First Person: Detroit Bike Advocacy Workshop

By Chris Burich, Bike Newport Advocacy Associate

The League of American Bicyclists recently hosted a Bike Advocacy Training Workshop at Wayne University in Detroit, Michigan. From October 7th to 9th, I joined more than 40 other bike advocates from across the country to listen, learn, and ride together. These workshops take place twice a year in select cities that are models of active transportation innovation. 

Detroit is on the brink of transformative improvements in biking infrastructure, including the development of the Joe Louis Greenway—a planned 27.5-mile pathway connecting parks and neighborhoods across the city. This growing network of on-road bike lanes is making inner city travel safer and more accessible. At the workshop, I heard from the many people and organizations who advocated for these changes long before the network was established. 

Local leaders including Todd Scott, Christina Debose, and Jason Hall shared valuable insight about building the bike movement in Detroit. It was inspiring to hear stories of success, from building out the physical bike network, to encouraging friends and neighbors to join group rides. For us in the audience, it was just as critical to learn about the failures and roadblocks (pun intended) of their efforts, helping to inform how we strategize our bike advocacy work at home. 

Takeaways and Lessons Learned:
Here are highlights of the confirmation, ideas and encouragement that I experienced – that can help us all to make more progress in our community.

1. Fostering meaningful relationships across a wide range of people, organizations, and causes is key to effective bike advocacy. I was proud to share examples of cross-collaboration on building the benefits of active transportation in our commnity as shown in these photos. Here on Aquidneck Island, collaboration means attending commission meetings, meeting with council members for coffee chats, and volunteering at local events. We can all initiate conversations with our neighbors about transportation challenges and listen, listen, listen. Making connections and building coalitions is essential to influencing public investments, and we become more connected to our community in the process!

2. Being a resource to your community should be one of your main goals as a bike advocate.

While we advocate for better biking and all its benefits, we need to also understand the functions and barriers to effectively advocate for these improvements. This involves understanding each community’s budget process, being familiar with municipal, RIDOT, and USDOT policies and planning practices, and identifying and working with the key public and private decision makers. 

3. Ride your dang bike.

Practice what you preach! By being out on our bikes, we are increasing the visibility of cyclists on the road. Each time we interact with other drivers and observe the rules of the road, we contribute to a culture of sharing the road and respecting Vulnerable Road Users. Close to home, we might inspire someone to ride their bike if they take the same route to school, work, or other appointments. Sometimes all it takes is seeing someone else doing it! 

Thanks again to Anna Tang and the League of American Bicyclists for this valuable learning experience. I feel lucky to have learned from community members and bike advocates helping to make the Motor City a leading entity in prioritizing safe, accessible, and connected facilities for cyclists.