Protected bike lanes coming to Mid-South | Transportation

(WMC-TV) – In the future, Memphis cyclists and drivers won’t have to share as many lanes as they currently do.

Memphis was one of six cities selected by the Bikes Belong Foundation to receive protected bike lanes over the next two years.

Austin, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., will also receive expert advice on how to develop top-notch bicycling facilities from the BBF’s Green Lane Project.

“Green lanes are dedicated, inviting spaces for people on bikes in the roadway, protected by curbs, planters, posts or parked cars,” a BBF spokesman said in a written statement.

The Green lane Project shows just  how far bicycling in the Bluff City has come recently, according to officials.

“After installing 35 miles of bike lanes in the last two years, Memphis has gone from being named one of the worst cities for riding by Bicycling Magazine in 2008, to the ‘Most Improved City’ in Bicycling Magazine’s annual Best Bike City Rankings for 2012,” said a Bikes Belong Foundation spokesman.

But bike lanes aren’t the last project the city plans to tackle.

The city is also working to connect Broad Avenue and Overton Park with Downtown and, perhaps eventually, the Shelby Farms Greenline.

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