D

enpasar may have installed bicycle lanes in some parts of the city since 2009, however, the eco-friendly transportation measure appears to be dying out, as further development and maintenance has not been carried out since 2010.

The bicycle lanes account for roughly around 4 percent of the capital’s more than 470 kilometers of streets.

“There has not been any maintenance budget for the bike lanes in the past few years. However, this year, we expect to up to Rp 200 million (US$20,500) from the revised provincial budget,” Denpasar Transportation Agency traffic division head Nyoman Sustiawan said on Friday.

“The sum will be used for maintenance of the fading lanes and maybe extending the lanes to a length of some 20 km,” Nyoman said. More lanes would be made in specific areas that have schools, tourist destinations, markets or shopping outlets.

Lanes are expected along Jl. Gunung Agung, Jl. Teuku Umar and Jl. Imam Bonjol. Nevertheless, Nyoman said developing bicycle lanes was hard to implement due to limited space and vehicles parked along public streets.