NEWPORT, Ky. — The Academy on Fourth apartment building in Newport is now home to the Greater Cincinnati region’s first Netherland-style bike room.
The City of Newport, in a partnership with the Devou Good Foundation and ReNewport, unveiled the new bike room at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, which featured the Newport City Commission and Matt Butler, president of Devou Good.
"We’re really happy to be in Newport doing this,” said Butler.
Academy on Fourth was chosen for the bike room due to its proximity to Purple People Bridge, which crosses the Ohio River from Newport to Cincinnati. According to Butler, Academy on Fourth sits at the busiest cycling corridor in the Greater Cincinnati area.
“If you think about green living, smaller footprint– apartment living is just that,” Butler said. “You can live in Newport at Academy on Fourth and not have to own a car.”
So what is a Netherland-style bike room?
The new room is essentially a parking garage for bikes. Two parking spaces were converted into the room, which features two tiers of vertical stack racks on both sides of the room. Cyclists can have peace of mind knowing their bikes are safely secured in a rack room behind a closed door.
The room also features a public works stand with nine bike tools attached to stainless steel cables.
In total, there are 48 total spaces for bike storage. Including tax, the cost for all the racks was just over $22,000.
For cyclists looking to store their bikes on the upper tier, they can pull out the rack by using its sliding mechanism. Once the rack is fully pulled out, they can tilt it down, so it’s nearly touching the floor. From there, they can roll their bike onto the rack, secure it, push the rack up, and slide it back into place.
Butler said the plan is to have other property developers tour the bike room so they can eventually implement them into their buildings across the Greater Cincinnati area.
“It shows how partnerships work. We have great residents in our city and the participation and involvement is incredible and I’m proud of our residents,” said Mayor Tom Guidugli Jr. “We have nonprofits, like ReNewport and Devou Good, all doing good work in combination with the City, and our businesses step up when asked.”
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