City to install 50-70 new bike racks in downtown Fayetteville

Bike racks recently installed on Center Street are similar in style to about 20 new racks set to be installed soon on the Fayetteville square.

Photo: Todd Gill, Flyer staff

As many as 70 new bike racks are set to be installed in downtown Fayetteville in the coming weeks.

Peter Nierengarten, the city’s director of sustainability and strategic planning, said the first 20 racks will be installed around the Fayetteville square early next month, with additional racks coming to the Dickson Street area after that.

“We did an assessment late last fall, and looked at where people are parking their bikes, and we saw that there weren’t enough racks,” he said. “We recommended between 50 and 70, and the square was the highest priority.”

Orange paint marks the future location of new bike racks on the west side of the Fayetteville square.

Photo: Todd Gill, Flyer staff

The study looked at the inventory of existing bicycle racks in the Downtown Master Plan area and city parks, both on public and private property, and found that additional bicycle parking is needed around the square and on Dickson Street, around bus stops, bicycle shops, near multi-family housing, and along the Frisco trail.

The racks are considered part of the city’s ongoing sidewalk improvements, and funding from the program came from the city’s sidewalk program, Nierengarten said.

The racks on the square should be in place by mid-April, and Nierengarten said he hopes to have the Dickson Street racks installed by early June.