discussion-l Mailing List: BikeAthens Discussion: Fwd: Counting Bike Racks: Progress Report

[enrique (enrique.pineda]

(Oops. Sent to the wrong addy.)

epp

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: Enrique Pineda <enrique.pineda [at] gmail.com>
Date: January 16, 2011 11:47:26 EST
To: discussion-l-request [at] bikeathens.com
Subject: Counting Bike Racks: Progress Report
Reply-To: enrique [at] pineda.org

Just a short note on my progress this weekend for counting bicycle
racks.  Yesterday, I completed section J06 (which is Atlanta Highway
and a few cross streets, just east of the Georgia Square Mall area and
all the way past the overpass into Epps Bridge).

This morning, I did most of J07 which is the next section east,
covering Broad and the Alps Road/Hawthorne cross intersection.  I'm
not fond of cycling on Broad Street, so I'll cover the rest of J07 by
car after lunch. [ completed. --epp ]

The big surprise is that Alps Road Elementary School has no bicycle
racks.  Big Ups goes to Omni Gymnasium for having the mondo bike rack
that can fit at least 8 bicycles with fat tires.  Kroger on Alps has a
whopping 28 bicycle spaces.  Anyway, you'll see my full report in the
paperwork.

Some tips for anyone else out there doing this: If you are driving,
allow yourself at least an hour for commercial dense areas.  If you
are counting racks during high traffic volume, the effort is
considerably more difficult because much of the time you are partially
focused on what the other drivers are doing.  For cycling, you
probably want to double this amount of time.  I will say, however,
that there is an advantage to cycling your route: You don't miss much.
From the vantage point of a bicycle, you may find racks where you
would never notice them from an automobile.  I was able to spot one or
two additional bike racks in an adjacent map section simply by peering
across a parking lot or over a fence.

We haven't much time, of course, and for many of highly-trafficked
areas a car may be more feasible under these constraints.

Some of the bridges are still quite icy,and even some bike lanes are
obstructed by ice and sleet.  Be careful.

Regards.

epp