DOT Replacing Bike Racks In Park Slope For A Uniform Look

If you’ve noticed some bike racks disappearing along 5th Avenue, you’ll be glad to know they’re not simply being removed, but replaced, so there should still be as much bike parking — which seems pretty necessary, from just a glance at usage — along this and other streets in our area.

A Department of Transportation spokesperson tells us that they are currently working to create uniformity in their bike rack infrastructure, which means that they’re taking certain ones out all over Park Slope to replace them with new ones that looks like the current designs used citywide.

Though some in our area certainly could use an upgrade, it may seem a bit extravagant to be replacing many of these — just ten months ago, former parking meters in the area were transformed into bike racks by the DOT.

So, what do you think, are looks more important than utility — and spending? We don’t have info on how much this particular uniformity project will cost, but the recently transformed ones were part of a $2 million project that changed about 12,000 meters into racks.