(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)
BikePortland’s bike parking coverage is sponsored by Huntco Site Furnishings.
Suburban parking lots often fail horribly at bike parking — not because it’s expensive but simply because developers weren’t thinking about it.
But as hundreds of Portland retailers can testify, decent bike parking is a big part of making a business district bike-friendly. It’s a key part of making it feel natural and normal to go out for an errand, a beer, a meeting, a movie or a daycare dropoff on a bicycle.
With low-car lifestyles getting more common in Washington County over the last few years, some people in the area are looking to upgrade the bike parking. That’s why the Westside Transportation Alliance is working on a project right now to select the best locations for new bike racks.
The effort in the Aloha-Reedville area, just west of the Beaverton city limits, came out of a 2014 report by Washington County that named retrofitting bicycle parking as one of the changes needed to make the area more bike-friendly.
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It also comes on the heels of a very nice guide to installing suburban bike parking, created by the WTA.
Now, the WTA has created an online map where they’re soliciting suggestions on where bike parking should go. To add your own suggestions, you can click the “edit” icon in the upper left, then tap the purple pin, then tap a desired location.
It’s not the slickest website ever — I was unable to add comments to a demo pin I submitted — but it’s a chance to have some real influence if you know the area. WTA is eager for suggestions on where bike parking should go.
WTA Business Relations Manager Ross Peizer writes that he’d love to get it in front of anyone “who might live or pass through/visit Aloha-Reedville and have ever said ‘such and such place could use a bike rack.'”
— Michael Andersen, (503) 333-7824 – michael@bikeportland.org
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