Sunday, April 7, 2024

New Bike Parking at Bush Park looks Nice, but not to Code

The other day SCAN posted a nice note about some new bike parking at Bush Park right by the Barn and playground. The old parking had been an old set of "toast" racks that were not very secure and prone to wheel-bending.

New wave racks at Bush Park - via FB

But somehow, despite SCAN having a transportation subcommittee, and the City having new bike parking standards, a highly visible location where the nearby sculpture had been installed improperly, and various levels of review in the grant process, the installation used wave racks, which are not to code!

Wave racks not to code. SRC 806.060

The new wave racks are unambiguously an improvement on the older toast racks. It might seem unreasonable to complain about them. But we have a real problem with not following code on bike parking installations, and this was a public place where a model installation ought to have been attainable. Big sigh.

2 comments:

brideb76 said...

So, as a member of SCAN Transportation Committee, I for one was unaware that 1) there was “coded” bike parking and 2) the City was apparently equally unaware of the code. Does “Salem Breakfast on Bikes” have an ongoing connection to identifying where future parking will be installed? I noticed that another member of the SCAN Board and Transportation committee had asked earlier “how did this happen?”

Salem Breakfast on Bikes said...

Re: any "an ongoing connection to identifying where future parking will be installed"? No, unfortunately not. Only the information in Public Notices for administrative approvals or for Public Hearings.

The park project is likely not the kind of thing to trigger any formal Public Notice, and would rely on internal and/or less formal kinds of review.