Thursday, February 11, 2021

Letter to Wayne County - Outer Drive Bicycle Facility Design

In representing our residents and community I signed on to a letter this week requesting Wayne County communicate with City and community leaders on the upcoming plans to for bike lanes on Outer Drive. The funding for this project was first donated more than 3 years ago by the Kosch family of Dearborn Brand. Additional funding was later approved by Dearborn City Council. Outer Drive is under the jurisdiction of Wayne County and any changes to the roadway must go through the county. The county has not been forth coming with information and has changed design plans without engagement with the community that has funded the project. County officials have ignored multiple planned meeting with City of Dearborn officials. We are requesting that the County share details about the re-engineered bicycle facility design, and, if plans do not conform to the community vision established in the recently adopted Dearborn multimodal transportation plan (MMTP), that they work together collaboratively with the City of Dearborn to provide safe and inviting bicycle infrastructure on Outer Drive that conforms to the standards set forth in the MMTP. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Timothy S. Harrison
SODA President

Update 2/11/2021, 3:00pm
Sam Baydoun, Wayne County Commissioner, reached out on Facebook and said Beth Taylor is no longer with the County. He has reached out to Beverly Watts the DPS director. He said he is working on setting a Zoom meeting with all the respective parties.

The following letter was sent to Elizabeth Taylor, Department Administrator Wayne County DPS Engineering Division

Dear Ms. Taylor,

We are writing on behalf of Dearborn residents and commuters who are very concerned about the quality of bike facilities that are to be constructed this spring on Outer Drive.

City/County modifications to the MMTP Outer Drive plans came to our attention in December 2020. The MMTP was the product of extensive community engagement. However, there has been no direct outreach to the community regarding design changes to Outer Drive. We have been trying to obtain clarity on the project since we first learned of them.  

We are specifically concerned about modifications that compromise cyclist safety by not addressing the need to slow traffic and separate modes. Specifically, decisions appear to have been made to eliminate lane width reductions, replace on-road bike lanes with sharrows and eliminate painted buffers from on-road bike lanes. 

This is not consistent with MMTP recommendations for safe cycling facilities. Research clearly shows that slowing traffic and providing separation between modes is critical to safety for the most vulnerable users of the transportation system (e.g., cyclists, pedestrians, kids, elderly, mobility-impaired).

Also well understood is the fact that people will avoid using bike/ped facilities if they do not feel comfortable and facilities are not convenient. Surely, given the multiple co-benefits associated with walking and cycling modes (e.g., health, environment, traffic congestion) we can do better. 

We have been unsuccessful in learning the exact nature of the construction plans. We ask that the County share details about the re-engineered bicycle facility design, and, if plans do not conform to the community vision established in the MMTP, work together collaboratively with the City of Dearborn to provide safe and inviting bicycle infrastructure on Outer Drive that conforms to the standards set forth in the MMTP. 

A worst case scenario, for all of us, is that this project counterproductively dissuades people from cycling and from further supporting multi modal facilities. Outer Drive is an important regional connector and we must take the time to get this project done well, so as to build momentum for purposeful and recreational biking in Dearborn and the surrounding area.

Thank you for your time. We look forward to hearing from you.

Respectfully,

Susan Grasso, Member Healthy Dearborn Steering Committee and Co-chair Healthy Environments Action Team

Tracy Besek, Founder Bike Dearborn,  Dearborn Resident and Member of Healthy Dearborn Healthy Environments Action Team

Sean Galloway, Member of Bike Dearborn and Dearborn Resident

Ann Franas, Member of Bike Dearborn and Dearborn Resident

Tim Harrison, President Southwestern Outer Drive Neighborhood Association of Dearborn and Chair Healthy Environments Action Team