Many racks in Newton are insufficient, at best. The one at the Newton Center T station is, on clement days, regularly quite overcrowded. The small rack at the Newton Free Library is being swallowed by shrubbery. The old "wheelbender" rack at the Crystal Lake bathhouse can hold 20 bicycles, but that number is regularly exceeded on sunny days in the summer. Many other locations (schools, T-stations, business centers) are in dire need of more bike racks.
David Koses, Newton's Transportation Planner, has been taking advantage of the MAPC free bike rack program to install bike racks around Newton. (The program is actually not free: they reimburse the cost of the rack itself, but do not pay for shipping or installation.) Some have been installed at Newton South. Photos show that they were installed too close to a wall to be very useful. We have assurances that the new Newton North High School building will include sufficient & well-placed racks.
The Newton Bike Rack Map is done! Many thanks to all participants, and especially to Steve Heinrichs, who organized the whole thing, and Bev Droz (organizer of Newton Serves), who saw the virtue of the project and took it on.
One alternative to the classic placement of bike racks is to put racks in on-street car spaces. Bike Newton is looking into testing this possibility.
Discuss Bike Parking
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