San Francisco transportation officials today began transforming dozens of former parking meter poles into bike racks. The ring-style racks aren’t exactly museum-quality works of art, but they can be viewed as utilitarian urban street art.

SFMTA

The 60 new racks primarily will be found in the Civic Center and Golden Gateway areas.

The galvanized steel ring racks should appease biking advocates who had voiced concern over the city’s plans to replace traditional single-space meters — favorite places to lock a bike — with high-tech pay stations that cover multiple parking spaces in targeted neighborhoods.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which oversees the city’s bike program, has been on a bike-rack installation frenzy as of late, with 400 racks added to the city’s streetscape in the past year.

The city also has been creating ”bike corrals” in which street parking for vehicles is turned into parking for bikes. About nine bikes can fit into a space that had been used by one car.