Lower Manhattan grates to feature bike racks

The Lower Manhattan street furniture/grate will include some much-needed bike parking. (Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Transportation Authority/Rob Wilson)

Speak of the devil. Just this morning, I finally got around to writing about the anti-flooding grate prototype the MTA plans to install in flood-prone areas. A few minutes ago, the MTA unveiled the second grate prototype.

These grates — found in Lower Manhattan — are a street furniture collaborating between Grimshaw Billings Jackson with Systra/HNTB. The current prototype is on display in front of 151 Broadway between Worth and Thomas Sts. In addition to a few benches, these raised grates also provide bicycle racks for the neighborhood. The MTA plans to install this design at 15 locations on West Broadway between Chambers and Leonard Sts. and on Varick St. between Leonard and Franklin Sts. These units will range in length from 16 to 24 feet.

These grates are more functional than the ones prepped for Queens and northern Manhattan. The bike racks are a much-needed addition, and city officials praised this design. “Initiatives like this are critical to the continuous functioning of the City,” Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner of the Department of Transportation, said. “The fact that this new street furniture does more than double-duty as protection from stormwater by providing seating and bike racks shows that good design can turn problems into assets.”

I’m glad to see such forward thinking from the MTA, and the incorporation of other modes of urban transport into something benefiting the subway should be applauded.