The following is a requested message from Bill Prall, TOMTC's Safety and Maintenance Director: One very easy thing we bicyclists can do to promote bicycling is to STOP! On roadways or bike paths with traffic STOP signs or RED lights the Michigan Motor Vehicle Code (MVC) and the Michigan Compiled Law (MCL), states that you must obey these traffic signals. Where do Michigan laws apply to bicycles? 

April 2018   (Map here) Planners for the Charlevoix  to Traverse City Trail (CHX – TC Trail) have an ambitious goal to connect two regional trail networks that link the communities of Traverse City, Acme, Elk Rapids, Eastport, Norwood and Charlevoix with over 300 miles of existing trails from Alpena to Suttons Bay. This requires combining what trail users want with suitable land and road right-of-ways that can support a non-motorized recreation and transportation trail. The trail will pass through beautiful scenery and provide access to 24 public amenities including parks, beaches, natural areas, communities, and other destinations along the US-31 corridor. The project builds on the vision of more than a decade of community groups working to make trail connections.

April 2018   (Map here) The Boyne Valley Trailway Committee has planned a trail through the Boyne River Valley that will connect Boyne City with Boyne Falls and the Boyne Mountain Resort. In addition, it will connect five schools with a non-motorized recreation trail that will accommodate pedestrians, runners, cross country skiers, snowshoers and cyclists at all times of the year.

April 2018   (Map here: burt-lake-trail) The Burt Lake Trail Committee, with the experienced grant writing assistance of OHM Advisors (a Petoskey-based civil engineering firm), is taking a big step forward with the submission of grant requests this spring to the DNR Trust Fund and MDOT/ Transportation Alternatives Fund for grants to construct Phases III and IV of the trail in 2020.  Working with OHM, analysis of two alternatives led to the lowest cost by combining the two phases.

Good progress is being made on the Boyne City to Charlevoix Trail, a non-motorized linear park which will run parallel to Boyne City Road and will connect the City of Boyne City with the Little Traverse Wheelway. The Boyne City to Charlevoix Trail will be a paved 10-foot wide, approximately 14-mile long trail, mostly detached from Boyne City Road, but within the road right-of-way.  The trail will be constructed in five phases (Map): Phase 1, a 10-foot-wide paved non-motorized trail parallel to, but detached from Boyne City/Charlevoix Road, was completed in 2016. This phase begins at the Boyne City limits at W. Michigan Avenue, extends through Young State Park, and runs to the Evangeline/Bay Township line at Springwater Beach Road for a distance of 3.04 miles.

Ric Loyd, our newest board member, is pictured here leading a group of Kids Biking participants to the Oden Fish Hatchery last May. Please read Ric's reasons for getting involved as a board member: Since I have spent all or part of the last 60+ years in Northern Michigan, I pretty much love everything that Northern Michigan has to offer.  I see the Trails Council as a partner to all the things we love about the Michigan outdoors. Lisa and I live about 100 feet off the Little Traverse Wheelway.  So we are constantly on and off the path either walking into downtown Petoskey or riding our bikes out to Conway or Harbor Springs.

The Michigander Bicycle Tour will be returning to Cheboygan in July 2018, bringing with it approximately 500 avid cyclists. “This is an excellent opportunity to showcase our town,” said Jim Conboy, Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance and Top of Michigan Trails Council board member. Cyclists will use the North Central State Trail and the North Eastern State Trail, both of which are located in Cheboygan. The trails intersect at the trailhead at the corner of Lincoln and Western Avenues. Riders will be on these trails almost exclusively throughout the ride.

Top of Michigan Trails Council (TOMTC), along with local units of government, have made a good dent in an important trail maintenance project in 2017.  The project addresses a problem that exists on paved trails in Charlevoix and Emmet counties: tree roots beneath the trail are causing the asphalt to erupt, creating bumps and cracks on the surface that are a hazard to trail users.

Questions and Answers

 November 2, 2017

On October 30, 2017, Governor Snyder signed into law HB 4781, 4782 and 4783. These bills, now Public Acts 138, 139 and 140, authorize the use of “electric bicycles” in Michigan subject to the limitations within them. This is a summary of the law presented in a Question and Answer format. The summary was prepared by Jim Conboy and Bob Wilson. Jim is a member of the boards of the Top of Michigan Trails Council  and Michigan Trails & Greenways Alliance. Bob Wilson is Executive Director of MTGA. Jim and Bob appreciate the review of the text undertaken by Luther Kurtz, President of TOMTC, and Jeff Winegard, Executive Director of TOMTC. This document does not constitute legal advice. If you need legal advice regarding the electric bicycle law please consult an attorney.    For a .pdf version of this document, click here: ebikes QandA