Bike Traffic - November 2006

November 2006

Rack ‘Em! Bike Parking Expands, Evolves in Chicago
Bike parking manager looks back on five years of progress

by John Greenfield

Five years ago Chicagoland Bicycle Federation hired me to consult the Chicago Department of Transportation Bike Program on bike parking projects. At the end of the year I’ll be retiring my clipboard, tape measure and marking paint to try my luck as a freelance writer.

John Greenfield, bicycling troubadour and writer, retires from Chicagoland Bicycle Federation this year.

My job is to make sure you have a convenient, secure place to dock your bicycle wherever you ride in Chicago. I’ve had the privilege of arranging the installation of more than a third of Chicago’s 10,600 bike racks (more than any other U.S. city).

We field the rack requests that come from ward offices and the public. You can recommend a place for a rack by calling the Bike Parking hotline at (312) 744-4600; or visit www.ChicagoBikes.org. You can also report if a rack needs to be repaired or cleared of abandoned bikes.

I was proud to be on the job when BR10K (bike rack 10,000) was installed at the Illinois Bar and Grill on Taylor Street. Another milestone was when, working with the Chicago Transit Authority, we installed racks inside 75 CTA stations.

Now most of the CTA stations within Chicago offer weather-protected parking. In 2007 four more (Midway, Sox/35th, O’Hare, Damen and Jefferson Park) are slated to each get dozens of sheltered spaces as part of the “Bike to Transit” project.

Likewise, we’re working with Metra to install racks near every Chicago station.
The McDonald’s Cycle Center was one of the most exciting projects during my time at the Bike Program. CDOT’s Streetscape and Urban Design Program did most of the heavy lifting, but I was glad for the opportunity to consult on the double-decker racks they used. I also got to arrange for the installation of “wave” racks in one of the bike station’s plazas and elsewhere in the park. Pretty cool.

It was also satisfying to help revise the city's bicycle ordinances–at the request of an alderman–to make explicit that it is legal to lock bikes to parking meters and city sign poles, as well as to codify the city's abandoned bike policy.
Many types of facilities are now including bike parking because of the revised zoning ordinance Chicago enacted two years ago. Hopefully in the future it will become less necessary for CDOT to install racks because they’ll be a standard feature of all new construction.

In fact, this job already changed with the recent release of the Chicago Bike 2015 Plan. Since we’ve installed so many racks, the Plan calls for fewer of them each year, thus freeing up time to work on other Bike 2015 parking strategies.

We’re working with the managers of city buildings, offices, colleges and hospitals to create indoor bike rooms. Also, thousands of parking meters will be removed for “pay and display” installations next year; it’s the Bike Program’s job to make sure there is sufficient bike parking after the meters are removed. The Bike Program will work with the CDOT Streetscaping Program to find opportunities to create covered bike parking areas. Perhaps most exciting, the 2015 Plan call for the creation of a second bike station, most likely in the West Loop near the Metra and Amtrak stations.

All in all, this has been a really enjoyable five years. From receiving thank you e-mails and letters from grateful bicyclists to relocating racks at the Nuveen building for the shooting of a Jennifer Lopez movie, the job was full of interesting little perks.

It’s been a great ride.