Despite all the controversy surrounding bike lanes and cyclists elsewhere in the city, Fresh Kills South has adopted a rather pro bike stance (though who’d expect there to be much disagreement when the only other traffic to contend with is that of joggers, pedestrians, and bird watchers). New bike maintenance stations designed by James Corner Field Operations will eventually dot the landscape of the of the entire park, and their design nods equally to both the biker and the walker.

The stations include vending machines selling bike repair products, like Allen wrenches and spare parts, on one side, and benches for weary bikers or pedestrians on the other. The benches made of torrefied (baked) wood are attached to a dividing wall made of galvanized steel two by fours spaced about six inches apart. These bike stations, along with new “comfort stations” (a.k.a. restrooms), will be off the grid, so solar panels atop the structures will provide the energy needed to power lights and equipment. Both structures feature lively lime green accents making them hard to miss in the landscape.

The comfort stations sit on top of a concrete box that holds equipment for sorting sewage materials destined for composting. The structure also contains closets for maintenance equipment. The bathrooms themselves are simply prefab structures dropped into the envelope. While the new structures were designed with the new southern end of the park in mind, soon they will become the park standard.