Brookhaven Rolls Out 192 New Bike Racks Built for E-Bikes and Cargo Bikes

Brookhaven is making it easier — and safer — to pedal to city parks and offices, with 192 new bike racks rolling out over the next several months at sites including Lynwood Park, City Centre and the Public Safety Building. City leaders say the upgraded parking, designed to fit cargo bikes and e-bikes rather than just standard frames, is meant to give residents a real alternative to driving.

According to Atlanta News First, the installation effort began in mid-August at Lynwood Park and will continue across city properties over the coming months. The new racks trace back to a 2023 city ordinance — the first of its kind in Metro Atlanta — requiring that new bike parking facilities accommodate a range of cycle types, including e-bikes, cargo bikes, tandem bikes, recumbent bikes and bikes fitted with child trailers, according to the City of Brookhaven.

Old Racks Find New Homes at Local Schools

Rather than scrapping the equipment being replaced, Brookhaven says every old bike rack pulled during installation will be donated to local schools, per the city. It's a small sustainability touch on what is otherwise a straightforward infrastructure upgrade, giving the outgoing hardware a second life rather than sending it to a landfill.

Brookhaven Communications Director Burke Brennan framed the expansion as part of a broader push to make cycling a practical choice for residents. Brennan said cycling is a healthy form of exercise and a viable alternative transportation option, adding that the city needs to build infrastructure that makes cycling conducive for residents, according to WSB Radio. The station reported the racks are being added at Lynwood Park, City Centre, PEP and the Public Safety Building.

A Decade of Planning Behind the Push

The rack expansion doesn't come out of nowhere. Brookhaven first laid the groundwork for its active transportation policy in November 2014, when it adopted a Bicycle, Pedestrian & Trail Plan alongside its Comprehensive Plan 2034, city records show. The city also sets aside $50,000 annually in its public works budget for bicycle, pedestrian and transit connection projects identified in its updated Multimodal Study, funding that supports infill sidewalks and bike facility installations citywide.

That steady investment has scaled up considerably in recent months. In July, DeKalb County, Brookhaven and Emory University finalized a funding agreement — backed by $15.8 million pledged by Emory — to build an I-85 bridge connecting Executive Park to the Peachtree Creek Greenway, linking local paths to PATH400 and the Atlanta BeltLine. Separately, a SPLOST II-funded project at the Caldwell Road and Redding Road intersection includes a 10-foot multi-use path and bike lanes on both sides of Caldwell Road, funded by the 1 percent sales tax DeKalb County voters approved in November 2023.

Not Every Bike Project Is Winning Over Residents

Bike parking may be an easy sell, but on-street and shared-path infrastructure has proven far more contentious. Just days before the rack announcement, the Brookhaven City Council voted on August 25 to strip a proposed multi-use path along Windsor Parkway from city planning documents, after residents raised safety concerns about high-speed e-motorcycles sharing the path with pedestrians. The council's resolution kept planned sidewalk additions in place while pushing any bike facilities on that corridor to separate future projects, per the city.

The pushback isn't isolated. Brookhaven Police issued public safety warnings back in February about dangerous youth behavior on e-bikes in streets and parks, reminding parents of Georgia's three-class e-bike legal framework and the mandatory helmet rules for riders under 16 and for Class 3 e-bike users, as reported by WSB-TV Channel 2, which noted police published video examples of traffic violations by underage riders to encourage parental oversight. Hoodline previously reported that similar resident concerns over high-speed e-bikes and scooters on shared corridors near Ashford Dunwoody Road have already shaped council decisions on multi-use path design near I-285.

Taken together, the new bike racks reflect a part of Brookhaven's active transportation agenda that hasn't generated the same friction as trail and path proposals. Parking infrastructure for cargo bikes and e-bikes serves a practical, end-of-trip need without raising the pedestrian-safety questions that have stalled projects like the Windsor Parkway path. For now, city officials are moving ahead with the racks while leaving the thornier questions about shared-use trails for future planning conversations.