With the removal of over 200 parking meters downtown GEARs has been working with the City of Eugene to improve the bike parking situation in the downtown area. Richard Hughes and Sue Wolling did a walk about survey of parking issues to determine the bicycle parking needs in the area and have been working with Jeff Petry, the Parking Services Manager.

New bike hoops that arrived last week will be installed on posts that previously held meters. The bike hoops will be installed after the city determines locations for the new hoops. The 2 hour parking signs placed on several old meter poles already serve as a locking location.

The City is also working with the South University Neighborhood on a big project to convert unregulated parking in that neighborhood to 2 hour permit parking. The unregulated parking pockets in the area are hunted for each day by UO visitors, creating more vehicle miles traveled south of 18th and more opportunity for bike/ped – vehicle interactions.  Once that project is complete the Parking Program will start work on the downtown bike hoops as well as on three different bicycle corrals at Morning Glory Cafe (450 Willamette St.), Cornucopia (207 E. Fifth Ave.) and the Kiva grocery store (125 W. 11th Ave.).

This article originally appeared in the Dec2010/Jan2011 GEARs Newsletter. Become a GEARs Member to receive your copy.