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GREENWICH, Conn. Bike racks intended to make Greenwich more bicycle-friendly are on the way.
The schedule for installation of these bike racks is over the next couple months. Installation is to begin in the next two weeks, James Michel, chief engineer for the Department of Public Works Engineering Division, said in a Thursday email.
More than 35 multi-bike racks are to be set up around town and on public properties near the central business district. Locations include public parking lots, trains, schools and streets adjacent to Greenwich Avenue, according to draft minutes from a Sept. 7 meeting of the Town of Greenwich Plan of Conservation and Development Downtown Plan Committee.
The racks were proposed back in 2000 during Greenwich Safe Cycling's work on a bicycle master plan. Then a part of Greenwich municipal government, Greenwich Safe Cycling is now a private nonprofit. The plan's main objectives were to add more bike parking space, signage and bike lanes, said Vin DeMarco, co-chair of Greenwich Safe Cycling.
"We wanted to make a more bike-friendly town," he said.
The new racks come at no cost to the town, as they are covered under a Norwalk transit grant that Greenwich tagged onto, DeMarco said. He said he couldn't comment on the racks' cost, but he said they weren't a capital project, meaning the price was less than $5,000.
Funds have also been made available for bike racks in Norwalk, Westport and Stamford, according to a release.
Nate Rex, store manager at the Cycle Center of Stamford, hadn't heard about the Greenwich bike racks, but said having secure places to lock up bikes would encourage residents to bike more.
"It conserves resources and is great exercise," he said.
The CVS on West Putnam Avenue and the Equinox on Old Town Road already have installed bike racks of their own, DeMarco said.
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