We have a wounded bike corral in need of some tender loving care. Our beautiful bike corral, installed in September 2011 at Walnut & Sydenham, has been a fixture of the Center City bike parking scene ever since.
A newborn photo of our corral. It has since shed its baby bollards and fern.
Sometime during the World Cup it was hit by a car (a disgruntled FC Brazil fan, perhaps?) and is now damaged. Specifically, some of the Titen 3/8×3″ bolts anchoring it to the asphalt were pulled out, and sections have been bent. We’ve got some new bolts on the way, and we’re now looking for a contractor that would be willing to fix up our poor corral.
If you are interested in helping us out, or if you know someone who might be, please contact us at bike@bicyclecoalition.org or by calling 215-242-9253 x306. Beyond this specific issue, we are looking for contractors in the Philadelphia area whom we could call upon for future bicycle parking installation-related projects.
Here are a few shots of our poor Bessy (naming bike corrals is normal, right?) to give an idea of the damage:
What I find interesting in Portland, they don’t even have anything protecting the bikes with their on-street bike parking. I seem to remember they just install a few conventional Inverted “U” racks into the asphalt at a 45 degree angle. That left me a little leery about parking my bike in them and when I did at a cafe’, I saw a turning car get a little too close for comfort. Maybe it would be best here in Philly and in Portland to have something else for the cars to crash into first before they hit the coral. Boise had the same problem with a car hitting their bike coral too!