It is now easier for cyclists in downtown to find places to safely park and lock their bicycles, with 34 new bike racks installed by the city the past week – thanks to the inspiration and fundraising initiatives undertaken by the Sunrise Rotary Club earlier this year.

The bike racks complement existing and future city planning infrastructure designs, while promoting and supporting the increasing number of cyclists in the community. The new racks will also help eliminate bikes being parked haphazardly, locked up to parking meters and trees.

“This project was a great collaboration between the city and Sunrise Rotary Club of Cranbrook,” says Chris New, Director of Community Services. “Cycling path infrastructure is one of the highest requested items in our Parks and Recreation Master Plan, and this initiative supports the further development of cycling connectivity throughout our city.”

Sunrise Rotary co-chairs, Glenn Dobie and Darryl Bishop, who spearheaded this community service project, praised city staff for their collaboration and for the installation of the bike racks.

This project would not have been possible without the generous financial support of sponsors and the various granting agencies including: Columbia Basin Trust, Cranbrook Community Foundation, the Regional District of East Kootenay, Canada 150 and Fab-Rite, who manufactured the racks and sponsored three of them. No tax dollars were put directly into the project. Public Works did assist with the project by doing the bike rack installation.

This initiative is an important component to the City’s overall community vibrancy plan which is designed to improve the walkability and accessibility of the City, while making it much more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. This is the first step in a much larger plan to develop and grow the City’s Bike Network Plan.

Above photo: Members of Sunrise Rotary, Cranbrook & District Community Foundation and the City of Cranbrook gather in front of Max’s Place on 10th Avenue Tuesday morning, to officially mark the completion of the installation of 34 bike racks downtown earlier this summer. Lisa Barnes (third from the right), owner of Max’s Place and Community Foundation board member, is the generous sponsor of the bike rack outside of the popular shop. Sunrise Rotary and the City of Cranbrook would like to thank all of the bike rack sponsors, along with the Columbia Basin Trust, Cranbrook and District Community Foundation, the Regional District of East Kootenay, Canada 150 and Fab-Rite for all of their generous support.

Photo courtesy City of Cranbrook

City of Cranbrook

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