Chicago bicyclists are now enjoying an important and much sought-after cycling amenity: the new Millennium Park Bicycle Station.

The bicycle station, the first such facility in the Midwest, opened July 16 as part of the Millennium Park grand opening. The station is located on levels 5 and 6 of the Millennium Park parking garage, at the northeast corner of the new park. The 16,448-square-foot heated facility includes free indoor parking for 300 bikes, showers and lockers, bicycle rental and repair, and a café. The Chicago Police Lakefront Bicycle Patrol Unit is also stationed in the facility.

The $3.1 million bicycle station serves not only bike commuters and recreational bicyclists, but also runners and inline skaters. It is the nation’s first bicycle parking commuter station serving a major event venue (Millennium Park) and multi-model transit center (Metra’s Randolph Street station and the McCormick Place Busway connect to the Millennium Park garage).

The locker rooms/shower facility will be available for a $1 daily fee. Monthly and annual memberships, which offer additional benefits, are also available.

"This is just another step toward Mayor Daley’s goal to make Chicago the most bicycle-friendly city in the country,” said CDOT Commissioner Miguel d’Escoto. In addition to furthering bicycling education and advocacy, the Mayor has also continued to invest in infrastructure and facilities that make bicycling easier, d’Escoto said.

Chicago has earned an international reputation for promoting and improving bicycling, and in 2001, Bicycling magazine named Chicago the best large city in North American for bicycling.

Funding for the project came from a federal grant program designated for projects designed to ease traffic congestion and improve air quality.