Portal:Chicago/Selected article/66

McDonald's Cycle Center is a heated and air conditioned indoor bicycle parking facility located in the northeast corner of Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, USA. The facility provides lockers, showers, a snack bar with outdoor summer seating, bike repair, bike rental and 300 parking spaces for bicycle commuters. The station also provides space for a Chicago Police Department Bike Patrol Group. The cycle center was part of a larger effort by the city, called "Bike 2010 Plan", which aimed to make the city more accommodating to bicycle commuters. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, who notes it is also an environmentally friendly effort to cut down on traffic, was an advocate of the plan. Later, the cycle center fit so well with an effort by the suburban Chicago-based McDonald's to encourage "balanced, active lifestyles" as part of the solution to help its customers become more healthy, that the company committed to sponsoring the center.