The oil corporations just got two inches smaller.

The nitwits that are behind this are in the incubator for politicians like the fool at the top who is now tanking the world....lemme know how the bike paths work out for ya in February.....while thousands of gallons of gas go wasted waiting for no one to pass...

I'm wondering the same thing as Terry. Adding bike lanes is a no brainer. If you look at how wide are streets already are, and how underutilized all 4 lanes on streets like Woodward are most of the time, it just makes sense to open up one lane as a bike lane. Here's hoping that the rest of the inner ring suburbs get on board with something Detroit is already moving forward on, following forward thinking Ferndale. If you haven't looped downtown and enjoyed the Dequindre Cut, Riverwalk, Atwater, Rosa Parks Blvd, Michigan Avenue, the Midtown loop, and Belle Isle, you're missing all the fun of having your own designated space in traffic and missing a lot of great exercise, beautiful views, and free parking!

Some people have their arms around a big ol' stinking tank of gasoline, embracing it like an old friend they're terrified will have to leave one day - and others can't wait for it to go.

I'm in the can't wait group. I guess that makes me a nit wit and a fool. By the way, the bike lane worked out just fine last February. It's still here. Let me know how your silly baseball diamonds, jet skis and swimming trunks fare.

I have problems already with this in Ferndale. I witnessed too many bikers blowing red lights. I watched one get killed on the I75 service drive at Woodward Hts. Why he ran the light I don't know. The same happens at four way stop signs. They ride thru and speed up at they run thru! Bikers moan about their rights to the roadway, then ride with traffic not against us. I was a semi pro bike rider till age of thirty. I feel this biking generation is ignorant and arrogant of their sport. Thier 160lbs is no match for a 3000lbs suv. I say put groves in the bike path before the intercetion to warn riders to slow down as they approach. Go ahead fire away but I'm trying to save your ass.

So your beef is with people who don't know and/or don't obey bike laws. That has little to do with whether to make Ferndale streets more transportation diverse. There are some of the most dangerous, law breaking auto drivers you can find out on 696. I wouldn't use that as the basis for a case not to have freeways.

Mark it has everything to do with it, Making the street more diverse to an uneducated cyclist is dangerous. The I696 drivers you mentioned breaking the law still had to show they had earn the license. Go ahead make greener traffic, just remember they must obey laws like the rest of the driving world. Driving a car is a privilege on public roads, Keep the uneducated cyclist off the public road. If you really want safer drivers make them all pass a Commercial Drivers License test. Pick up CDL book at S.O.S. to see the strict safety laws they have. A biker can't carry 30,000 gallons of fuel but he will pedal right thru traffic cutting them off because he's faster in traffic?

http://youtu.be/YDAYkdlKEGI
Do you really want this?

Biking is more dangerous without the bike lanes. People are still going to bike regardless of whether there is a lane or not which means they are riding in a lane with cars and trucks or on unsafe sidewalks. Riding bikes on sidewalks is dangerous to pedestrians and makes intersections more dangerous for the rider. Riding in the street is dangerous because drivers don't know how to accommodate.

What we need is to increase awareness and provide more biker safety education to the public. Not providing bike paths isn't going to keep people safe.

In regards to the debate of whether it is better to have dedicated bike paths separate from streets or integrated into the street, check out this book
Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities
http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780870714191

So this is what you want? Have you ever witnessed bikers/cyclist overseas? Drive there 30 minutes and you'll want for back home.
To be non-licensed, non-motor, 2 wheeled vehicle allows running of stop signs and red lights? As for veering and swerving in traffic I'd be arrested in car, but on a bicycle that's a green vehicle how cute. Still want a bike lane on Woodward for little 15 year old Johnny? Remember little Johnny has no real understanding of laws because he not taught to drive a car yet. Enjoy the videos with your rose colored glasses.
Cyclist complains about a car in bike lane then runs red light - http://youtu.be/ADsGc7B5uj8
Don't Touch My Car - http://youtu.be/pXxDSP9SfrI
Dangerous Bicycling Situation - What would you do? - http://youtu.be/yKCzdFYoNz8

My favorite the arrogant biker/cyclist who thinks road laws do not apply to them. I can smell a bench law on bike regulation in the works on this video.
Try to understand the premise of the bikers argument? Cop versus Cyclist - http://youtu.be/jzIKXC7QAdg

It seems as though the question, at least for Ferndale and much of SE Oakland County, is whether we want bicycles on our streets or our sidewalks. The other options would be to outlaw bicycle use or build dedicated bicycle paths.

Outlawing bicycle usage is not going to happen at the state or local level. There is no space in our rights of way nor money in our budgets to acquire land and build bicycle paths separate from the streets or the sidewalks.

Lots of people drive cars in an unsafe manner and the same goes for bicycles. As a legally authorized vehicle using our streets, bicycles are required to comply with traffic rules. If they run a red light or make illegal turns they can be ticketed by the police.

Motorists pointing the finger at cyclists for not following traffic laws while ignoring their group's own transgressions is called a fundamental attribution error. In other words, they blame cyclists for things that their group is also doing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error

Motorists in Oakland County break far more rules of the road than bicyclists. For example,. according a traffic group, the average motorist speed in 25 MPH zones (e.g. neighborhoods) in the County is over 30 MPH. Cars roll stop signs, fail to yield at driveways, run red lights, drive drunk, aggressively and distracted. The difference with cyclists is they don't hurt others, just themselves. Motorists can and do kill other people. In fact they kill about 13 people walking and biking every year in Oakland County.

To Terry, a good question "So you're against bike lanes because of safety issues? Or just cyclists in general? What should cyclists do?"

No I'm not totally against the bike lanes. My self been a semi pro rider back in the day I understand the point of a needed bike lane. My issue is with what I see in the attitude, stupidity and arrogance of the modern biker/cyclist concern of their on safety . I've seen adult bikers and amateur riders blow through intersections against traffic! Why, so they don't have to stop just to balance on one foot or slow down? If cyclist/bikers don't think of their own safety you know they don't give a **** about yours. Cyclist have nothing to hold them to laws they break, but drivers do. see video above; Cop versus Cyclist - http://youtu.be/jzIKXC7QAdg

You answer Terry
It comes back to safety education of the cyclist/rider. It's the only mechanical ridden human powered vehicle allowed on our streets. The biker/cyclist have no mandated safety training and legal consequences to be on public road. Autos must stay in their lane to keep order. But bikes can dart on and off the road in traffic just to keep going. After been hit once by a car turning right on my Trek. I can say I had a new understanding the laws of physics. Can any one produce a ticket from a police officer while riding your bike? I'm done I said my say. I don't need to be the evil villain of the Green Cruise. Now you heard you from the other side for once.

I read these comments a while back with interest. Having myself spent a lot of time on a bike growing up (racing bicycles all over the country for years) I feel somewhat comfortable on a bike.
The other morning, like many mornings in the summer, I rode my bike to work. I found myself drifting through four way stops, not obeying red lights (no cars were coming) the whole nine yards. When I realized that I was blatantly breaking the law as a bicyclist by not adhering to the rules of the road I questioned myself in a whole lot of ways.
I just don't think I can follow the same rules as cars. Is that wrong? I feel I'm careful. If I'm at a red light and nobody is coming at all for miles do I have to wait it out? Obviously if I were driving I would without question. But here I am, questioning it.

I wonder if my kids will be different. My nine year old daughter, when brushing her teeth, turns the water off whenever she doesn't have her toothbrush under the faucet. I trained her! Yet I can't train myself. I remind myself every time to turn it off, and sometimes I do it reluctantly. But I think I was just brought up to run the water. For the record, I still am hoping to break that habit because it doesn't fit in with my desire to conserve resources.
I must also say that a lot of my "rule breaking' is done defensively. I don't assume that a driver notices me, or treats me as an equal. So I try to get out of the way without making them think how much it would hurt if they hit me.