Detroit....,What?

No one really takes me seriously but I believe that Detroit is the last frontier. The opportunities that will begin to present themselves for a really sweet community is going to happen for Detroit. I am stoked for the residents that they will start to see things go for that City that has been hard on its luck for so long. Cheap houses and 30 miles of new bike lanes. What more could you ask for?

BY MATT HELMS
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Detroit is embarking on an ambitious plan to create bike lanes on roads across town, giving cyclists like Jon Koller designated space for riding as city leaders and community groups rethink street and land use in a shrinking city.

It's a big change. Although the city is starting with about 30 miles in a handful of neighborhoods this year, there eventually could be as many as 400 miles of bike lanes in Detroit.

"I think it's going to encourage more people to get out there and take biking as a serious form of transportation," said Koller, 25, who lives in the city's Corktown neighborhood and commutes by bike to Wayne State University, where he's a doctoral student in transportation engineering.

Supporters envision a city that's easier to maneuver without a car, with bike lanes and paths connecting the Cultural Center, Mexicantown, parks and other attractions.

The largest share of 30 miles of marked on-street bike lanes that the city plans to add this year will be 17 miles in southwest Detroit connecting the Corktown and Mexicantown neighborhoods.

That area also will get nearly 12 miles of roads designated as bike routes, with signs directing cyclists to destinations and alerting drivers to bicycle traffic but no painted bike lanes.

Other bike lanes will be added on streets near Wayne State University in Midtown, the New Center area and the city's east side as Detroit spends more than $3.6 million -- mostly federal funds with matching grants provided by private nonprofit groups -- for signs and repainting on the first batch of what ultimately could be hundreds of miles of lanes set aside for cyclists.

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