Indianapolis has been pushing hard to catch up with leading bicycle cities such as Portland and San Francisco. Seeing all that two-wheeled traffic in downtown and surrounding neighborhoods has been a blessing in so many ways – less pollution from cars, less vehicle congestion, better public health outcomes, and especially watching people get outside and reconnect with their city. But I wanted to share what I consider the key benefit to bringing back bicycles: the opportunity for dense downtown development without parking lots or subsidized garages!
Bicycles and Cities, together again!
Bicycles seem to be sprouting everywhere in Indy
Our current renaissance of downtown required some big bites of that dreaded sandwich of compromise. While many of us at Urban Indy have taken a stand against subsidized vehicle parking, seeing it as a continuation of the old “highways first” policy that doomed many downtown areas to begin with, it is true that city leaders and business developers have a hard time seeing how any modern city could function without adequate parking. Finding a place to park is the most important concern for many commuters and shoppers, especially since densities have been creeping ever lower and people have to travel further for their jobs. But bicycle infrastructure gives us that magical silver bullet to end this concern, and reverse the trend in our cities.
Bicycle parking is radically more efficient than car parking
Bicycle infrastructure generates beautiful cities!
I certainly don’t want to imply that everyone should be riding bicycles, but it is clear that bicycle infrastructure does benefit everyone. Every dollar not spent on gasoline (or expensive cars, insurance, and vehicle maintenance) is a dollar that is likely spent on local goods and services. The economic benefits are huge! Every bit of mode share (the percentage of people using a particular type of transportation) that bikes can capture means that Indianapolis sees real job growth, real increases in quality of life, and real improvements in household savings.
And never forget that bicycle infrastructure can serve double-duty for accessible routes – vastly improving Quality of Life for our citizens
Coming back to the issue of parking, this is where bicycles really deliver their benefits to Urban Design. Building a city to mimic the old streets of Paris or Brooklyn is impossible when everyone must drive. Instead, we end up with a “stroad” and collector system, typically with a design life of 20 years before the cancer of dead mall syndrome takes over.
Car lots don’t leave room for the cities they serve
Filling car lots requires this kind of infrastructure
But a city with intensive bicycle infrastructure means that beautiful cityscapes don’t have to remain a fantasy. Because bicycles require so little space for their parking needs, they encourage well-designed traditional urban landscapes. Old-style city blocks become feasible, and in fact become more economical than the sprawling parking lots of suburbia; houses can once again use narrow lots when they don’t need a driveway and triple garage door; and streets can once again use names like “lane” or “avenue” without sounding like a cruel joke.
This clever addition to the old meter means I never look for parking near the Circle anymore
Bike parking can pull in new customers no matter the location
So here are some examples of great bicycle infrastructure that I’ve collected in the past few years. We may never “catch up” with the great cycling initiatives of the West Coast or Copenhagen, but trust me when I tell you that in the case of bicycle infrastructure The Deed is its Own Reward.
A new kind of residential garage, fit for a modern city (image credit: unknown)
Portland’s bike lockers remind us that some bicyclists demand higher levels of protection (image credit: H. Simmons)
New York’s bike lanes next to the Flatiron remind us that bicyclists are part of the city too and deserve space on main routes
Munich reminds us that multi-modal commuters need a place to store bikes, or people will create their own
Milwaukee’s “Marsupial” bridge reminds us that there is always room for innovation in bicycle infrastructure
Just because Milwaukee is known for gas-fired, two-wheeled monsters, there is always room for new technology
Black Rock City reminds us that bicycling can be a joyful shared experience
Bicycles, and their smaller parking requirements, allow us to create the cities that people like to inhabit. Bicycle parking holds the power to invigorate our local economies and unleash the power of our local architects.
Support for bicycle infrastructure is support for a city of humans, rather than a city of vehicles.
Option #1: Cede the city to parking spaces, Detroit style (image credit: Sean Doerr/WNET.org)
Option #2: Help people build a better city with bicycle parking, as in Amsterdam (image credit: Airbete/Wikimedia)
