Media Credit: Jordan Gomez A symbolic white bike stands chained to a tree along with a memorial erected by the friends and family of Austin Weirup, who was killed in a bicycle-car collision at the corner of South Congress Ave. and St. Elmo Street in 2005.

White bicycles stand chained to trees and utility poles across Austin. Each represents a bicycle casualty, usually a fatal one.

The spectral bikes, a labor of love for bike messenger Ben Lynch and friends, stand to raise awareness amongst both cyclists and drivers.

The Ghost Bike Project is a nationwide awareness movement with roots in New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco, but Lynch and crew are working independently from the national model.

"I thought it was a really cool idea to get people's attention," Lynch said. "The first one we put up is the one on Sixth Street."

The bike, arguably the city's most prominent, stands against a light pole in front of Waterloo Records at the busy intersection of Lamar Boulevard and west Sixth Street.

The second memorial erected stands on the western side of the 1100 block of south First Street, directly across the street from the Texas School for the Deaf football field. The bike stands as a memorial to Krishna Walters, who was struck by a Capital Metro bus in 2001.

"I personally put that bike up after she died," said Amy Moralez, a former Austin resident who has since relocated to Connecticut.

"I'd seen something about the white bikes on a Web site, and I've always worked in bike shops, so I had access to plenty of bike parts," she said. "The first two got taken down by the Texas Department of Transportation, I think, but the third one I put up has been there for a while now. I did put a super heavy lock on it."

Lynch recommends that bikers use Bouldin Avenue rather than S. First Street.

"Bouldin's not as busy - there's not a bus - and the cars seem a lot cooler to bikes," Lynch said.

The third white bike stands at the intersection of south Congress Avenue and St. Elmo Road.

"Some kids called about that bike. They'd seen others and wanted to make a shrine to their friend who'd been hit," Lynch said. "We went and put a bike up. It was stolen almost immediately, but after that, they started maintaining it themselves."

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