Our presenter on April 21st was Todd Scott, Executive Director of the Detroit Greenways Coalition.
The Coalition’s vision is for a strong, healthy, vibrant City of Detroit and region where a seamless network of greenways, green spaces, blueways, and complete streets is an integral part of people’s active lifestyle including day-to-day transportation and recreation. It was able to sell this vision to the city with the improved health of its population and the resulting economic development. The data has helped convince Mayor Duggan.
There are over 250 miles of bike lanes, routes, and trails in Detroit. Mr. Scott talked about bike lanes on Jefferson and Livernois and how the Livernois lanes have brought traffic speeds back to posted limits and expanded traffic for local businesses. There is a grant request being sought to completely renovate Jefferson, making the lanes more permanent.
Greenways have been greatly expanded. They include RiverWalk, the Dequindre Cut, Southwest, Joseph Campau, and Joe Louis. The Joe Louis Greenway will extend the Dequindre Cut to an over 27-mile loop around the city. The hope is for all of these greenways to continue and/or expand on their construction in 2021.