The photo depicts a currently vacant space in a parking structure (the white building in the center), owned and operated by the city of Cleveland, located near E. 4th Street and the Quicken Loans Arena.
Is this the potential home of a bike station? The City will be working with ClevelandBikes and other partners to review a proposal and hire architects to consider suitability. The proposal borrows from a nation-wide model created by non-profit group Bikestation—a model used to set up bike stations throughout the country.
We shall see how this works out, but it's an exciting possibility for the region's bike commuters, says Kevin Cronin of ClevelandBikes. The group has identified NOACA's Transportation for Livable Communities Initiative as a potential source of funding.
As readers may recall, a bike station offers a variety of services, including secure bike parking, a maintenance shop or co-op, and shower facilities for individuals commuting to work on bike. Other sites may include bike rental/touring assistance, car sharing services and others. Bike stations are popular on the west coast and Europe, and this facility would be a terrific new addition for downtown Cleveland. Other bike station and bike parking initiatives are developing elsewhere in the city and region as well. Read ClevelandBikes' proposal here.
Updates
June 23, 2008—The downtown bike parking station may be released from legal limbo soon. Mayor Jackson's Law Department is looking into the agreement that governs the use of the parking garage at E. 4th Street in the Gateway District. The city owns the garage, but the current Community Development Plan would need to be amended to allow an organization to operate a bike parking station. The city feels the change would please the garage’s biggest customer, the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have also requested a change of the plan to put up signage. Initial results from the city’s lawyers were positive enough to clear a path for the city’s architects to review and revise initial plans, says Martin Cader at Cleveland City Planning Department. The next step is city council review and approval.
January 2007—The city releases its five-year Capital Improvement Plan, which includes a $240,000 line item in 2008 for the downtown bike station. The city plans to hand off the space to real estate brokerage CB-Richard Ellis for a modest price after they have gotten the space ready with electric and hot water hook-up, Cronin says. The cost for that part of the project haven't been revealed (the cost of renovation after the hand-off is about $250,000, following estimates by contractors and architects).
Already part of the movement
dbauer2000 Says:I hope more people read this and realize that its actually possible to start riding your bike to work right now. The garage in the picture is Gateway North and there is already a bike rack in that garage. I rode to work last spring, summer and fall an average of 3 days a week from West Park (about 8 miles out using Lorain Ave). My biggest issue was the car traffic going home on Lorain Ave. Most mornings were cool enough you really didn't break much of a sweat so showers actually aren't that big of an issue, although we also had the facilities at work that I used.
I think its great the city is finally providing a facility for bikes but the truth is, I doubt many will use it. Most people I work with live in the suburbs and think its too far to bike 12-15 miles and even if they thought they could physically do it, they have no routes that would be safe enough. I understand their concern as riding home on Lorain Ave was always a lesson in defensive driving, and traffic on that road barely gets above 25 mph. Imagine riding in from Lakewood on Lake Ave with traffic blowing by at 45mph! The real issue isn't that there's no place to park the bike, its that there's no bike paths or dedicated lanes all the way downtown. There's some in Bay and Avon Lake and I'm sure there's some on the east side by Shaker or the Clinic but there's nothing that gets you all the way downtown.
Sounds like a cool idea!
Stephen Gross Says:I'm glad to hear about this project... Last month's bike-to-work day was a good idea, but I was struck by the practical limitations. It sounds like a bike center would provide many of the services that had to be provided ad hoc on bike-to-work day.
A few concerns linger:
(1) Besides shower services, can one rent out a locker on an annual basis?
(2) What about bike-repair facilities?
(3) How do people handle biking in the wintertime?
(4) What's the cost structure for this business?
(5) Cleveland's downtown remains physically pretty big. Even if there's a bike facility at E 4th, what provisions are there for getting around downtown? Is there a downtown circulator?
--Steve
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