One morning we woke up and an entire traffic lane had been surgically removed from West Stadium Blvd. In its place runs a (usually deserted) bike lane. Best guess for the most common reaction: Ack! Okay, something less printable and probably a lot more negative.
Would you feel better about the new bike lanes if they were part of a pedestrian/bike trail connecting Ann Arbor's cultural, entertainment and sports landmarks?
Indianapolis has just such a trail wending through its downtown. It's a home run with bikers, walkers, strollers and everyone else who uses its beautifully landscaped length. Outlying neighborhoods are clamoring to be connected.
"People liked it from the beginning. Downtown residents and business owners, our tourism industry - all could see what it would do for downtown," says Karen Haley, executive director of
Indianapolis Cultural Trail, a non-profit created to manage and maintain the trail.
"The private fundraising was enormous because they understood that it's a game changer."
The brainchild of civic visionary Brian Payne, the Indianapolis Cultural Trail will cover eight miles downtown when complete. Launched in 2007, it's now 5.5 miles long in the form of a loop with spokes. Another 2.5 miles will be finished this year, Haley says.
A Tiger Grant of $25 million in federal stimulus funds enabled the big construction push.
It isn't just a pretty face. The city and its metro regional planning organization are using the trail strategically as an economic development tool.
"From the time I first thought it up, the ambitions of the trail kept growing," Payne says. "Through some kind of serendipity, they're all being realized. With any vision, you expect it to be compromised but the big impact is going to meet our wildest dream."
Payne is the president of the Central Indiana Community Foundation. The trail as development tool is deliberate, he says. Commercial developers are claiming adjacency to the trail as an amenity for tenants. More than $100 million in commercial and residential projects are underway downtown that can be tied to the trail, Payne says.
The Fountain Square area in particular is booming. It's seen an increase in businesses wanting to locate there because of the trail, Karen Haley says.
One of her group's projects is comparing property tax revenues for buildings along the trail, starting with 2006 revenues. She anticipates the study will show an upward trend. "People are out and about on the trail rain or shine. In wheelchairs, walking, walking dogs, with business colleagues, with kids in strollers, riding bikes on the trail - a wide variety of people," Haley says.
Food trucks are encouraged around the trail. They had a dedicated area near the stadium during the recent Superbowl. Haley calls food trucks "an economic development tool that needs to be supported. People like finding new foods to try."
Elizabeth Garber, owner of The Best Chocolate In Town store, has seen a definite upswing in sales because of her proximity to the trail.
"We're on one of the legs that connects east to the Monan Trail, a designated walking and bike path that goes north from downtown. We're seeing people whose Saturday thing is to come down the trail and stop at our shop. Bike groups stop at a restaurant for lunch and at our shop for dessert," Garber says. "It's fun. There are sidewalks but here's an intentional place to meander or jog or whatever it may be."
Ann Arbor has several elements in place that are needed to create a similar connector. The existing bike lanes on big streets, AATA buses with bike racks on the front, the 50-year plan for an
Ann Arbor greenway, even the
Downtown Historic Markers could provide a skeleton for fleshing out a more ambitious cultural trail.
There's no shortage of places to connect. From the Ice Cube to the Farmers Market, Argo Dam to Saginaw Woods, Crisler Arena to UMMA, the Ark to the Arb, we have cultural, sports and entertainment venues aplenty.
Like Indianapolis, we have a downtown university. In Indy, it's Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), whose chancellor is a committed fan of the trail.
The Indy Cultural Trail connects within a block to every significant art, heritage, entertainment, hotel and sports venue in Indianapolis' compact downtown.
So what are some potential building blocks for an Ann Arbor Cultural Trail? How about a a series of greenway anchor parks created from public property in the floodplain or floodway at the Northeast corner of First and William Streets and 721 N. Main city yard, with a park and cultural center at the 415 W. Washington city yard? What if one of those parks had a sculpture garden? These could connect with parks along the Huron River and to the park behind Gandy Dancer under the Broadway Bridge. From there a walk/bike path could double back toward Kerrytown and then into downtown, past city hall's new
water sculpture and on towards the
Downtown Historical Street Exhibits Program installations.
Right now there are 16 stations, which feature terrific vintage photos of the way we were. The downtown historical markers give magical glimpses of Ann Arbor's rich past, from homecoming parades to William Jennings Bryant at the impressive Victorian county courthouse. Giant glass panels provide a view into the past from John F. Kennedy on the Michigan Union steps to early Ann Arbor's cultural life at the
Kempf House. Walking tours, brochures and future Main Street historic bronze artifacts are still to come.
Of course, the installations aren't cheap. Each glass panel and frame costs around $15,000. Maintenance is fairly inexpensive, however - just cleaning the panels. There's an endowment to fund it, says Louisa Pieper, one of the guiding lights of the program.
Achieving our own cultural trail would take bold planning, vision, and accommodation. And it would mean recognizing the steps Indianapolis took to ensure the success of its Cultural Trail. One of the biggest was placing Indy's trail on a public right-of-way. The city gave up a lane of vehicle traffic for pedestrian and bicycle traffic, a serious challenge to Ann Arbor's years of car-centric planning and mindset.
Building the Indy trail wasn't cheap either - $65 million and counting. Payne says Mile #9 is almost a sure thing and he won't be at all surprised if a 10th mile happens - but the trail is very expensive at $7 million a mile. A big part of that is shoring up aging streets: recreating an entire streetscape and everything underneath it.
The first segment was built as a proof of concept.
"We called it our model home, helping people understand what it was. The city was on board. It was bid as a city project, using private donations. We lost a lane of traffic, but not a lane of parking," says Lori Miser. She's now executive director of Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization; then she was a project manager in the Indianapolis Department of Public Works.
"The biggest lesson we learned from the trail is that its value comes from changing the way people look at things," Brian Payne says.
His advice to Ann Arbor on building our own cultural trail:
-Create dynamic pedestrian and bicycle connectivity that's welcoming and beautiful
-Give people a big experience that's compelling and makes them feel great about living here
-Make sure it's innovative and represents the spirit of Ann Arbor
-Choose the assets we want to celebrate and build the trail around those
A key element of success if having one person or entity that's responsible for maintaining the trail. Payne says. That's Karen Haley and the non-profit Indianapolis Cultural Trail organization created to manage the trail and keep it first class.
A $6 million endowment generates around $300,000 a year in income. The revenue gap between that money and the total required, $1 million a year, must be filled by fundraising, Payne says. The cost sounds high but it's mainly to keep the landscaping in tip-top condition.
"Of the eight miles of the trail, my favorite parts are those where the landscaping is the most lush and impressive," he confesses.
The
Central Indiana Community Foundation is taking two themes from the trail into its latest project.
"Wouldn't it be great if Indy creates access to art, nature and beauty everyday for everybody?" Payne asks. "That is now coming together around a new idea: connecting to our waterways - they are major parts of city that have never been fully celebrated. Our creeks and rivers are natural assets."
Yet another good idea Ann Arbor can borrow from Indy.
Constance Crump is Concentrate's Senior Writer. She's also an Ann Arbor-based writer whose work has appeared in Crain's Detroit Business, The Ann Arbor News, The Detroit Free Press, and Billboard Magazine
All Ann Arbor photos by Doug Coombe
Indianapolis Cultural Trial photos as noted
Photos:
Biking through historic downtown Ann Arbor
Indianapolis Cultural Trail by David Scott
ICT
ICT by Matt Carroll
ICT by Matt Carroll
ICT by Stephanie Stewart
ICT by Stephanie Stewart
An Ann Arbor Cultural Trail could run from Broadway Park by the Gandy Dancer
To North Main Park
To a new park at the 415 W. Washington city yard
Past Downtown Historical Street Exhibits installations downtown
and where JFK announced the creation of the Peace Corps
To Ann Arbor cultural destinations like The Ark
Hill Auditorium
and the Ann Arbor Art Center