Bloggin’ on the Edge

Posted by Scott Spielman at 3:00 AM | Comments

Greg Presley, chair of the Northville Downtown Development Authority (DDA) board was standing with a group of downtown officials recently when the unthinkable happened.

A teen-aged boy zipped by on a bicycle—straight through the recently poured colored concrete on the north side of Main Street. The boy realized what he had done about halfway through the six or so slabs that had been put down as part of the new town square project. He stopped on the other side, looking sheepishly at the thin trail his knobby tires had left in the fresh walk, and then up to the dumbstruck faces staring at him from the other side of the wet concrete.

Then he took off.

That was probably a good move on his part. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.

Fortunately, John Hazinski and his construction crews were on hand. They had to act fast—it was a hot day and the concrete was already setting—but they averted disaster by quickly fixing the youngster’s inadvertent mishap. Only a slight trace of treadmark is visible, and only in a certain angle of light.

It still shows the potential for danger when bicyclists and pedestrians share a sidewalk with businesses that directly front it. There’s a move in Northville now to make downtown more pedestrian friendly—and that means accessible to bicyclists, too. More bike racks are on the way, funded through the DDA.

It makes sense now to visit—or revisit, as the case may be—the rules for riding bicycles on downtown sidewalks, or trying to develop an alternative, such as a striped lane that cyclists could use instead. The potential is there for a cyclist-door collision; I’ve seen a few in my day in other municipalities and had a couple of near misses, myself.

By no means do I think that bikers should be kept out of downtown; it’s part of what can make the community seem more vibrant. A few subtle postings may do the trick, reminding us two-wheeler fanatics to use common sense and courtesy when mingling with our fellow man, or perhaps to ask us to dismount and walk when we’re on the downtown sidewalks.

In the meantime, I’d suggest a few more barrels and cones be set up when other portions of the sidewalk are poured. That and a little sign that alerts those who may be moving faster than a regular walking pace—something simple, like ‘wet cement.’

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