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Entries tagged: Bicycle Parking

In October 2010, Consider Biking put out the call to its members: Tell us where you’d like to see great bike parking in Columbus. Nearly 100 community members responded with their input.

Last week, almost exactly one year later, advocates celebrated the unveiling of the first of 16 large bike-parking shelters in key locations around Ohio’s capital city.

“With a growing number of people using bicycles for strictly transportation purposes, there is a growing demand for end-of-ride facilities,” Jeff Stephens, Executive Director of Consider Biking, said in a press release last week. “These bike parking structures meet that demand with elegance, functionality, and cost effectiveness. But most importantly, they send a highly visible message that bicycling is a viable and mainstream form of transportation, worthy of equitable investment in infrastructure needs.”

Part of the city’s Bicentennial Bikeways Plan, the first shelter is one of 10 that will be installed by spring 2012. The city chipped in $300,000 through its Capital Improvements budget to fund the parking facilities which feature rounded roofs and racks that accommodate six to 14 bicycles.

That’s just one piece of the overall plan to improve bicycling in Ohio’s biggest city. Thanks in part to the consistent advocacy of Consider Biking, the city has invested a cool $5.3 million in bicycle facilities since 2008, including:

• 286 new bikes racks
• Share the Road signs on 20 miles of roadway
• Sharrows on 18 miles of roadway
• Bike lanes on 6.4 miles of roadway

And it’s not just the city that’s making streets safer for all users. The unveiling of the new parking shelters included another accolade: Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman presented Ohio State University with its “Bicycle Friendly University” award from the League of American Bicyclists.

Read more about the progress in Columbus — including the Connect the Core campaign and discussion about bike sharing — on Consider Biking’s website.

South Lake Tahoe is welcoming 25 new bike racks thanks to a collaboration with the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition.  These are the first bike racks to be installed by the city. According to the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition, “The first one was installed at the city administration offices at the airport.  Additional racks will be installed at city properties where it is determined to be of high use.”  According to John Greenhut, Director, Public Works, “some of the racks will be placed at city facilities and the remainder of the inventory will be donated to the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition for installation where optimum bicycle use is occurring and the greatest need for secure parking is evident.”

For more about the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition, visit http://www.tahoebike.org/.