PRESS RELEASE: Bike Racks Come To Downtown Port Chester

 Frank Ferrara, Chairman                                                                                                                                fferrara@portchesterny.com

If you’ve been riding your bicycle around downtown Port Chester lately, you may have noticed some new places to ‘park’ it.

Beginning this week, the Village of Port Chester, through a sponsorship by the Village of Port Chester Industrial Development Agency (IDA), installed twelve new custom-designed bicycle racks all along North Main Street, from Westchester Avenue to Mill Street.

Frank Ferrara, Chairman to the IDA, explained the rationale for investing in downtown bike racks from an economic development point of view: “The IDA is committed to mitigating impediments to economic development, and one of the most significant in our downtown is traffic and mobility. These bike racks are part of a cycling eco-system the IDA has endorsed in an effort to provide an alternative means of navigating downtown. The silver lining to all this, besides contributing to health and well-being, is a bike friendly environment further enhances the allure of the most dynamic downtown in all of Westchester County.”

As part of the implementation of the Village’s recently-completed Downtown Mobility & Parking Management Study, co-sponsored by the Village IDA, the Village has begun investing in its bicycle infrastructure as a means of encouraging multi-modal transportation and transit-oriented development around the Village’s Metro-North Railroad Station. Mayor Fritz Falanka stated, “One of the key findings from the study is that bicycle racks downtown are limited. Our consultants recommended that new bicycle racks be installed in locations that are convenient relative to most destinations. We hope that this will provide a means for bicyclists to safely and conveniently secure their bicycles, and encourage more bicycling around Port Chester.”

The Village’s Adopted Strategic Plan’s goal of Smart Growth discusses identifying both short and long-term parking solutions for the downtown area. While not a silver bullet for downtown’s parking and congestion challenges, the Village intends to utilize this strategy as one of many tools to help address existing traffic problems.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held on Friday, May 4th at 11:00 a.m. at 163 North Main Street to officially ‘unveil’ the new racks.