The Metro: Funding boost to help Joe Louis Greenway connect Detroit communities

The Joe Louis Greenway will soon be wrapping its way around Detroit. Once complete, the project will stretch 29 miles and connect 23 Detroit neighborhoods with bike and pedestrian paths.  

Thanks to a recent $20 million federal grant, the Joe Louis Greenway will connect to the Iron Belle Trail, another trail project in the state that at 2,000 miles long leads all the way to the Upper Peninsula.

Leona Medley, a Detroit native and executive director of the Joe Louis Greenway Partnership, joined The Metro on Friday to discuss the new grant and next steps for the project.

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Medley says the trail will improve accessibility and connectivity among residents as there are 100,000 community members living within one mile of the Greenway, some of whom may not have access to a vehicle.

“About 30% of Detroit residents do not have access to an automobile.” Medley said. “And so we need methods of transportation, whether it’s bus, whether it is, you know, paved streets, or Joe Louis Greenway paths like that to allow people to get to the things that they need to actually function in life.” 

This trail will not only be accessible to the residents of Detroit but also surrounding neighborhoods including in Highland Park, Dearborn and Hamtramck. 

“The idea is that the potential for the Greenway to go down the alley connects to other businesses and things like that,” she said. “I mean, it’s such a project with so much potential and to truly reconnect our cities.”

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Medley.

More headlines from The Metro on July 12, 2024:

• President Joe Biden will be speaking at Renaissance High School in Detroit Friday evening to help amp up his reelection campaign — marking his second visit in the city in two months. Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate, a Democrat from Detroit, joined the show ahead of Biden’s visit to discuss the president’s campaign and what to expect from his visit to Michigan.
• Michigan doesn’t have as many pharmacies as it used to. For about 20 years, the state has lost over 500 retail pharmacies, according to recent reporting from Crain’s Detroit Business. Lynette Moser, chair and associate professor in Wayne State University’s Department of Pharmacy Practice, joined the show to discuss.
• Wayne State University will debut its ‘I Got Beats in These Fingertips” exhibition on Friday, celebrating the groundbreaking contributions of two hip-hop icons: Detroit’s J Dilla, and DJ Screw from Houston. To share more about the exhibition, co-curators Wayne State University professor Thomas Pyrzewski and DePaul University professor Zack Ostrowksi joined the show. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.