Fun new bike racks along Clark Street

Have you seen the new bike racks at two corners of Clark and Fullerton? There's a green one at the southwest corner, next to Five Guys.

Photo: Bike Walk Lincoln Park

There's also a yellow one on the northeast corner, in front of Bank of America.

(Photo: Bike Walk Lincoln Park)

These are a nice addition to the neighborhood! As you can see, they're already being very well used. We love the colors, and their urban-architecture theme. On a practical note, the design of the rack allows a user to lock up at various heights, which is a key feature to making a bike rack truly useable.  (More-->)

These new racks were placed by the Clark Street Special Service Area, which has a great website that can help you keep up to date on all the developments on the Clark Street corridor from Armitage to Diversey. 

We also spotted this awesome gigantic bike rack shaped like a bicycle, in front of Cycle Smithy on Clark. Is this new rack? I feel like I would have noticed it before.

Photo: Bike Walk Lincoln Park

It would be wonderful if the Clark Street SSA could next install an on-street bike corral, like there are in Andersonville, Wicker Park, and other areas (and many more yet to come, according to this StreetsblogChicago article). The benefit of a bike corral is that it holds many more bikes than standard racks (12 bikes per corral is typical), and it keeps the racks and bikes out of the way of pedestrians. As much as we love bikes, we also love a clear path for people on foot. There's certainly enough demand for bike parking here: They're locked up to every rack and sign post available. Perhaps bike corrals can be next on the list of making the Clark Street retail area an even more bike-friendly neighborhood!

Follow us on Twitter @BikeWalkLP