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駅の近くに壊れた自転車がずっと置いてあります。

"Near the trainstation, there are continuously put broken bikes/there are always broken bikes."

First, 駅の近くに: Is my interpretation as a local adverbial which doesn't directly modify 自転車 correct?

Second: Is my interpretation of ずっと　correct in this context?

Third: 置く kind of gives me a headache. Since it means "to put", I'm not sure wether it is said that broken bikes are put/brought there, or that broken bikes are "put" there, which basically means that they were put there, and then got broken (which I assume is the case, but grammatically it seems ambiguous to me). Is it very common to express this with 置く in japanese? In both english and german I'd expect solely the copula "to be": "There are broken bikes." 置く feels kind of redundant to me.

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In my opinion it means that broken bicycles are constantly put (left) there, not that the bicycles break there.

置く can also mean "to leave (behind)"

壊れた自転車 = (already) broken bicycles

置いてあります = are being left (there)

"Near the station, broken bicycles are constantly being left behind"

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    It could be that people are leaving broken bikes behind, but it seems more likely that people just abandon their bikes. An abandoned bike surprisingly quickly falls into a state of utter disrepair, particularly if it's in a place where it get jostled at all. I've watched this happen with bikes that are left outside my apartment complex: one day they look perfectly useable; a few days later, they're completely broken down. Without more context, I would leave open the question of whether broken bikes were brought to the station and deliberately left behind. – A.Ellett Jul 26 '17 at 15:25
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I think 置いてある means put with more intention than just put.

My interpretation:駅の近くに壊れた自転車がずっと置いてあります.

It normally means that broken bikes were just left and a long time has passed since the first time the writer saw. So, the writer reports it to the authority.

Or highly unlikely but perhaps some people habitually joyride the stolen bikes and know the place where they can leave the bikes around the station without notice. And the writer always reported it but they have been successfully changing the place nearby the station.

There is a slight difference between 置いてある and 置く.

置く simply implies put with slight intention.

鍵をここに置く。I put the key here.

置いてある。implies put with intention.

I intend to put the key here.

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    （すみません、ちょっとお尋ねしますが）OPの文は「置いてあります」ですが、回答は「置いてある 」ではなく「置いておく 」を説明しているのはなぜですか。 – Chocolate♦ Aug 23 '17 at 23:56
  • そうですね。消した方が良いかな。他の回答と置くを何回か見ているうちに混乱したようですね…。置いておくと置いてあるはinterchangebleではないような気もするし。 – user25382 Aug 24 '17 at 0:05
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    そうでしたか・・。置いておくと置いてあるの違いの一つは、主語ですかね・・（人が自転車を置いておく vs 自転車が置いてある）・・・もっとあるんでしょうけど。参考にならなくてすみません。 – Chocolate♦ Aug 24 '17 at 0:10
  • とんでもないです。主語と、置いてあるは誰かが意図をもって置いたという点では少し置くとは違うんでしょうね。置いてあるは置かれるのように受動的に感じますね。 – user25382 Aug 24 '17 at 0:17
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    あ、でももしかして、「（私は）（～～に）自転車を置いてあります」とも言えるような気も・・？「自転車を置いてある 、自転車が置いてある 」両方OK?（さらにややこしくしてすみません） – Chocolate♦ Aug 24 '17 at 0:20

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