overview in September, it looks like they are going to focus on getting the service up and running and not worry about extending it into downtown (or south to the stadium) yet.
I still think this is a mistake, but I think I understand the reasons. My concern is that you really only get "one introduction" to a new service and I suspect the resistance to switching from "car/walk" to "car/train/bus/walk" will be too much for many potential commuters. I'd much prefer to see folks switch from "car/walk" to "car/train/walk", as that strikes me as a much easier transition.
That said, I do have a very personal bias here. I'd really love to be able to hop on a commuter rail at the Washington Street overpass and hop off at the intersection of State and Stimson, but I suspect that will be a long time coming. (Even the optimistic projections of extending the line into AA seem to have it stopping near the Stadium, rather than continuing SSE to State Street and Georgetown.
Regardless, it's great to see a designated site for all your WALLY needs. It would be nice if they eventually included links to the consultant information (or migrated it to this site), currently found here.
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