A program of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
is designed to link communities in a seven-county region and to enhance the region’s landscape.

The Greenways Initiative is centered around three primary objectives: to build awareness about the value of greenways; to build the capacity of nonprofit organizations and government agencies to help them engage in future greenways projects; and to help construct and implement
greenways projects.

The seven counties are Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland,
St. Clair, Washtenaw and Wayne. Detroit was also awarded
grant money, apart from the west of Wayne County.

The Greenways Initiative is supported by $25 million in private contributions, of which $15 million has been distributed in grants. Another $5 million is for educational activities and administrative aspects; and $5 million has been put into an endowment to keep the project going indefinitely.

The grants are leveraging another $90 million from other sources, mostly public funding.

Tom Woiwode, director of the Greenways Initiative, defined greenways as “non-motorized corridors that link communities, resources, institutions and people.”

He added that a greenway doesn’t have to necessarily be green; they can include bike lanes, rail-to-trail conversion projects, riverfront projects, and transformations of suburban areas that can be made into non-motorized pathways.

“There are a couple of aspects that are important to understand, that explain why we’re in the greenways business,” Woiwode said. “First the linkage. You have to understand that this is a network that’s connecting communities, so it is, for us, very important that communities actually work together.”

As an example, he cited the Clinton River Trail in Oakland County and the Macomb Orchard Trail in Macomb County.

“They are the same rail corridor, so you’ve got this network of greenways that approximately 15 or 18 communities are working together on, are working to stay connected with,” he said. “And that’s how these things bring communities together.”

Woiwode said another project is in Southwest Detroit, which connects the western edge of the Mexicantown area to Dearborn via the Rouge River.

“Some of those projects haven’t been completed yet, but when they are, you’ll have Detroit connecting to Dearborn and going across the Rogue River and following down Fort Street to all of the Downriver communities,” he said.

“So that’s how these things get communities engaged with each other.”

Mariam Noland, president of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, noted that when someone gets on one of these trails, they don’t know when they cross one boundary to the other.

“You, as a person, begin to connect through communities,”
Noland said.

She added that over the course of the summer, the first portion of a loop will be constructed through the Cultural Center area. This loop will eventually connect Wayne State with the Dequindre Cut (a 1.3 mile trail that follows a former railroad bed) and Eastern Market via a greenway.

“That’s going to change your thought pattern about being in downtown Detroit,” she said.

This Midtown greenway will take people up Cass, across Kirby, and down John R.. It will then continue across the medical campuses and cross over by either Canfield or Wilkins into the Eastern Market area.

Woiwode said this “meandering dedicated corridor” will be segregated by colored pavers or something similar that shows that it is a designated
causeway.

Asked about existing sidewalks, he said that we, as a society, have introduced impediments in sidewalks, so they’re not as easy pathways as they could potentially be.

“Using the design the Midtown folks put together, they’re trying to create a causeway that’s easy to use and also complements the businesses, so there’s a way, in fact, to provide economic support,” he said.

He also pointed out that in theory new businesses could come into the area.

According to Noland, people who stay at the bed and breakfasts
on Ferry Street want to know where they can jog.

“What do you tell them right now?” she asked, adding that when the Midtown greenway is completed, they could go to Eastern Market or take the Dequindre Cut to the river. She believes visitors will feel that the area is more like a neighborhood.

She hopes that someone around Wayne State will start a bicycle rental.

Funding for this Midtown greenway is to come from stimulus money, according to Woiwode. He also said collectively, this particular project will cost about $8 million, and that the first half is expected to be done this summer.

Woiwode reiterated that the Greenways Initiative is an economic
development strategy, and said nationwide studies have shown that businesses follow greenways.

He cited two cases and noted they were somewhat anecdotal, because local greenways infrastructure hasn’t been in place very long. In one case, a suburban doctor moved his clinic adjacent to the greenway so that he could have patients go out and walk for half an hour on the greenway. In the other, the owner of hardware store near a greenway
in Flat Rock is now renting bicycles.

Studies have shown consistently that property relatively proximate to greenways tend to maintain or increase their values much faster than properties away from greenways.

One greenway Woiwode especially hopes to see one day is a river walk from the Blue Water Bridge to Toledo.