(Ely Portillo, The Charlotte Observer)

The city of Charlotte is considering adding protected bicycle lanes – in which the bicycles are protected from cars by a physical barrier – through uptown.

City Council’s transportation committee heard a presentation from city staff about the plan at their meeting Monday. The protected bicycle lanes would run east-west across uptown, linking existing greenways on opposite ends of the city’s center, and would be the city’s first such lanes. One would run along Fifth and Sixth streets, while one would run parallel to Stonewall Street from Bank of America Stadium to Pearl Street Park.

Sustain Charlotte has been promoting the idea of protected bicycle lanes, which are safer for bicyclists, in the hopes of encouraging more people to get around by bike. One of the main reasons people give for not biking as much as they say they want to is a lack of feeling safe on the city’s busy streets.