Do Detroiters really deserve less bike access to Canada than the Buffalo/Niagara crossing, or even the Soo?
Hundreds of people on bikes from all over America are coming to Detroit, June 22-26 to participate in The Second US Social Forum, including a group of bicyclists traveling through Ontario through upstate New York.
Crossing the border by bicycle through Detroit is something we’ve noticed a few approaches to, and is something people ask us about all the time. Currently, there is no regularly scheduled method to cross the border via bicycle, (and people notice). It seems so obvious in many senses, yet no one seems to be able to provide an answer as to why, or what steps towards resolving this seemingly straightforward issue might be.
With projects like the Adventure Cycling’s Underground Rail Road Bike Route and the U.S. Bike Routes System looking at Detroit for future development, signs could very well be pointing in a good direction for those of us who have yet to be able to take advantage of the nearest mountain biking to Detroit, Malden Park in Windsor due to the automotive border crossing monopoly.
The 2010 United States Social Forum will be neither the first nor last time cyclists expressing interest in crossing the Detroit/Windsor border will have the opportunity to observe and participate in some clear examples of the advantages a bicycle border crossing option might grant the Detroit/Windsor area. Only time will tell whether this is truly the signal we have all been on the lookout for with regards to bicycle access to Windsor.
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For more info about the USSF Bicycle Engagement, make sure to check out these two snippets from BikeIt.org describing
“Bikeit is also about people power. It is about alternative transportation, it is about organizing ourselves to have a world of clean air, clean water, healthy food and health care, economic and racial justice, and it is about making that statement all together. It is about joining 20,000 other folks who will be coming by any means necessary to get there.”
…and how that helps what folks in Detroit are doing:
We are asking for donations of bicycles, tools, and bike parts. Our goal is to collect as many bicycles as we can for rental during the Social Forum, and dispersal throughout the community after the forum. Visitors and residents will use the bicycles to tour the city and transport themselves to workshops. We want to create an exciting bicycle presence in our city to show that another world is possible.
What will we do with the bikes after the Social Forum is over? Your donated parts, tools, and bicycles will be used to help transform our city. We are in the process of targeting churches, community groups, youth groups, and potential businesses that have the capacity and desire to use bicycles for their programs. The bicycles and parts you donate to the Social Forum will be used by these groups after June 2010.
Donations of goods to the USSF Bicycle Program can be mailed to:
King Solomon Baptist Church
6100 14th St.
Detroit, MI 48208
Don’t hesitate to email ussfbikes@gmail.com for more details regarding getting involved or even your organization’s potential partnership with the Bike Rental dispersal program
I have ridden accross the Detroit bridge on a bicyle many times in the 1980s when I lived in SW detroit. The bridge people wanted us to walk bikes then (but that was before cameras everywhere). I have ridden across the Peace Bridge between Ontario and NY in the early 80s too on a bike trip from Detroit to NY. There is a nice sidewalk on both bridges.
Ironically, the golden gate has hundreds every day on the bridge and it’s windier on that bridge (based on when I rode across it in the early 90’s).
Glad to hear from someone who’s had the experience, Bruce! It seems like every time I talk about border crossing whether here in the shop, or traveling around the city, I happen upon someone who has done it and is similarly dismayed that it is a service no longer offered by our border services.