Construction has started on Oklahoma City’s first parking-protected bike lane.

The lane will be built in northeast Oklahoma City on Lottie Ave. from NE 13th St. to NE 23rd St.

Parking-protected bike lanes use parked cars to separate bicyclists and drivers on the road. These lanes increase safety and visibility for drivers, walkers, and cyclists by shortening the crossing distance for pedestrians and providing a buffer between cyclists and vehicles.

The Lottie bike lane will be 1.8 miles long, and part of a larger development project to build safer bike lanes throughout northeast Oklahoma City. It will connect Page Woodson apartments, Booker T. Washington Park, OU Health Science Center, the Innovation District, Pitts Park, East Point, and the JFK, Culberson, and East Highland neighborhoods.

According to city officials, this is one of many bicycle and pedestrian projects to be built following the city’s adoption of this year’s Bikewalk OKC master plan for pedestrians and cyclists. It will be funded by an extension of the Better Streets Safer City sales tax and the MAPS 4 sales tax.

The project is expected to open in spring 2024.