We recently visited the St. Clair County offices in Port Huron, Michigan. We couldn’t help but notice the less-than-useful position of their bike rack.

We spoke with County Parks and they said it was likely moved in order to accommodate snow removal.

Moving it out of the way may make sense, but it makes more sense to locate where it can used year round. Normal people do ride bikes in the winter. Canada’s Yukon Territory has a higher bike to work rate than California and Florida.

The Yukon Territory’s winter weather surely isn’t any better than ours.

Nine bike racks were installed around Royal Oak during the past year thanks to the DDA and SMART, but that’s not enough for a city of this size.

One solution is to require new developments and streetscaping projects to include bicycle racks from the beginning. It’s often cheaper and certainly easier to install them during construction than to add them later.

That said, it’s frustrating to see this not happening, especially since the Master Plan calls for making Royal Oak more bicycle friendly.

Two recent examples are on tonight’s city commission agenda: the massive EMagine Theater project and two streetscaping projects.

We’ve sent the following public comment to the Commission:

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When it comes to understanding the needs of bicyclists, there are certain organizations and professionals that we don’t expect much from because they embrace the status quo even when it doesn’t work.

But planners should get bicycling. To be good, they must be looking forward and embracing the future.

That’s why it’s so very frustrating to review the work of planners that apparently don’t get it.

Examples include:

• A sustainability study for Farmington Hills that all but ignores increasing bicycle use (Hooker | De Jong)
• A county parks and recreation plan that assumes parks users won’t ride their bikes to the parks (Carlise Wortman)
• A trails and pathways plan for Oakland Township that ignores the basic AASHTO guidelines for good bicycle facilities (Carlise Wortman)

And perhaps we can add another plan, the Birmingham and Troy Transit Center.

The most obvious failing is the tunnel design which runs beneath the railroad.

According to a recent Metromode article, Carrie Zarotney, president of the Birmingham-Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce, noted the public interest in the center’s bikeabilty.

Last June, at the transit-oriented development charrette held to raise awareness of the project, the public made it “…very loud and clear that there was a need for pedestrian-friendly access and bicycle paths, so not only could you walk through the tunnel but you could bike through the tunnel.”

Then why does the August 2009 plan route cyclists onto a convoluted sidewalk route against AASHTO design guidelines?

The tunnel has very poor sight lines at the entrance and exit that are unsuitable for mixing cyclists and pedestrians. With this design, it may not take many?collisions?before bike riding in the tunnel is prohibited.

It appears there was little to no thought given to making a simple and clear bicycle pathway connection between the roads on either side of the railroad tracks. Did the planners not realize that a major residential area and downtown on one side of the tracks would generate bicycle traffic to the residential and shopping areas on the other side (and vise versa)? Why didn’t they accomodate it using the AASHTO bicycle design guidelines?

Right now there is no direct and safe way between these two areas for bicyclists. This plan does little to help that.

Another big issue is bike parking. It appears there are approximately 200 car parking spaces, yet there is one bike rack that should hold about four bikes.?The bike rack is also poorly located according to the Bicycle Parking Guidelines set forth by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals. This bike parking does not appear to be covered.

There doesn’t seem to be a bike rack on the Birmingham side.

There are no bike racks near the bus stops (even though they are shown in the sample photos.)

Adding a bike rack is an easy point for buildings looking to gain LEED status, which this one apparently is.

We will be sure to submit these comments to Birmingham and Troy.

With Troy’s recent non-motorized planning efforts, this important tunnel connection must be properly designed to accomodate bicycles, whether they are using the transit center or not.

And if they are using it, they need adequate bike parking.

There has been a spattering of bike parking articles and news lately.

What Would Get Americans Biking to Work? Decent parking.

Slate magazine has an excellent article on the state of bike parking in many American urban centers.

If car parking is often overshadowed in traffic talk, bicycle parking is even more obscure. For many people in the United States it might be hard to imagine what there is to talk about. Why don’t you just stick it in the garage? Or: Isn’t that what street signs and trees are for? But as the share of trips made by bicycle has grown in recent years in Portland, Ore., for example, bicycle use has grown nearly 150 percent since 1990, and an estimated 5 percent of people bike to work new attention is being paid to what happens to those bicycles when they are not in motion.

With the city of Detroit revising their zoning parking requirements, we made sure to pass this article along to them. It was passed along to the city’s Municipal Parking Department to let them know about the opportunity to reuse old parking meters for bike parking as mentioned in the article.

In Chicago, Los Angeles, and other cities, pilot projects are investigating turning car-parking meters once semireliable bike-parking spots, now rendered obsolete by “smart meter” payment systems into bike parking infrastructure.

The parking department owns 11 parking structures. The idea has been raised at Green Task Force meetings that these garages all should have bike racks.

Also, the author of the article, Tom Vanderbilt writes an excellent blog called How we drive. While not solely focused on biking, it’s definitely worth reading.

A new benchmark in bike parking?

The AIA published a recent article about a new bike parking facility in Washington D.C.

This sustainable transit facility, designed by KGP Design Group of Washington, will feature approximately 150 bike rack parking spaces, changing rooms, personal lockers, and retail spaces for bike repair and bike accessories, all in a secure and semi-enclosed environment next door to a major interstate rail link and a station in the city’s Metro subway system. At the transit center, patrons will be able to sign up for memberships or pay a small fee per day to lock their bike in one of the secure double height bike racks that will take up two-thirds of the building’s space. The $3 million project is being funded by the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, and is currently scheduled to open in the fall.

Detroit’s probably not ready for something of this scale, but we’re probably not too far away either. This type of bike parking would certainly complement the planned Woodward light rail, Ann Arbor commuter rail, not to mention the potential high-speed rail and Detroit River ferry projects.

The question is where would it be located? Near the new Rosa Parks Transit Center? On the RiverWalk? At the Amtrak station at the New Center? Campus Martius? What would you consider an ideal location in downtown Detroit?

New bike rack at Comerica Park

The Detroit Tigers have installed the first of two bike racks at Comerica Park. It’s located in parking lot 3, which is on the northwest side of the stadium, near the corner of John R and Montcalm. The other bike rack is planned for the opposite side of the stadium.

Valet bike parking at Arts, Beats, and Eats

Convenient bike parking is returning to the Arts, Beats, and Eats event in Pontiac thanks to KLM Bikes and Fitness. Not only is the event and parking free, they will give you a $3 in food and beverage tickets. The bike parking is located on Water Street just west of Woodward and near the entrance to the Phoenix Parking Garage.

More information on the bike parking as well as bike directions to the event is on the Arts, Beats, and Eats web site.

Bike parking has been a hot topic of late.

In Ann Arbor and Hamtramck

Both cities’ efforts to promote bicycling were mentioned in this recent metromode article, Cheap Ways To Revitalize Your Downtown. And both cities are looking to improve bicycle parking — a hot topic this past couple weeks within the city of Detroit.

In Detroit

We recently mentioned a rekindled bike parking discussion with the Detroit Tigers that was initiated last year by Wheelhouse Detroit.

There’s also been discussion at various meetings that not only recognized the importance of improved, safe, and convenient bike parking, but included some steps we can take.

It’s been noted that bike parking within parking structures could be a very good option. And they’re shelted too. The city owns 11 structures. We probably need to not only add bike racks but produce signage so bicyclists can find them.

And rather than buy racks, why not solicit local designs and local builders to create them as is done in Buffalo, New York? Let’s keep the money local and create green jobs.

We’re also looking to pull together some recommendations on bike racks, including designs and location. Many cities have such recommendations, so Detroit’s will likely take the best of those.

Reduced Motor Vehicle Parking Requirements

And, Detroit’s city planning commission is revising motor vehicle parking zoning requirements and may include language for bike parking. ?We’ve suggested that businesses along bike routes might be required to have fewer vehicle parking spaces. And perhaps space requirements could be reduced for any business so long as they provide bike parking. (By the way, providing bike parking is easy points for LEED certification too.)

A Washington Post article, Don’t Build Parking, And They’ll Come–Without Cars, while primarily addressing transit and walking, certainly applies to cycling as well.

Free or nearly free parking induces car usage, the planners say… Don’t build the parking, and residents will be more likely to buy into a transit- and walking-based urban life.

In New York City

The New York City recently took steps to help improve bike parking within some buildings. They also have a great design guide, which we’ve previously mentioned which includes specifications for bicycle racks. And finally, kudos to NYC for this map showing nearly all of their CityRacks.