Broad Ripple Poised to be a Bicycling Leader in the City

Last weekend, Indianapolis received its first-ever on-street bicycle corrals.  They were installed in Broad Ripple, at the intersection of Guilford and Westfield.

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Photo Credit: Kevin Whited

I contacted Kevin Whited from IndyCog about the project, and here is what he said:

A little info on the Broad Ripple Bike Corrals:
INDYCOG played a very limited role in the process.  We presented to BRVA on the virtues of on-street bike corrals, and had a limited role in the facilitation between the City and Green Broad Ripple, BRVA, & Union Jack.

Brenda Rising-Moore from Union Jacks and Neal Bennett from Green Broad Ripple did the lion’s share of the work.Also, the rack in front of the Wellington is not complete, they are ordering yellow parking stops to keep people from running into them and to protect the bicycles.  There are 3 more going in as well. One, next to the Broad Ripple Tavern on BR Ave & Carrolton (it will be located in the first parking space on Carrolton (SW Corner) and then one on BR Ave in front of Starbucks and in front of Union Jack (BRVA is still working out the parking issues with Xerox). If I recall correctly, at last report, Xerox wanted the City to buy out those spaces but I’m not sure if that is really where it stands.For  more info you should contact Brenda (brenda@unionjackpub.co) or Neal (nbennett@bfsengr.com).

This project is not the only bike-related one in the neighborhood.  Bambu hair salon recently had this business-themed rack installed:

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These recent bike rack installations will be made useful, thanks of course to Broad Ripple’s enviable location at the intersection of the Monon Trail, the Canal Towpath, and the Broad Ripple Bike Lanes:

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These recent racks join other, slightly older ones that also stand out as a bit quirky. These were installed along with the neighborhood’s streetscape improvement project:
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Thankfully, even the Broad Ripple Parking garage also includes interior bicycle parking. Hopefully in the future the neighborhood will have even less of a need for car parking, and more of a need for bike parking.

Comments 7

  • I bike for fun to Broad Ripple from E Washington Street. Really nice to involve bicyclist in the neighborhood planning.

  • Man, I’m so glad the city now has to go thru Xerox anytime we decide to do something like this…

  • I don’t understand how Xerox enters into this. Are they part of the ACS parking meter bureaocracy?

    • I believe that they were involved in the privatization of the parking meters. What that involvement is, I’m not exactly sure

      • If I recall correctly ACS is the company that owns Xerox, and that private company now has a tremendous amount of control in how we use our public streets for the next 48 or 49 years. All because the Mayor decided to siphon away public revenue streams to a private company in exchange for providing us newer meters with higher rates. We should’ve done a public bond, backed by the meter revenue stream, and maintained control of our public spaces. We should never forget how egregious a dereliciton of the Mayor/Council’s role of stewardship of public assets this was as we continue to be required to pay ACS continuously for the next five decades for every parking meter we decide we’d like to temporarily block or permanently remove, whether for street construction, bike racks, bike lanes, trails, more driving lanes, wider sidewalks, or simply because we decide that there is no longer a need to charge people to pay to park in a particular location.

        Oh, but hey, I’m glad to see more bike racks being installed.

  • Thanks Kevin, for highlighting this positive development in the Village. Brenda and Neal have done great work in making this all happen and the City’s DPW has been a good partner. During the past 5 years that I’ve been involved in the BRVA’s Land Use and Development Committee there has been a definite shift on the part of developers. In the past, the community had to ask them to add bike racks. Things have changed to the point where two proposals at the Jan meeting both included substantial bike parking in the design. Very encouraging. FYI: The Village’s recently adopted Envision Broad Ripple plan encourages businesses to add bike parking and it’s nice to see the plan’s proposals put in action.

  • Thank you for showcasing this project. Please check out http://www.greenbroadripple.org or our Facebook page to learn more about GBR and our projects. Hope to see you in the Wellie.

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