Friday, April 9, 2010

Detroit to build 30 miles of bike lanes

My mom sent me an article today from the Detroit Free Press about the city of Detroit's plan to create 30 miles of bike lanes.
"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 [cyclist Jon] 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."
Awesome!  While I think that it will still take quite a bit of cultural and community change before cycling feels safe for a wider portion of the population, I think it's great that Detroit is starting to put some of the infrastructure in place.

As Detroit recovers from a daunting list of issues (the huge economic hit of the struggling auto industry, marked population decline, massive debt in the school systems, numerous abandoned properties, a spotlight on its political corruption...), it has an opportunity to remake itself into a different kind of city.  This could be a chance to rebuild Detroit in a way that is more friendly to people using modes of transportation other than the automobile.

I look forward to watching the transformation!

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