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Area bicyclists and runners welcomed the recent news about the Washtenaw County Road Commission receiving federal funds to repave portions of Huron River Drive.  Unfortunately, the sections designated to be repaved between Tubbs and Wagner were deemed to be in too poor condition for simply repaving and therefore were ultimately ineligible for the federal funds. (Yes, the logic eludes us too.)

Not taking no for an answer, local advocates put their creative thinking caps on and launched an alternative grassroots fundraising effort for the much needed repaving. Greenview Data CEO Ted Green and his wife Debbie Green, in conjunction with the Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society (AABTS) and the Ann Arbor Velo Club (AAVC) led an effort which to date has raised over $45,000 in private donations to repave portions of Ann Arbor's most scenic and popular bicycling road.

On Aug. 5, Ted Green handed the Washtenaw County Road Commission officials a stack of checks totaling about $41,600.

"I know it exceeded everyone's expectations and it absolutely floored the Road Commission," Green said.

As the tax deductible donations exceeded the original goal, the scope of the private fundraising effort continued to expand to include additional bad sections of Huron River Drive.  The original goal was to raise  $30,000 in private dollars, which was then double matched by the Washtenaw County Road Commission for the $90,000 total needed to mill and repave the 0.75 miles between Tubbs and Wagner.  The group did not stop there however, and went on to set a new goal of raising an additional $12,000 to repave other terrible sections of the road.

The goodwill did not stop there however.  The Parks and Recreation department kicked in another $50,000 to add bike lanes to the section of the funded project.   The Washtenaw County Road Commission then added yet another $30,000 to fully repave a stretch that our additional $12,000 would have only partially repaved.  In effect, the original $45,000 in private donations was leveraged to $185,000 of repaving work that would not have otherwise been done for several years.

LMB salutes the efforts of our Ann Arbor cycling friends and hopes that this sort of constructive collaboration, generosity and creative thinking spreads to other communities across the state.

To learn more about the Huron River Drive fundraising effort, please visit www.greenviewdata.com/community/ or contact Ted Green by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .