Eric D. Lawrence

Detroit Free Press

Todd Scott is an advocate for bicyclists and cycling routes in metro Detroit, but when it comes to cyclists sharing the road with the QLINE, Scott suggests finding an alternate place to ride.

Scott, executive director of the Detroit Greenways Coalition, says the rail already in place and what will be laid in coming months for Detroit’s streetcar line makes that portion of Woodward Avenue a dangerous choice for cyclists and has forced the rerouting of some group bike rides.

“Lower Woodward is just no longer a safe option for group rides. It’s really a shame,” said Scott, who lives in Royal Oak but often bikes around downtown Detroit. He predicted that more cyclists would feel compelled to ride on city sidewalks as the system prepares to open, potentially setting up conflicts with pedestrians.

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QLINE construction is expected to be mostly complete this year, and officials have said the 3.3-mile system would be operational in 2017.

Although sections of the street are an active work zone, other areas sport smooth new concrete and finished rail, much of it near the curb.

Two different bike shop owners who declined to speak on the record gave conflicting views on the issue of bikes vs. rails, with one saying his shop deals with trashed bikes (and he is aware of injuries) caused by rail-related crashes every week, and another saying he is more concerned about hit-and-run drivers in the city.

Chris Scholler, who works at The Hub of Detroit bike shop on Cass, said he avoids Woodward after crashing twice since November.

“The rail sucks to ride over,” he said, noting that it was only his pride that was hurt in both instances.

But Hub customer Ron Wilson, 46, of Detroit said QLINE construction is the reason he chooses to ride on Cass rather than Woodward, and he plans to return to Woodward once that wraps up.

“I don’t think when it’s a finished product it’ll be much of a problem,” Wilson said of the rail line.

Part of the issue is how cyclists travel over the rails, which have a wide enough gap to swallow many bike tires. Scott demonstrated how his own bicycle traveling along beside the rails could easily drop into the gap and potentially throw a cyclist, causing injury. Rails can also be slippery in the rain. To safely cross the rails, cyclists are told to ride over them at a 90-degree angle.

Scott said the problems will be amplified when streetcars are riding in the same lanes that many bikers use.

The issue, which has played out in other cities with modern streetcars, raises the broader question of whether streetcars and bicycles can coexist.

Sommer Woods, vice president of external relations, marketing and communication for M-1 Rail, the organization overseeing QLINE construction, said the question has an obvious answer.

“We all can coexist,” Woods said, while noting that such coexistence does not stop with streetcars and bicycles but includes cars, pedestrians and buses. An avid Detroit cyclist herself, Woods said motorists also need to learn to coexist with cyclists.

“I want us to think a little more globally so we can all think about how we all live on this same road,” Woods said.

Part of making that a reality is creating an education campaign, which will include online videos and posters, a process that M-1 plans to begin developing through round-table discussions with community members and experts next month.

“Our hope is we get people engaged,” Woods said. “It’s not just bicycles. It’s pedestrians, it’s everybody. … It works in other cities. I believe it can work here, too.”

Some of that education is in play now. Road signs showing a bicycle with the words “Watch for rails” dot Woodward currently.

But contrast that with the scene in Portland, Ore., where instead of a straight-ahead image of an upright bike and the warning on the Detroit signs, the Portland version shows the image of a cyclist flying over his handlebars after getting his bike stuck in the gap between the pavement and the rail.

Indeed, M-1’s online information acknowledges a potential issue, saying that south of Burroughs Street, where the streetcar will be side-running “cyclists are encouraged to use alternate routes.”

“Should they choose Woodward in that area they should ride between the rails or in the available parking lane, Cyclists will need to be cautious when crossing or coming in contact with the streetcar tracks so they don’t fall in the flange,” according to information on the rail system’s website.

For Detroit’s cyclists, the likely alternate route is expected to be Cass Avenue, which is slated to get additional biking infrastructure. Dan Austin, a spokesman for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, said the city is working with the Michigan Department of Transportation to install $4.3 million in protected bike lanes, new lighting and landscaping, which should be completed this year, on Cass between Grand Boulevard and Larned Street.

Dan Bower, executive director of Portland Streetcar, does not mince words.

“Bicycles should not be sharing trackway with streetcars,” Bower said, noting that the key to allowing bicycles to coexist in the same “ecosystem” with streetcars is to provide equally good bike infrastructure, such as a separated bikeways. Without that, “you leave people no choice, and they end up riding on the tracks.”

Bower said cyclists learn quickly to avoid the rails, especially after they take a spill because “you can go down pretty hard.”

Hard data on crashes to date involving cyclists and QLINE tracks does not appear to exist. Detroit Police indicated it’s an area that might not prompt a report to police. Woods said if crashes were happening regularly, M-1 officials would know about them, and they do not have such reports.

Portland has a reputation for embracing cycling, and in the last 10 years, Bower said, the system has made efforts to better accommodate cycling. But the system, which is credited with being the nation’s first modern streetcar line, launched in 2001 and not all sections of the system’s 16 miles of track are equally accommodating. Bower said the only way to adequately address cycling concerns is to do so from the beginning.

Scott accused M-1 Rail officials of not listening to cycling concerns as the system was being designed, a criticism Woods rejected.

M-1 officials have said that the location of underground utilities influenced where some of the rail line was placed, but Woods also noted that the decisions followed discussions with the disability community. Although cyclists might prefer center-running streetcars, Woods said pedestrians and people in wheelchairs have their own concerns about accessibility with center-running streetcars.

“Something’s got to give,” she said, noting that “everybody’s concerns” were taken into consideration as M-1 was being designed. “The only way you’re going to appease everyone is to have nothing.”

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence.