Uniroyal Promenade Bike and Walking Path Opens Along Detroit Riverfront

DETROIT, Oct. 24, 2023 ~ Over a thousand cyclists and pedestrians walked along the Detroit Riverfront toward Belle Isle this weekend to celebrate the opening of the next piece of the city’s blossoming biking and walking trail system.

Members of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, the Kresge Foundation, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, and community leaders gathered Saturday at Mt. Elliott Park to cut the ribbon on the new Uniroyal Promenade, a new cycling and walking path that connects the park to the Belle Isle Bridge. This connection completes the 3.5 East Riverfront development, creating a continuous path from Huntington Place to Belle Isle.

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Oct. 24, 2023 ~ Mike Lee, managing editor of Crain’s Detroit Business, talks to Guy Gordon, Lloyd Jackson, and Jamie Edmonds about the continuing development of the Detroit Riverfront, the merger between Henry Ford Health and Ascension, and Crain‘s forum looking at Michigan‘s population.

(CONTINUED) “It is a historic day because now the Detroit Riverfront truly belongs to the people of this city,” Duggan said before the ribbon cutting.

According to a press release from the Riverfront Conservancy, the promenade was developed on a site that stood vacant since 1980, with the $11 million project starting in May 2021. This is part of a $300 investment made by the conservancy since its founding in 2003, created by the city of Detroit, the Kresge Foundation, and General Motors.

This work on the riverfront has also generated $2 billion in public and private development in the area, according to the press release.

Michigan Department of Transportation served as the project manager for the new promenade, with former MDOT Senior Advisor and current Detroit Greenways Coalition board member Robert Davis sharing why these pathways are important for the city.

“Today is a dream come true,” Davis said. “For all of us, we can enjoy (the riverfront path) for 100 years. I too, mayor, come from a time when we did not have a lot of opportunities. The suit I am wearing today I brought on Livernois and 7 Mile in my neighborhood because I could walk to it. The shirt I am wearing I bought on 7 Mile and Livernois because I could walk to it.

“The exercise that I get every day, and that all of us can enjoy, happens now because we can walk on it.”

PHOTOS BY ANDREW MULLIN ~ 760 WJR: