Bicycle Friendly Roads are Alive and Well in Mason County

[XLFD]

 In case you missed the notification in the December 3rd COLDNews about a local meeting on non-motorized transportation on December 7th, you may have overlooked it entirely.  The only other notification I could find was on West Michigan Trails. 

You may not have been able to make it because it was scheduled to meet between 4-7 PM at the Mason County Airport, which may have conflicted with most work schedules.  It seems that the irony may have been lost to the organizers of this event that it would be practically impossible for any locals to walk or ride their bicycle to this event because they would have been forced into unsafely riding/walking on the edge of busy US 10 for at least a mile to get there and then back --even more dangerously-- after dark. 

One could easily believe that the geniuses who planned such an event would come up with some equally as crazy ideas regarding local non-motorized transportation, and in that there was no disappointment.  Fortunately, the COLDNews had a couple of reporters, including Managing Editor Patti Klevorn, there to report on the ideas put forth, while I regrettably had to sit it out.  I include their coverage of the conference in its entirety from this weekend's newspaper, with interludes interjecting my observations on the topics.

I offer my lifelong residency in Mason County (with a small intermission) and my own difficulties that I have had in logging over 100,000 miles bicycling across the county and several thousand miles of trekking on foot across its roads and streets.  Your observations may differ from mine, and are always welcome in the comment section.  As always, if they are different than mine, they could well be challenged.

County lacks bike-friendly roads, MDOT looks to improve

By Colton Mokofsky and Patti Klevorn Of the Daily News

More roads are expected to be bicycle-friendly in the future, including some in Mason County.

Area cyclists, community leaders and transportation experts talked this week about the shared road use, including adding some local roads to the state’s maps of road “bike trails.”

Currently, Mason County doesn’t have any roads with that designation.

In this MDOT manual it defines what bicycle-friendly means (as above picture shows), and I would disagree with the starting sentence's inference that the county has no such roads, it has more than its share once you get away from the cities of Scottville and Ludington.  And while it is technically not part of a 'bike trail', Mason County is actually the crossroads county for the two US Bicycle Routes in Michigan's lower peninsula.  No other Michigan County has such a distinction. 

“They want to expand the network,” said MDOT Project Coordinator Steve Redmond. “We’ve been able to establish a great network of trails and they want to expand on that.”

He was grateful for the amount of interest from the community during the regional outreach meeting Wednesday at the Mason County Airport.

“The turnout and the interest we’ve had has been tremendous,” he said.

Having more bike trails sounds like a good thing, but consider that Michigan roads are among the nation's worst (while the taxpayers spend inefficiently on roads) this should be a bit lower on MDOT's priority list.  For every bike trail that is made, maintenance on regular roads suffers, and this is where most bicyclists will be logging their most miles.  Adding more shoulders on busier roads sounds good, creating and maintaining a new bike trail and acquiring easements sounds difficult and costly. 

And there was plenty of talk about safety, too.

Scott Quiring of Quiring Cycles in Free Soil was glad for some insight about where to send his customers to go for a safe ride after they pick up their custom-made bike from the shop.

“Generally speaking, it’s very positive to see (MDOT) collecting information like this and listening to cyclists and wanting to know from the cycling community what they think of bike riding in this area,” he said. “It seems like they’re really positive in they want to improve the safety of cycling.”

He said it's also important for cyclists to follow the rules of the road just as drivers have to do.

"I think, if anything, what I asked or brought to the table was more just the concern that I think cyclists need to follow the rules of the road as well as motorists," Quiring said.  "Cyclists have to obey the laws of the road... we see bicyclists blowing stop signs and doing other things they shouldn't be doing.  It looks bad for the cycling community."

Unfortunately, I have probably never rode with Scott Quiring, but I have been in several rides, including many MAD rides which cover Mason and Oceana Counties and have yet to find a bicyclist who completely stops at a stop sign, unless there is cross-traffic or another problem that does not allow them to see up the cross street.  Statistics reflect that only about 3% (and they probably lie about it) actually do when there is no reason other than the sign. 

The above video shows why, and we must also remember that the placement of stop signs is warranted not for bicycle traffic but for motor vehicle traffic traveling at the 85 percentile speed down a road (usually at or about 55 mph on a country road); this speed can be many times faster than a bicyclist could travel, and in practice, many cars actively roll through some stop signs faster than a bicycle at full speed. 

A bicyclist should obey the rules of the road, however, if a cyclist can safely yield the right of way without coming to a complete stop, they should not be punished for it, as it not only is safer for them, but also more conducive to traffic flow for all.

Dave McLean owner of Spindrift Cyclesports was glad to see a great turnout and hear discussion about the desire for more bike trails in the Ludington area.

It was great to see the turnout we had.  All the local cyclists are pretty concerned about the trail situation and the lack of trails we have in our area.  My main concern is that we weren't overlooked as far as getting some trails, non-motorized trails or bike paths in our area and I think that they recognize the fact that we are in an area that is void of any trails like that... there's a big gap and we're right in the middle of that gap," McLean said.

He also wants to see indications on the new maps of the non-motorized trails to show that trails do exist in Ludington. 

McLean as part of the Shoreline Cycling Club, has helped create bike trails in Cartier Park and the Ludington school forest.

"We can hopefully get something on those maps to show that we have trails here in Ludington-- mountain bike trails primarily-- we have a pretty good trail system in the City of Ludington," he said.

Mason County has a lot of rarely used and well-maintained country roads, so the bike riders I know aren't concerned one whit with the absence of any formal bike trails, contrary to Dave McLean's statement. 

And while McLean has created off-road bike trails in the school forest and Cartier Park, he neglects to point out that there has always been an even more extensive system of such trails used by off-road bikers for as far back as I can remember in those two areas-- minus the unnecessary signage and root-clearing introduced in his efforts.

Ludington Community Development Director Heather Tykoski said she saw the meeting as a great opportunity to talk about how making the area more cyclist and pedestrian-friendly is good for the area.

"The City of Ludington and downtown area have unique challenges and opportunities for non-motorized transportation and walkability and we are always looking at how we can partner with MDOT in planning for the needs of residents and visitors as well as opportunities to help the downtown flourish," she said. 

Heather has become a master craftsman at patching together a lot of words together that sound high-minded and important but mean nothing once you sort them out.  A simple translation would have her saying she is hoping there is some grant money from MDOT she can possibly get. 

Another bit of irony is that the downtown (with her support) has 'walked' away from making itself more walkable or ridable by introducing bump-outs and offering as little as five feet of sidewalk space in the downtown to offer outdoor dining and displaying for businesses, where sidewalks are normally 16-18 ft. wide without obstacles.

As for silliness, the stylish bicycle-shaped bike racks (see picture above) that they recently placed downtown are made effectively useless by having a local ordinance on the books introduced by Police Chief Mark Barnett back in 2004 that prohibits bike riding on the sidewalks of South James and Ludington Avenue. 

Wayne Schoonover, Mason County Road Commission manager, said he was part of a discussion about the road commission's role.

"Would the road commission be able to help in looking at upgrading the roads... or would other routes by (sic) the better way to go?" (sic) he said.

"At our table, the group was discussing some of the limitations in potential routes," he said.  "With the rivers running through the county, we're kind of challenged having routes running north and south and east and west.  The big question is what would be the best route to potentially have bicyclist (sic) coming across.  It's not very user-friendly for bicyclists."

Looking at the latest Mason County road map, try to find a directly horizontal or vertical path through the county that doesn't cross at least a couple of bodies of water.  Even though Hawley Road bends to avoid bridging rivers/streams, it still has bridges over seven.  Provided they were able to get the necessary easements to cross the county where roads are not present there would still be plenty of work for the civil engineers and a lot of cost.  Bike trails could be constructed, but it is unlikely that they would be useful for commuting. 

Paved bike circuits up to four miles long made without crossing any roads may be a reasonable objective to think about, but their utilization would likely be limited because their location would be rural, and the county's rural roads are very ridable.

Local cyclist Paul Desmet was concerned about safety in biking between Ludington and Scottville.

"There's really no decent east-west route in Mason County," he said.  "The best possible (route) would be Hansen (Road).  There's all kinds of potholes..." he said.

Paul Desmet isn't a very smart cyclist if he is using Hansen Road to travel between Scottville and Ludington.  Hansen Road is a well-traveled road with thin lanes, undulating hills, and no shoulder-- a definitely hostile place for a cyclist.   Plus you have to go about a mile north of both cities to get on the road.

A better route is to travel south of both cities, using Conrad Road and First Street (and Sixth Street in Ludington.  It is actually a quicker route to get from the center of both cities than Hansen Road and is paved the whole way with much lower traveled, better tended roads.  Don't forget MDOT screwed up the First Street route by splitting it with highway 31 in the first place, without offering any relief for the bicyclists they ruined a route for. 

The meeting is one of several in the Grand Region which covers Mason, Oceana, Lake, Muskegon, Ottawa, Kent, Newaygo, Osceola, Mecosta, Montcalm, Ionia, Allegan, and Barry [Counties].

Currently a view of the MDOT portion of the state's website shows maps for bike-friendly communities, but there are no routes showing for Mason County. 

Also Mason County recently changed from one region to another (now Grand) and that is not reflected in the state's maps as the planning for more bike friendly roads are in the works. 

Again, most of the county's roads are already bicycle-friendly by MDOT's own definition, their failure to recognize this in their maps is their own failing.  Instead of complaining and/or kowtowing to the MDOT and arguing for expensive bike trails and recognition of Mason County in their pamphlets at their meetings, the time would be better served prioritizing our real needs, recognizing our past failures, and offering realistic objectives that look at the full picture of economic and geographic factors involved. 

[snide]

I ride ALOT and 90 percent of what i ride on is HORRIBLE.....The Ludington streets are just plain bad. Obviously no city council members ride....... Why cant ther be an acess road on county land between airport and Meijers to get pedestrian traffic off dangerous highway....?

[XLFD]

The last question is a great question, I always wondered as a youth why they did the highway with those raised berms on the sides.  Those are dangerous for peds or bicyclists, and don't help regular traffic at all. 

They installed these, they made Hansen Road more dangerous for bikes by putting in the 'S' curve and keeping the lanes thin, they split First Street in two for the new highway, they threw in chatter-bumps on the PM Hwy shoulder, it's like they don't want bicyclists going between Ludington and Scottville.  Most of their problems now was due to their own short-sightedness then.

Ludington streets are definitely wanting, many are not bicycle or pedestrian friendly even though well trafficked by both.  However, the article was referencing county roads for the most part, and we have a few that are great for bicycling once you get out of town, such as M-116 out to the park, Fountain Road, Custer Road, etc.  The only entity stopping installation of better non-motorized facilities from the Kuntry Kubbard to Wal-Mart are local government entities.

[snide]

In response to XLFD, ..... Kuntry Kubbard to WalMart would be ridiculously easy as you would only need a golf cart path style "road" from parking lot by Aaron's to the access road in fairgrounds (that comes out by MC Animal control ,behind WalMart)....... then take it further by going from east end of Lowe's parking lot around the back of US 10-31 off ramp to connect with the park and ride lot just west of Meijer's..... a very easy thing to do as all the land belongs to government and it would GET PEDESTRIANS OFF THE BUSY HIGHWAY..... Why is this not being done...?

[Willy]

I think the local authorities must make the request for improvements on State and Federal roadways and I have heard nothing about the Amber township seeking funds to create a safer way to traverse along US 10.

[XLFD]

I illustrate the improvements that snide mentioned earlier, with red lines going through the areas mentioned showing perhaps the most direct route fitting into the existing ways.  The 'fairport' route goes through the airport continues through the fairgrounds and goes through a recently developed passage made between the fair and Walmart.  The only thing preventing this going through is the will of our leaders, the Fair Board, and the airport authority

The 'Meilowe' route goes through undeveloped and unused property, mostly public, and connects Brye Road to the Lowe's parking lot.  Beyond needing to deal with a wetland, there should be little problem other than the funding.  Once you get to Brye Road you can go up to Johnson Road, a little used paved road up to Stiles if you need to get further west.  Or cross the highway and use First Street to get to Scottville. 

The major obstacle after these would be to get a nice bike/ped route between Jebavy and at least to Nelson Road so you can actually get from the City of Ludington to Aaron's parking lot in the first place

[Brad]

I think there would be possibly huge issue with going thru airport as Homeland rules made the fences there 10' tall, and not sure if that property may have to follow federal laws, let alone getting local approval or state approval.... in other words.. good luck.
The traverse from Lowes to Brye Rd would be another toughee if state owned and/or wetlands. Not easy either.
I believe in the past they tried for a road south of businesses on southside of US10, but now that's tough with Ponchos campground upgrades and increased size.
Best might be near railroad...????
Bike and foot traffic is a CRAZY trek east of PM Hwy! And very dangerous.

[XLFD]

I don't think the airport issue is a deal-breaker, having bike paths around the perimeters of airports is fairly common in the world (CNN best airport bike paths), however, I wouldn't be surprised if the local airport would request that any such path would run south of the hangar area instead of through it, as I shown in the other picture, and that federal law may require extra fencing. 

The other issues you mention for Meilowe may not be as bad as you think.  Our governments like wetlands, but they also have shown a growing interest in safer and more sensible bicycle infrastructure. 

Sadly, in all the talk about these issues in the recent Resilient Ludington/Western Mason County Master Plans, there is no real input I've seen coming from the airport and fair entities, nor has PM Township or Mason County governments pursued anything other than some wacky sidewalk ordinances for private entities only.

[Brad]

Yea the "Meilowe" might be the easier to sell. And yea I think if any path goes north side of US10, I think it will be just south of current airport fence. That might put it far enough to save lives though. I don't travel that way except for in a vehicle, and fear every time I have to pass a bicycle or pedestrian. More and more people travel that way then in years past. ...Oh yea, ya have to get the local government to go in....... jeeez.

[snide]

The Airport shouldn't be an issue as they allow "someone" inside the fence already.... Go by the end by Aaron's (behind the KK restaurant) and you will see dog training obstacles set up there..... So MC commisioners ,if you really care about keeping citizens safe, GET ON BOARD