Biking the Motor City

Posted by Rebecca Eggleston on July 08, 2009

Could the bicycle take over in the Motor City?  Could the emergence of a greater biking culture re-enliven and re-use the city’s landscape in new ways?

Toby Barlow in this article makes the case for Detroit as a biking city. “With the legendarily affordable real estate and without needing to pay for car payments, gas or insurance, bicyclists could rebuild Detroit into a model of a two-wheeled economy. They could pass laws promoting bikes over cars and designate entire avenues motor-free zones, which, given the state of many of them now, wouldn’t be so much of a stretch.”

“Our abandoned landscape suggests an opportunity that alternative-transportation proponents should consider: instead of raging against their cities’ internal combustion machines, they might consider a tactical retreat to the city that cars have pretty much abandoned.”

The increase in cyclists and thriving new bicycle businesses give cause for optimism.