Bike parking at REI Tysons
When the new REI store opened in Tysons we were disappointed that there was no bike parking available. We were told that it would be installed real soon now. On a recent visit a FABB member noted that there is now bike parking at the store. The bad news is that the rack is a "wave" rack, which is discouraged by most jurisdictions, including Arlington Co. and DC. See the image on the right from the
DC Bike Parking Design document.
A photo of the REI rack is below on the right showing how most people end up using the rack. The rack is supposed to hold 5 bikes but in effect usually holds 2 at the most. We've written to REI asking that they use inverted U racks in the future at their stores.
Fairfax County does not have bike parking guidelines. There are guidelines in draft form and we've been told they should be implemented soon. Bike parking is a very important component of bicycle infrastructure and all too often either the incorrect rack is used or a good rack is installed incorrectly.
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| REI Tysons bike rack |
An example of an incorrectly installed rack is one of the new bike racks at the Spring Hill Metrorail station in Tysons. U-racks were used, but the nearest rack in the photo is installed too close to the concrete structure to the left so that there isn't enough room to properly park a bike. We've pointed out this problem and hope it's fixed soon. In my experience WMATA has gotten much better about bike parking recently and the Spring Hill example is the exception.
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| Spring Hill Metro bike racks |
Labels: bicycle parking, rei, spring hill metro station
posted by Bruce Wright at 3:38 PM permalink
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