Bike Parking!

The past week or so (minus a few days floating down the Green River) I’ve been working on a bike map for Springville, which you can now find on this website. It’s still preliminary because I know there are a number of bike racks that I have missed, but I wanted to share a few initial impressions from riding around town.

One of the things that struck me most was the lack of bike racks in a number of places. Two places in particular that lack bike parking are downtown Springville and the various parks around Springville. The downtown area is not totally devoid of parking–there are nice racks at city hall and the library and a few other racks around as well. But I think that few well-placed small racks in the paved area between the street and the sidewalk (for example outside of Magleby’s, SOS Drug, and the DUP Museum) would make the shopping district more bikeable.

The other place where bike parking is conspicuously absent is our parks. Even large parks like Community Park and Spring Creek Park have no bike racks at all. And Bartholomew Park, with the new reservoir, has only one very small rack, pictured below. It seems that the city could spend a few thousand dollars on bike racks and really make a big improvement to downtown and our local parks.

The sad little rack at Bartholomew Park.

The city knows how to install good bike racks. The ones used at city hall and the library are fantastic, as you can see below, and the racks at the new rec center are pretty good as well (though I think more racks need to be added there). We just need more of this at other city facilities.

Springville Civic Center
Springville City Library
Springville Rec Center

As for private businesses, there is quite a range around town, from no racks at all (most common) to a few good examples. Here are a few pictures of these.

CLR Vision–not a great design, but lots of parking for a small optometrist office!
The very sad little rack at Smith’s.

Schools all had bike backs, often in enclosed bike corrals. Most of the racks were wheel-lock only designs, but it’s certainly better than nothing. Worst of all was Springville High School, which you can see below. On nice days when school in session you can find bikes locked up to a bunch of other things–signs, trees, railings–because the designated bike parking is so inadequate.

Springville Junior High–adequate parking inside a bik corral
Springville High School–only one rack that is slammed up against a fence, making it difficult to actually use

Finally, LDS chapels had a wide range of parking situations. Several had no bike racks, a few had wheel-lock racks, and most of the newer chapels had better rolling racks. So at least an effort is now being made, even if the number of parking spots is typically limited to 6 or 8.

A typical rack at a newer LDS chapel–good design but not many spots

So what to do? If you know of a place that needs a bike rack or better or more racks, make your voice heard! Talk to the school principal, give the city your input, message church facility management, and tell business owners about how you would shop or eat there more often if they had bike parking. And talk to your employers and apartment complex managers. The more people hear that customers, parishioners, employees, and other users want bike parking, the more likely they will be to comply. Let’s see how much we can improve the bike parking situation in Springville over the coming few years!

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