CLIENT: Corktown Community Development Corporation
LOCATION: Detroit, MI
YEAR: 2004
Plans to bring a sustainable, livable environment to Detroit include an extensive network of bicycle and pedestrian pathways that will connect the city’s blighted areas to the widely-anticipated West Riverfront development.
With a grant from the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan, the project—developed in conjunction with the Greater Corktown Development Corporation—will provide nearly 15 miles of landscaped pathways. These will include 7.3 miles of bicycle lanes, 3.3 miles of off road, shared-use routes, and 3.1 miles of signed bicycle routes. The network will ultimately be connected to various greenway links that are being planned in seven other counties in Southeastern Michigan.
The Detroit bicycle lanes will allow members of the multicultural Mexicantown and Hubbard communities to access the city’s cultural, civic, business, and entertainment attractions. This pro-active plan promotes a healthy lifestyle and an environmentally smart transportation system that increases accessibility. The architects’ proposed design transforms some of Detroit’s bleakest, most underutilized roadways and passages into vibrant corridors that will be landscaped, repaved, planted, and outfitted with appropriate bicycle lanes, pathways, and signage. The targeted area fronts the Detroit River and is bounded by West Grand Boulevard to the west, Martin Luther King Boulevard to the north, and the Lodge Freeway to the east.
Much of this plan has now been implemented.
