Bike rack surprise...

 outside the Village Grill

on 2nd Street

Implementation projects related to the city's Bicycle Priority Zone continue. Apparently this morning is the first time I have been into the Village since last week. In those few intervening days, bike racks have sprouted throughout the area like mushrooms. They are all along Yale Avenue at corners and multiple mid-block locations. They can also be found on the side streets leading off from Yale, and in the Village West area. On the west side of Yale, between 2nd and Bonita there are seven racks alone, in five different locations. By my estimation at least 50 new racks have been installed.

 Bert & Rocky's

 Rhino Records

Some Crust Bakery

 Laemmle Theatre and 425 Lounge (new and old racks, with two more new ones in the background)

Back Abbey

In related news, the Claremont Courier is reporting that work has begun on the Citrus Regional Bikeway, which will traverse the city in a east / west direction, and connect to the Pacific Electric Trail in San Bernardino County. The Bikeway will convert Bonita Avenue, which is currently two lanes of auto traffic in each direction, into a street with one lane of auto travel and one bike lane in each direction, with a turning median. The city is hoping this project will be completed  by late April, in time for the l'Etape du California on May 7. Expect to see photos of the progress here over the next couple months. The Courier is also reporting that bike ridership has seen a 20% increase over the previous year.


As a little update, city councilman Sam Pedroza, has kindly provided a link summarizing the recent work - this week, perhaps by the end of the next week, we should see newly painted lane lines and sharrow symbols on our local streets. 

Case of the disappearing bike racks...

In April I posted about how new bike racks were popping up around the Village. Two of these were replacements for older racks, but one was completely new, and I thought cool, more bike parking. Well in June, or maybe early July the city completed sidewalk improvements in the Village, during which process benches and bike racks were removed. Over the past two or three weeks new benches have been reappearing, but no bike racks so that there is now a serious deficiency of bike parking along the main drag, Yale Avenue. I am hopeful that this is a temporary predicament that the city will resolve. Just in case, however, does anyone have the number of Magnum P.I., or does he not deal with anything as mundane as disappearing bike racks.

One bench where there used to be two benches and a bike rack.

There used to be a rack here.

What happened to the bike rack that was here? Seriously though, if there isn't a place to secure my bike I am less likely to stop into the local businesses, and no one wins.

Cycling Claremont: Infrastructure...

New bike racks have sprouted up around town, new features of Claremont's Bike Priority Zone (BPZ) development. I spotted them yesterday, funny how something new like this just grabs your attention, and had to ride back down to the Village today to take some photos. Other parts of the BPZ set to be implemented soon and completed this summer include sharrows, bicycle wayfinding signs, loop detection at traffic signals, and design of a city bicycle logo. As for the racks, there are three new ones; the first outside city hall, the second outside the depot/Metrolink station, and the third near the Packing House in the West Village area. They were installed just this week and are already being used. Small steps, but I like the way things are developing.

The rack at City Hall, painted green to symbolize sustainability.

The new rack at the Depot, color chosen to match the tile roof.

Rack near the Packing House, with colors reflecting the historic citrus industry and the tile mural in the background at the top of the stairs.