Photo by Zak Wood

University of Colorado sophomore Nicholas Hrvatin rides his skateboard past bikes parked illegally on a safety and access railing Tuesday on the CU campus.

University of Colorado leaders — who say they’re pleased students are cycling to the campus in record numbers — are now asking that riders stop locking their bikes to handrails because it sets up dangerous obstacles for senior faculty members.

John Cooper, a retired physics professor who is on the Boulder Faculty Assembly executive panel, raised the issue at a meeting this week, saying it makes it hard for his colleagues to move safely about the campus.

Bikes are becoming like barnacles on the handrails that lead up to buildings and the bike path railings around the campus. Though it’s a code violation, officials aren’t ticketing cyclists, instead taking a softer approach.

In the latest campus newsletter, Vice Chancellor Frank Bruno asked students and employees to be more considerate.

“As a campus, we support those who ride their bikes and we have plans in place to install more bike racks in the coming months,” Bruno wrote. “But in the meantime, we will all be better off if we exercise a bit more care and consideration and keep in mind those among us who need to use the handrails to make their way in and out of our buildings.”

The newsletter also urges caution in crosswalks and asks those on the campus to stop smoking near building entrances and windows.

Campus officials say there’s been a 20 percent increase over the past year in the number of students commuting to CU by bike. About 18 percent of CU’s more than 30,000 students report that biking is their primary mode of transportation to the campus, according to a CU Environmental Center survey.

CU is spending $300,000 on new bike racks this year — a tab being split between Parking and Transportation Services and the Environmental Center.

Richelle Reilly, campus landscape architect, said the university has added 596 spaces so far to deal with the extra bike traffic. There will be another 390 added in the spring, she said.

“The campus is totally dedicated to alternative transportation,” Reilly said. “We don’t want to discourage people from bringing bikes.”

Dave Newport, director of the Environmental Center, said CU is adding 50 bikes to its fleet, doubling the number of rental rides available to students for $20 a semester. The center is also expanding its bike-service stations.

Campus planners, as they make room for more bikes, are aware of bad parking habits, Newport said.

“There are some constants that we have to be mindful of,” he said. “The bike racks have to be 50 feet away from a building. If they are 75 feet, students will clip their bikes to a tree that’s closer.”

Problem spots are nearby the University Memorial Center, engineering center, business school and Muenzinger Auditorium, Newport said.