New bike lanes will be proposed downtown next week

A few days ago, we discussed the new bike lanes in the city, including the new designated lanes along Michigan Avenue. Hold on, Detroit. More are coming soon, and they may look very different.

The Downtown Detroit Partnership is holding a public meeting Monday, December 12 from 4-6 p.m. at the Boll Family YMCA Downtown. According to the event announcement, the public will:

• “Find out where new bike lanes are being planned
• Help locate new bike share stations
• Provide input to ensure that streets are safe and easy to walk, bike, and drive
• Get a sneak peek at what a redesigned Woodward Avenue might look like”

Todd Scott from Detroit Greenways tells Curbed that these lanes will be very different for Detroit and for Michigan. He says,

“The originally proposed bike lane designs were your standard painted lanes. Now with the city making protected bike lanes a minimum design, they've evolved into protected lanes that more closely resemble trails snaking through the downtown. The big question is safety and making everyone feel comfortable biking, walking and driving around these new street configurations. It's better to get that feedback now when there's still opportunity to tweak the designs rather than after they are built.”

We’ll bring you more details and illustrations when we have them. Until then, hope to see you at the meeting. (And if you can’t make it, you can share your ideas and concerns with contact James Fidler at james.fidler@downtowndetroit.org.)