We need more bike racks at points of interest in East Palo Alto. One place is at Cooley Landing, specifically in front of the Cooley Landing Education Center.
We need more bike racks at points of interest in East Palo Alto. One place is at Cooley Landing, specifically in front of the Cooley Landing Education Center.
Problem
Two weekends ago, I had the opportunity to attend a very cool birding event at Cooley Landing. I rode my electric scooter to the Cooley Landing Education Center, and upon arriving there, I was surprised to not find any bike racks. I looked around both sides of the building and even behind it, and I did not find any. So I ended up locking my electric scooter to the only secure post I could find, which was a handicap pole. It appears somebody before me had run into this same problem and locked their bike in this way.
This is definitely bad because it obstructs the walkway, and even worse because it protrudes into the ADA ramp.
The good news is that I emailed our public works director minutes after and got an email thread and meeting set up to discuss this further. I will be meeting with our public works manager and an engineer this week to try to find a good place to add bike racks.
The next time I went to Cooley Landing, I did a more detailed search and found one set of bike racks 250 feet southwest of the building. These bike racks do not serve visitors to the building and eastern portion of Cooley Landing for the following reasons:
- They are 250 feet away. While it doesn't sound far, it is a barrier to choosing to bike when ~31 car parking spots are closer. Typically bike parking should be closer than car parking to the destination to incentivize biking.
- Cannot see the education building from the existing bike racks, which makes them feel especially far
- As a bicyclist, I would not see the bike rack as I am zooming past towards the building, especially as my focus is on whether any cars are exiting the roundabout and coing towards my direction. My focus is also on whether there are pedestrians crossing the road in front of the bike racks.
- There is no sidewalk directly connecting the bike racks to the building. The bicyclist would end up having to walk a longer curved path to get to the Cooley Landing facilities.
Proposed Bike Rack Locations
The photos above show some options that I could think of for bike racks at Cooley Landing. Here are some pros and cons:
| Location Options | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | - Lots of space | - Not near ADA ramp; less visible |
| 2 | - Lots of space | - Not near ADA ramp; less visible |
| 3 | - More visible since it is next to the ADA ramp which bicyclists would use | - May not have as much vertical space |
| 4 | - More visible since it next to ADA ramp | - May not have as much vertical space; less visible than option 3 because more bicyclists would probably go up ramp and turn right |
Currently I am leaning towards option 3 because it is near the ADA ramp, is visible, and should not be in the way especially since there is a planter already protruding out.
Conclusion
I plan to post more updates after my meeting with our public works department.
