Geddes Road

[Boyd, Eric]

Greetings,

I would encourage folks to submit feedback on the alignment of a sidewalk or shared use path along Geddes Road from Gallup Park to Concordia.

I'm strongly in favor of a 10-foot-wide shared use path on the south side, as it would like Parker Mill to Gallup Park without crossing Geddes Road. However, I encourage everyone to submit their feedback regardless of your opinion.

https://engage.a2gov.org/sidewalk-gap-study/sidewalk-gap-study-geddes

There's a feedback form you can email to jisaac...@a2gov.org

Thanks,

--Eric

[Nicholas Adams]

Hi Eric,

Parker Mill and Gallup are already linked via the Gallup Park Pathway / B2B. I'm always in favor of more bike infrastructure, but it would seem this particular section is relatively low priority. Unless something has changed since the last time I took a ride on this stretch!

Thanks,

Nick Adams

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[Ian Jones]

If you're coming down from Earhart (or at Concordia), Geddes toward Ann Arbor is unprotected for half a mile. The protected path adds about 1.5 miles to the trip (east to Dixboro Rd, down to the Gallup path, then half a mile back). Or go back up Earhart to Glazier.

Not sure how big the constituency is (Concordia people?), but I stumbled onto the gap wandering back from Matthaei.

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[Adam Goodman]

I view this as a very high-priority non-motorized route, for a few reasons:

1. The B2B trail does provide a good connection, but it's a single point of failure. There's no (reasonable) alternative route in circumstances when the trail needs to be closed. This happened once several years ago when the city repaved the path through Gallup, and it will be happening again in 2027-2030 when MDOT plans to reconstruct the US-23 bridge over the Huron River. (For more details on this, see https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b083964ae93a44679f3683f2c1eb1757#n-dOSpeX - specifically the section titled "4(F)/6(F) Impacts". MDOT plans to try to keep the B2B trail open as much as possible, but there will be times when closures are unavoidable.)

2. The B2B trail is also quite indirect for access to some destinations - building this pathway would actually realize the potential of the bike/ped bridge built over US-23 alongside Geddes several years ago; without it, I've long felt that bridge is of limited usefulness.

3. There are some neighborhoods along this stretch of Geddes which have zero safe biking/walking access to ... anything, really. That's a pretty uncommon situation in the city, and it's definitely something that needs to be resolved. It also shows up as a high-priority sidewalk gap following the city's scoring formula: https://a2-mi.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/7e0f896c311b4a4086fbe7e3136a9b9c

I think I agree with Eric that, all other things being equal, I'd prefer a continuous path along the south side of the road. But really my priority is just to see something get built!

- Adam

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[Nicholas Adams]

To clarify, I think a 10 foot wide mixed use path on Geddes in this area is low priority. In a world with zero constraints, sure, let's build it. 

1. I don't think the claim that we need redundancies for the B2B are very persuasive. During the very small windows when it may not be available, the bus or Earhart/Glazier Way are still options and I don't see the need to prioritize bicycle traffic coming from east of 23 beyond the B2B. 

2. Between the B2B and Glazier Way, and the improvements to Earhart, most likely destinations are covered for the majority of people. This area is extremely low density.

3. I'm in favor of sidewalks for any neighborhood that doesn't have them, but it must be noted that the number of affected homes is extremely small here. I think there's like 1 house that fronts Geddes in this area. That said, I'd like to see sidewalks so that any Huron students in this area could walk to school.

Aside: looking at this area also shows how dumb modern suburban development is. These two roads are about 100 feet away from each other but to get between them on wheels you need to travel almost 3 miles.

If you live in this area, I understand the desire to shoot for the moon and certainly won't be mad about any non-motorized infrastructure that gets built. Good luck!

Nick Adams

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[Boyd, Eric]

Thanks for sharing your perspective!

To be clear, I live nowhere near this area. (I live on the west side of town.) However, I still think this would be an incredibly valuable addition. The B2B is not only for transportation, it's also great for exercise. I think that biking and jogging routes are much more fun when they are loops, not "out-and-back".

For example, a favorite ride of mine is to hop on the B2B near Argo Dam, ride east to Geddes Dam, up through Parker Mill and back to Gallup park before heading home. When my kids were younger, this was a phenomenal loop to get them moving, with almost no road crossings. (Fuller / Maiden Lane and Dixboro / Geddes are the notable exceptions), with one glaring exception.

The one unsafe location is the stretch from Concordia to the north parking lot of Gallup. It's not for the faint of heart, particularly with kids in tow. While my kids are now grown, I think this would be really helpful for other families.

--Eric

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[Larry Deck]

Walk Bike Washtenaw addressed this issue in its October 2024 statement regarding proposed changes to US-23 and Washtenaw Avenue.  (See attached statement, first page under the bullet "B2B interruption".)  At the time, MDOT expressed to us no interest in building the Geddes path.  As Adam points out, MDOT plans to minimize the B2B closures during US-23 reconstruction, though there will be closures at times.

As I look at the area, it appears that most of the construction would be straightforward, but that there would be a stretch of maybe about 200 yards where the river comes close to Geddes where there may be significant expense in crossing or bridging a low area.

It appears to me from boundary maps I've seen that there may be township islands in the area near Geddes.  If that's the case, it seems to me that those who benefit should pay their fair share of the costs.

My personal feeling is that a path along Geddes would be good to have but that there are higher priorities -- for example, closing the treacherous B2B gaps in the Fuller / Maiden Lane area by building the trails under the overpasses as has been planned for about 40 years.  Walk Bike Washtenaw has long advocated this work and has shared documents and presentations about it in multiple fora.

-- Larry Deck

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