Wow. Fascinating subject.
First, I've ridden pretty much every part of M52 from the State Line to
around Stockbridge, MI and even some sections well North of there.
That said the only horrible part of it is between Manchester and Chelsea,
which is.... Sharon township.
All other sections are well paved and have anywhere from sufficient shoulder
(about three feet) to eight feet of shoulder.
Just north of Manchester the road just falls apart and has no rideable
shoulder at points. The road is in deplorable conditions, which is a damn
shame because it's an absolutely beautiful area.
That said, this news that the township trustees have rejected a free offer
to widen the shoulder makes me absolutely furious.
In general I'd love to come up with as many different defenses or pro wide
shoulders strategies as possible.
It is an issue that's dear to my heart and probably ever other cyclist.
Wider shoulders are not only an imperitive to saftey and a step away from
our car mono culture... indeed a mercy penny on the dollar for what we spend
on cars... but it also is better for motorists themselves.
Some background.
I live in Monroe, MI and work in Ann Arbor and I ride A LOT. Indeed I
partial commute a lot of the time. What's more West and South West of Ann
Arbor in the head water areas of the Saline River, the River Raisin and the
Hudson River in general is a favorite stomping grounds.
What's more my local shop hear in Monroe does their weekly rides along M50
between Monroe and Dundee which is a perfect example of what M52 between
Chelsea and Manchester could be with a properly paved shoulder. The
Shoulder not only attracts a lot of riders to M50 which is a boon for both
Dundee and Monroe, but also makes it a much more pleasant and safer road to
drive for motorists. So far as I know there have been no major incidents
between motorists and cyclists on the road. What's more with its ten foot
shoulders and rub strips it's safer then just about any other road in the
area.
Pro shoulder strategy in Sharon.
That said I think this being a political issue the best (most poignant)
brainstorm I've come up with to make a case is simply:
Why do the Sharon Township Trustees want cyclists and pedestrians DEAD?
I'm sure we can come up something shorter and catchier and focus more on not
just the trustees but perhaps the few fools who've voted against this
proposal.
You could tone it down a bit and ask simply "Why does the board of Trustees
in Sharon township hate cyclists and pedestrians on M52"... but ultimately
"dead" is the right word, because that's what we're talking about, this is a
life or death issue. Accidents between cyclists and motorists on these major
roads don't cause minor injuries.
Narrow shoulders or no shoulders cause more fatalities among pedestrians.
It is without exageration an issue of fatality.
I haven't seen such a stupid political decision locally since the town of
Monroe decided to ban bikes and skateboards from all sidewalks in the
downtown area. In big cities this may make some sense, but Monroe being a
small town it makes none.
I dubbed this the "save the little old ladies ankles... instead lets make
our kids to go play in traffic" law. Luckily it has since been revoked.
Back on point.
One might even say Sharon townships willful declining of a proposal to put
wider shoulders on M52 would open them up to liability should a fatality or
injury occur.
That said, the standard disclaimer applies... I'm not a lawyer.
I'm not sure of the figures for fatalities and narrow shoulder roads either,
but if anyone has any idea on lines of research I'd love to hear it. Perhaps
Greenways or some other Ann Arbor organization would have more info? Perhaps
we can get them in on this discussion.
Anyway, I'd absolutely love to hear Sharon Townships trustees reasoning.
There has to be some other side to it then they hate pedestrians and
cyclists that I've not thus heard.
Is there some long term maintenance issue?
In the meantime here's my reasoning.
This is NOT about inviting cyclists and pedestrians onto the road or not...
the age old and ignorant "the don't belong here" argument.
Cyclists and pedestrians WILL use roads as they often must even if they
dislike them. The alternative is often going literally 2 miles out of their
way to avoid such roads as M52 and sometimes much more. This is because in
rural areas roads are often spaced a mile apart. What's more the side roads
in the Sharon Township area around 52 are mostly dirt. On foot going two or
more miles out of the way is often out of the question. On bike it's
possible only if you're on a fatter tire cyclocross, hybrid or mountain bike
but considerably slower making it impractical even with the risks of
traveling on 52.
Indeed I'm a fairly in shape cyclist and rarely go out for anything less
then forty mile rides. Plus I'm often riding recreationally through the
Sharon Township area. For most people going two or more miles out of the
way on bike is much more of inconvenience and they're more apt to take a
more direct route between towns in the area... i.e. M52... which is a
primary connector between Manchester and Chelsea, two popular tourist
cities.
But not to dwell on the negatives. On a positive note a great bicycle route
between the two might be a huge benefit to their already burgeoning tourist
economies.
My own experience with 52 is it can be on Saturday and Sunday mornings a
superb ride because it usually has little to no truck traffic and only light
car traffic.
That said while I've ridden 95% of it from the state line to Stockbridge
(and even some large sections north of there) I've never set out to ride up
it for anything more then a few miles at a time. I often am just riding
short sections of it to connect another route.
Anyway, hopefully the Sharon Township Trustees will reverse their decision.
The Sharon Hollow area is a beautiful area which could see some benefit
from extra cyclist and tourist traffic.
I'd love to hear more on why they made this choice.
BTW, just came across this great example of motorist road rage which was
directly caused by or compelled by a lack of shoulder.
http://www.velonews.com/article/99398/la-road-rage-trial-begins-prose...
Doctor goes around cyclists and then purposefully jams on brakes causing one
victim to have a badly separated shoulder and the other, whom went through
his windshield, 40 stitches and a broken nose. What's more there were
already two reported incidents involving him. Honestly... I hope he looses
his doctors license and pays out some millions of dollars to the two
victims.
== new Chelsea bike path? ==
In a related note, I just heard something today about a new bike path going
in from Chelsea to either Sharon Mills or Hudson Mills.
I could have sworn the gentleman said to Sharon Mills. This would be
awesome, though I guess he could have said Hudson mills which is more
probable. Has anyone heard anything about this?
The only other bit of info I have is I could have also sworn he said it was
a rail trail, so I've been scouring google maps satellite view for telltale
features between the locations. Haven't found anything yet.
That said, Sharon Mills is a beautiful place with a nice park, mill, and a
lot of historic value. The old mill is still there and it has been very well
restored. In fact I believe the old turbine from it's electricity generating
days is still there. It was part of Henry Ford's "village industries". The
concept was to bring industry to the people. It's a fascinating concept, but
I guess it didn't work out, I've been meaning to read up on it.
The other reason I'm hoping it's Sharon is because there is a rail trail
that's been stretching north along the river raisin from Adrian. So far it
just goes most of the way from Adrian to Tecumseh, but I believe the plan is
for it to continue north to Clinton and Manchester... inevitably Sharon Mill
is the farthest upstream town on the river raisin. Indeed it is the river
raisin headwaters.
Thus connecting Sharon Mills up with Chelsea which is already very well
traveled by cyclists and well connected to Dexter, Ann Arbor and the entire
Waterloo area.... would mean you could one day theoretically go from ann
arbor all the way to Adrian on bike path.
Though that may seem a distant future and improbable even without a bike
path this area already contains a couple of my favorite routes in the area.
1) following the river raisin on Clinton Road all the way from Tecumseh up
to Manchester... I then often take 52 from Manchester up to Chelsea or if on
cyclocross I prefer the dirt back roads.
2) Following Huron River drive out to Dexter, then riding Dexter Chelsea
road out to Chelsea. This seems to be a local favorite.
Peace,
-Mike
On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 8:38 PM, Scott TenBrink <sc
...@pedalsong.net> wrote:
> Bob,
> It looks like you have disabled vehicles listed twice in the letter. At
> the "Training Wheels" event in Jackson last month, they pointed out that
> wide shoulders actually reduce maintenance because many maintenance issues
> are a result of tires riding on the edge of the paved surface, where it is
> weakest. While this is a technical argument, it may be worth mentioning.
> John LaPlante felt that it was the primary reason for wide shoulders.
> -Scott
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 5:54 PM, Robert Krzewinski <wolver...@yahoo.com>wrote:
>> The Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition recently received an email
>> from a Sharon Township resident saying that the Township Trustees there
>> voted down an offer to pave the shoulders along M-52, even though it was at
>> no cost to the Township. Apparently there seems to be some bias towards
...
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